After taking the train back from Busan to Seoul this morning, we set out to try a different type of Korean food: “Chinese Korean” in Seoul. I read that Chinese food started becoming popular back in the 40s and 50s in Seoul, since this was when Chinese people started immigrating to the country. A mish-mash of their cuisines began, and so were the two famous dishes of tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork, Korean style) and jajangmyeon (black bean sauce noodles or zhajiangmian in Mandarin pinyin) born. The only jajangmyeon I’ve ever grown an attachment to has been from San Tung in San Francisco, one of my all-time favorite restaurants ever for their dry-fried chicken and black bean sauce noodles. Their noodles are house made, and the sauce is a blackish-brown bean color, and the closest I’ve come to finding noodles like these away from San Tung have been at Shandong Mama in Melbourne. After reading several food blogs, I found Andongjang, supposedly the oldest Chinese Korean restaurant in Seoul, founded in 1948, known for their house-made noodles for their jajangmyeon and their sweet and sour pork. I told Chris we had to go here.

We came in for lunch and were greeted in Mandarin and Korean, and the service was quite friendly. The man serving us made small talk with me in Mandarin and said he was Chinese and originally from the Shandong province of China. He came here for work and of course learned Korean. I ordered the seafood black bean sauce noodles and the tangsuyuk for us and told him we were sharing everything, and so he had the kitchen divide the noodles into two separate bowls for us and allowed me to mix the sauce into the noodles, just the way they do it at San Tung. I was really blown away by both the noodles and the taste of the sauce; granted, they didn’t give us much seafood and mostly it was onion filler, but the flavor of the sauce and the texture of the noodles was just like San Tung. I almost felt sad when the noodles were finished and wanted to get more, but I knew that would be a bad idea. The sweet and sour pork, probably the only sweet and sour pork I’d ever order, was freshly fried and crispy, with tender meat and just enough sweet and sour sauce drizzled over it. It even came with a decent amount of vegetables.

It’s funny to me that I had my first noodles that tasted like San Tung’s black bean sauce noodles all the way in Seoul. Chris enjoyed the meal and commented it was probably the best service he’s ever received at a Chinese restaurant outside of Flower Drum, the fancy upscale Hong Kong Chinese restaurant in Melbourne. We were both impressed. I know I’ll be thinking about this restaurant a long time after we will have left Seoul.