Well this is quite embarrassing. I have eaten felafel in Cairo, jolof rice in Lagos, dhosa in Madras, but I have never eaten Korean, ever, anywhere. 

I started cooking Japanese and Chinese food whilst a student in the distant early eighties. More recently Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese are meals I cook regularly.

But Korean, no.

The extraordinary cultural rise of half this country over the past few years (along with the continuing travails of the other half) has been extraordinary to behold, but somehow alien to me. Sure, I can do Gannam style (but only after too many sherries at the karaoke), but K-Pop is not something I have particularly followed. And Parasite was good movie, but Oscar winning ? It had nothing on Ozu or Mizoguchi (look them up - I happened to major in Japanese film..).

I know and have befriended and broken bread with people from all the countries I have listed above, often with Bourdain-like fervour, but I have to admit that I have never met a Korean, which is a shame on me.

I don't know how I have managed this, but there you are.

And it gets worse. One foodstuff defines Korea more than any dish defines any country on earth. Kimchi. And I have never eaten kimchi.

So, time to rectify some wrongs and give myself an education in the process.

Reading seems to be a Korean hotspot. I have no idea why. Our town has a large Chinese population but hardly any Chinese restaurants. Now, I know that in India the idea of going out to a restaurant is a Chinese, like an Indian is to us Brits, so I can only presume that Korean restaurants appeal to Chinese expats, as well as us indigenous lot. I have no knowledge of Reading having a particularly large Korean community per se.

Time to find out.

Once again it was time to catch up with my old mucker GH, who was fresh back from Yorkshire and on his way to Iceland, or some such place. Retirement suits him.

We arrived reasonably early and everyone else in the restaurant throughout the lunchtime period seemed to either be Asian or with an Asian companion. Word of the bargain that is the lunchtime menu here had obviously traversed the expat community.

Having little knowledge of the cuisine I was apprehensive, but along with the laminated and extensive main menu there was a lunchtime special where you select a main course, a kimchi, a starter and get soup thrown in.

All for £10.

This might just have beaten Royal Tandoori around the corner into the best daytime bargain in town. It's certainly going onto the inReading Offers section.

Now, you need to get the protocol right - as should befit a Korean restaurant, they have tech. Our waiter was very confused that we ordered the starters first. The computer did not compute. No, you select your main course and then options three and four, and the soup is a gimme.

To be frank I'm the guy who sat for half an hour in Nandos waiting to be served on my first visit, so we took this with good humour and a bottle of the eponymous Soju. We selected plain and the warming fluid was reminiscent of a rather stronger but smoother sake. It can be distilled from rice, wheat, tapioca or sweet potato and comes in strengths varying from that of wine to that of trouble.

It also comes in flavours such as plumb, and other exotic options such as ginseng wines were on offer. However, we stuck to the basics and had a small wine-strength bottle between us. There were some other interesting drink options available, and I suspect one day soon we will come back of an evening and drink ourselves an exquisite hangover...

The food arrived rather randomly.

First came the cucumber and radish kimchee - basically lumps of the veg in a sharp sour sweet sauce and covered in sesame seeds. I suspect this had little to do with the traditional kinchee eaten in copious quantities and with a fiery reputation, but they were delicious morsels.

My wife, who once spent a long year in her youth in pre-EU Poland existing on cabbage, and who also loathes chilli, refuses to contemplate Korean simply because of their national condiment. I rather liked the sweet sour hot sensation.



Next cam the bibimbap - a sort of rice salad with egg yolk as sauce over fresh vegetables and chicken - the fried chicken with gochujang sauce and some veggie dumplings, the 'starters' - arrived at the same time.

All were lovely. I particularly liked the veggie parcels, reminiscent of similar dishes ranging from Shanghai dumplings to gyoza and momo, and even the Polish pyrogi. After all, who doesn't love a dumpling ?

The chicken was sharp and crispy and the red gochujang sauce made a great dip. 



Finally came the pork stir fry with rice. Hot and sour from vinegar and yet more gochujang. The word that stuck in my mind was 'tangy'. There probably is a bad pun to be made around the 'you've been Tango'ed' theme, but I shall refrain. But I can still taste the tang in my mouth as I write this..

With the small bottle of Soju drained and two hours having flown by as we reminisced about our tech days and stories of current travels, the restaurant emptied and an elderly man came over to take payment for a bill that would shame Weatherspoons.

GH complimented him on a lovely lunch and said we would be back soon.

"See you tomorrow," came the humorous reply.

It may have been a joke, but I am seriously tempted now that my Korean blind spot has been addressed.