Jjamppong... or jjanjangmyon? This is the question. Hamlet's eternal question rings in every ear when it comes time to pick between the two Chinese restaurant favorites, whether it's the spicy seafood noodles or the savory black bean noodles. At Yipum, however, the question gets even more complicated.
Let us explain by describing the following three dishes. First up, an old-fashioned fried rice in which every grain of rice is fresh and perky. The secret is pan-frying for a long period of time to draw in the taste of flame. A crispy masterpiece fried egg and a jjambong soup is are added for free. Second is gan jjajang (noodles with black bean sauce served separately). The secret to this recipe is in the sauce. Its savory flavors are created by pan frying chunjang (a kind of fermented soybean product) with pork oil for a long, long time until it is fragrant and oh-so-umami. Spread this pungent sauce over your noodles, mix well, and let loose in a sigh of happiness. Lastly, we present to you the tangsuyuk, a sweet and sour pork dish.
Regardless of how busy the restaurant gets or how many orders pile up, they make sure to thoroughly coat every piece of meat in starch and fry them one by one. This is because the pieces of meat get clumped and tangled if they are fried all together. Then, if the crispy batter falls off these large clumps, the meat becomes tough during frying. So they stick to the painstaking method that makes their tangsuyuk so incredible. Why so traditional? The owner says that people tend to get tired of modern Chinese food, so he adheres to his old-fashioned cooking methods. And that, we can all agree, is a most agreeable answer.