Won Jung Gak

One thing I love to do is search out local "hole in the wall" restaurants. They typically have the homemade tasty and usually, delicious food. This past weekend, I was a little tired of our neighborhood cuisine, and decided to look for another hole in the wall in Edmonton: Won Jung Gak.

I came upon this place by looking for restaurants in Edmonton and also searching "Edmonton hole in the wall", and funny, restaurant listings do come up! There were quite a number of good reviews for this place and a good warning about its MSG usage!

Anyways, this place truly defines "hole in the wall". It is hidden among blocks of semi run-down concrete blocked, light industrial buildings on the south end of the city. B was like, "Are you sure there will be a restaurant here?" because all we saw were closed car and machine shops. However, the little building came into view, and it could not be missed since it's the only building in the area with Korean and Chinese characters on it!

Won Jung Gak, a little Korean restaurant at 9655 62 Avenue 

Too bad we were not too hungry that day. So we just ordered something 'light'. I read good things about their noodles topped with black bean sauce, and their spicy soup noodles. What was great was that they had a "double bowl" serving both. It's a typical Asian noodle soup bowl, but with a divider in the middle. The brain of this restaurant is genius!

This bowl is genius!

The noodles were GLORIOUS. I just love chewy (彈牙) noodles. The black bean sauce topping was interestingly good. It's nothing like the Lee Kum Kee jar of black bean sauce in my fridge. I can't quite describe it.  It's not very salty, but just flavorful in its own way.  And damn, the spicy soup was spicy. For certain, I was chomping down mouthful of MSG. Usually when I intake MSG, I have this stingy feeling in my mouth, but here, it could also be mistaken by that spicy soup. B also ordered a noodle soup, but in a beef broth. It was pretty good, but bland compared to my dish. However, that's because my dish was on the flavorful (MSG filled) side!

Would I come back again? Oh yeah, and on an empty stomach to taste other Korean dishes - bulgogi, my favorite.