Hyun Kyung

BEST JJAMBBONG (spicy seafood noodle soup) !!! Hot, spicy/porky/seafood broth, big portions!! Best in the area! I only go here for it! :)

The jajjangmyun is great as well!

These are the only two things I care for on the menu, you won't be disappointed!

Located inside Super H Mart's food court, the "GRAND OPENING" signs certainly didn't make this place (or many of the others) feel so "grand" in that the "food court" looks more like a huge empty warehouse with a few tables, chairs, and 5 sullen looking storefronts.  Well, appearances don't do much for me anyway but I was at least expecting something cheaper than what I got at Hyun Kyung.

Let's start with the food court itself.  The hallway to the bathrooms are on some far corner and there was no water fountain in sight, unless I just missed it.  This becomes a problem while I'm eating so bear with me.  Second is that there's no trash cans that I could find, so any garbage I had, I didn't want to leave on the tray but didn't have much of a choice...again, annoying but not a big gripe.  Third, the food court is just...ugh.  Barren and forlorn if anything.

Now onto the actual review of the restaurant.

Given the "blah" atmosphere of the food court, I hoped for at the very least some decent prices on food...which wasn't the case.  There was no one at the store front, so while I was deciding what to eat, there was only someone next door at Kimchihana giving me funny looks.  

When I decided on Hyun Kyung, it took about a full 3 minutes before someone came out.  This Korean guy didn't even say anything to me, I ended up engaging him.  He did speak English but didn't bother saying much of anything to me when I asked him a few questions about the food and prices (since the menu really isn't clear and the display case only demonstrates what the food looks like, not the small/large portion).

Most of the edible portions for a single person will run you up around $8 minimum.  Not really what I was expecting at a food court like this but I was hungry and was willing to try it out.

The food itself took some time to come out; I didn't mind since it does seem like they made and prepared it fresh.  I waited about 10-15 minutes, which I'd worry since the food court was empty when I got there.  If it were full, I'd hate to see how much longer I'd have to wait.  I ordered a General's Chicken (generic but a baseline for me).

Presentation was certainly nothing like the picture though.  My meal also came with a simple salad and white rice.  The portions were enough for one, just enough for two snack portions.  The chicken pieces were large which was nice and enough pieces to satisfy.  It certainly had a garlic and spicy flavor and the sauce was thick and was indeed tasty and hot.  That's where all the nice things I have to say end.

The first problem I had was that the sauce was very thick and just salty enough where you need some water to wash it down.  There's no complimentary water like Kimchihana had and if you wanted water (since as mentioned earlier, there's no water fountain in sight), you had to pay $1.  That's just outrageous, unless you were overhydrated, you really need some water to wash that down, I shouldn't have to pay $1 because your sauces are too thick and salty.

The next issue is with the salad.  I hoped that instead of water, I could munch on the salad to quell the urge to buy water.  The veggies weren't the problem, the dressing was gross.  I admit I'm not a huge salad guy but strawberry dressing is already odd to me.  The fact this tasted more like artificial strawberry flavoring similar to candy was gross.  It was also thick and really didn't belong with my food at all.  It certainly didn't compliment my General's Chicken.

The third problem goes back earlier to my review, I didn't really feel like my business (much less my presence) was appreciated.  Heck, I don't think anyone else's was either, I watched another potential customer sit at the counter, stare at the menu and after about a few minutes of no one coming out to help her, she left.

Fourth is that there's a lot of pretty visuals, high prices, but little help and clarity.  Since the Korean guy at the counter wasn't much help either, you probably need to experience this once to know what you're buying.

Now, the food itself really wasn't bad and didn't taste that cheap.  But there's too many things that annoy me about Hyun Kyung that will make me consider going next door to Kimchihana instead next time I'm in the area.  This place has potential to be a lot better but for the price I'm paying, it could use some basic improvements starting from how they treat their customers, regardless of how dead the place is.  I'm chalking it off as the excuse "because the place is brand spanking new."