Korean cuisine reigns supreme at Lakeside’s The Dining Room

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

For gastronomes looking to sample some unusual yet scrumptious fare, head to The Dining Room at the Cinnamon Lakeside, where its culinary team has pulled out all the stops with the introduction of Korean cuisine to its buffet this month.

Spearheaded by speciality guest chef Yang Eun-young, the chefs have cooked up an assortment of delectable dishes, combinations of sweetness and spice, largely based on rice, meats and plenty of crisp vegetables.

What makes Korean food stand out from the rest are its many side dishes, and keeping to this, The Dining Room features a wide range of zesty starters. However, first venture to the soups and serve yourself a bowl of the refreshing beef broth – a thin clear soup with seaweed for some added flavour.

“Korean cuisine consists of a lot of vegetables and what we have tried to do here is showcase some traditional, well-known dishes, incorporating vegetables, chicken, beef, pork and seafood,” explained the Executive Chef. “The response has been very good so far, both by the locals and the Asian patrons at the hotel. It is very different fare, also because it’s got a female touch,” he added, referring to the female specialty Korean chef behind the scenes.

While Korean food is spicy, it uses more red pepper and other condiments coupled with sauces which gives the dishes a distinct sweet flavour, which is very different from the Sri Lankan take on spice in food, explained speciality guest chef Yang Eun-young, as she too joined us for a quick chat. “The cuisine is all about colour, spice and a lot of vegetables. I’ve also used different kinds of leaves in most of the dishes as a lot of greens are essential ingredients in the cuisine.”

As we commenced on the starters, we were immediately drawn to what was the clear highlight of the evening, mostly due to its rarity in Colombo – the sea snail salad with vegetables and pepper vinaigrette sauce – a definite must-have. The snails are surprisingly fleshy and chewy, and with the accompanying veggies and sauce, are simply delicious.

Other dishes included the traditional spicy cabbage dish ‘kimchi,’ mung bean jelly salad and braised tofu with spicy soy sauce – while I generally write-off tofu as being bland, this was fiery with the soy sauce adding wonderfully to the flavour.  On the recommendation by Chef Yang, we then headed over to an action station serving up ‘bibimbap,’ a signature Korean dish which consists of steamed white rice, with assorted sautéed and seasoned vegetables including radish, bean sprouts, mushrooms and greens, topped with an egg and chilli pepper paste.

The mains sample a range of meats, seafood and vegetables and are liberally flavoured with the common spices used in Korean cuisine which include sesame oil, chilli pepper paste and flakes, soybean paste, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.

Braised pork ribs in Korean spicy sauce topped with sesame seeds, shitake mushrooms, fish pancakes, fried cuttlefish and vegetables, pan-fried sliced beef in sweet soy with mushrooms, zucchini pancakes and Korean style beef skewers are just some of the dishes available. While it is generally the seafood and meats that grab ones attention, it was the vegetables that stood out, rich in flavour and beautifully presented – the shitake mushrooms and zucchini pancakes are must-tries here.

To wrap up the meal are dumplings and Korean style sweets – sticky and sweet, it was the perfect light note to end the meal on. The Korean buffet can be indulged in until 22 March, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at The Dining Room.