Koreana

The seafood udon at Koreana in Toledo is not your average bowl of soup. It's filled with tasty broth, clams, squid, tofu and onions. There's also a couple of panko shrimp hanging over the side. I prefer most of my bowls spicy these days--this udon was not. I may have been able to request it spicier, but missed the option on the menu. That's easy to do. If you're not familiar with Korean food, Koreana's menu poses a challenge. It contains list after list of dishes like dolsot bibimbap, bokum, and bulgogi with seemingly unlimited customizing options. 

 

Stone bowls are big here. They contain combinations of meat, seafood, veggies, and broth, served in a hot stone bowl, complimented with banchan and rice. There's also all sorts of veggies and meats covered in gochujang--the familiar Korean,  fermented, red chili paste. 

Our waitress offered a lot of descriptive information, but couldn't recommend a dish we might've liked. 

We ordered a few sushi rolls: spicy tuna, Vegas, and dynamite. They were all well-prepared and tasted fresh, but the rolls were cut into large pieces. This made for difficult handling and eating since the pieces felt too large to consume in one bite. Still, Koreana's sushi hit the mark for taste, variety, and flavor. 

In addition to the udon, we tried the beef bulgogi, which was Korean barbecue--chopped ribeye steak in a spicy red sauce, served with steamed rice. The beef was very flavorful, not too hot, a good-sized portion, served on a skillet. It went great with the rice. The familiar taste of grilled beef made this my favorite dish. 

 

The bimbim nangmyun with melon and beef was the kind of eats that probably take some getting used to. The dish was a bowl of buckwheat noodles, thinly-sliced melon, vegetables, and a few pieces of steak. The noodles were "interesting" for lack of a better word. They resembled ramen, but the noodles were so elastic that when I took a bite, i had a difficult time chewing them or even cutting them on my teeth. The melon was sweet and coated in gochujang. 

They bring a tray of Korean side dishes--banchan--to the table with black beans, broccoli, kimchi, and bean sprouts. Each of these small tastings is interesting in its own right, even if not as appetizing as I'd hoped, simply for the opportunity to explore a different culinary region of the world, taste something new, gain a fresh experience on an otherwise ordinary day. 

Koreana is the type of place you have to visit a few times in order to try everything. The interior of Koreana is beautiful. It has a tranquil mood that encompasses you from the moment you enter the front door. The sound of water trickling over rocks--on this occasion--was the loudest sound in the room, and it offered a serene atmosphere in which to enjoy new foods.