Mi Han Quoc (Korean Noodles)

The past 2 days have been quite lonely for me because M comes home late from work (and it's really very late). It's strange but when he is around, I will always fight with him over TV or internet. Now that he is not at home, I actually miss the "squabbling". Yucks. I am beginning to sound lovesick. I guess this happens because we are overseas and have only each other. So when one party is not around, loneliness strikes hard.

Anyway, last Sunday was our first year wedding anniversary. We decided to have a mini-celebration by going out for lunch. My preference was always Japanese food but we decided to try something more interesting so ended up with Korean food.

The restaurant that M brought me to is near Fortuna Hotel. Initially, I thought there would be a variety of dishes that we could order so I was dreaming about all the sides dishes like tofu, kimchi, anchovies, etc. When I arrived, I realised that the restaurant's specialty is only hotpot! Sigh.. no side dishes.. There were a few different types of hotpot selection and we had some difficulty choosing because the menu was in Korean and Vietnamese. Finally, with our combined efforts of terrible Vietnamese, we chose the mushroom hotpot.

We were served two side dishes of kimchi vegetables which were quite nice, and a small hotpot of mushroom with vegetables. The hotpot came with a huge serving of noodles and a big bowl of rice topped with a raw egg plus spring onions. M and I kept wondering what we were supposed to do with the rice.

Being the smart aleck, I told M that based on my cooking experience, the rice should be mixed with soup from the hotpot and stirred before eating. Lo and Behold. The moment I scooped a spoonful of rice from the bowl, I heard a terrified scream from the Korean owner who was standing near our table. He waved his hand fervently and kept saying, "No, no, no, no!" The Vietnamese waitress came forth hurriedly and sprung a string of Vietnamese instructions, beyond my level of comprehension. Surprised, I looked at him and asked, "So what am I supposed to do?" It was then that they understood they were talking to two non-Vietnamese (a little explanation here, M and I are often mistaken for Vietnamese when we go out. Especially me. I have been told by both fellow Singaporeans and locals that I look exactly like a Vietnamese girl. Beats me.) The Korean owner then spewed out "Eat soup, vegetables. No rice. Rice later." So.. the rice was meant to be eaten later. Alright.. so M and I continued to eat our hotpot while the waitress IMMEDIATELY took away the bowl from our table. I had to endure the sniggles from M subsequently.

When we were almost done with the hotpot, the waitress came back with the bowl of rice and kept pointing to it. We just nodded mechanically. Then we watched as she emptied the contents of the hotpot into another bowl and took the hotpot away, together with the rice. She came back 5 minutes later with fried rice in the hotpot. Ahhh.. so the rice was meant to be fried in the hotpot. But I think my way of eating the rice would be equally nice.. not sure why they refused to let me try. :p

After our meal, we were served cinnamon tea which tasted a little sweet for me. M was impressed with the tea though and kept asking me whether I could make it for him at home. I was like.. err.. I don't even like it. So I placed the ball into his court again by saying that I would try once he got the cinnamon. Ha ha.. this worked perfectly because I knew there was no way he could get it. He doesn't know where.

The bill came up to VND 100,000 (approx. SGD 10) and we thought it was very cheap. I would say I was not that impressed with the food due to my earlier heightened expectations but the service was good. I would probably try other Korean restaurants the next time.

Mi Han Quoc
8B Lang Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi