Restaurants

Royal Family By Jennifer Chater

Issue 7 June 10 - July 8, 2004

	Alexander Antonov
	Korean Restaurant: Royal Family

Find the separate entrance beside the main hotel building, descend down the stairway, pass (or better still, drop into) the shop selling sliced deer antlers and other Korean delicacies, and you’ll find the rosy-hued dining room.

This spacious yet cozy hall is lined with smaller rooms behind partially frosted glass that still allows a good view of the action in the main room. Most likely you’ll find it packed with Korean diners, as it was during our visit, when the action to watch was an amateur, spontaneous song-and-dance show by an unstoppable toddler who had the whole room captivated. Yes, it’s a family kind of place.

Service is impeccable. Although the table in our glassed-off section was equipped with a button to press in order to summon the waiter, we never had to use it, as he was always on hand right when we needed him.

Nathan Toohey

And there’s nothing like a big, sizzling bowl of kimchi soup, or more accurately, kimchi stew (“kimchitsige,” 300 rubles) — a hearty dish that’s not for chili wimps: hot, very spicy, and thick with plenty of kimchi cabbage, sliced pork, tofu, green onions, other vegetables and noodles. Far from being a first course, it’s a meal in itself, even without the unlimited salads and rice that are included in the price. Royal Family’s kimchi stew is up there with the best.

The baby octopi with sesame seeds and vegetables (“chukkumi chalpangui,” 480 rubles) was another highly successful choice — delicious, with rice on the side for an extra 64 rubles.

If a reviewer’s mouth waters while writing a restaurant review, it must mean a return visit is in order.