"Our meal started off with a pair of appetizers Hwe fried chicken. The chicken was highly recommended by the waiter as a house specialty.We were quite curious how they would prepare the Hwe (Korean for sashimi), with the listed veggies. Boy were we disappointed when we were delivered the generic tuna tartare in a ring mold. A far cry from any Korean sashimi preparation I've ever seen.We then confronted the fried chicken, which I would describe as too sweet, undercooked and over sauced. Korean fried chicken is an institution one which Americans have been fortunate to delve into with the likes of the Chi Mc (Burke is my fav) and Bonchon chains in NoVA. This was neither.At this point, we also ordered some makkoli (750ml Korean rice wine) to go with our meal. It was, inexplicably served in a tea pot. For makkoli, this is problematic you have to shake the makkoli to get the sediment into the makkoli. Difficult when it is in a teapot. You also can't tell how much is left, it was odd, and took quite a bit of space on the small table.Having finished the appetizers, we were presented with our banchan (traditional small plates which accompany a meal), which you, dear reader are expected to order and pay for separately an unexpected twist. In Korean cuisine, these are a mark of pride restaurants compete to present the best, most varied and highest quality banchan included as part of the meal. We ordered a pickled cucumber, kimchi, seaweed salad and chayote pickle. They were pretty good, but the kimchi was a little too sour and lacked umami we speculate it was made with too little fish sauce. Kimchi preference can be very individual, but this was certainly off.The main entries, a ssam board and dak jjim. The dak jjim was well made, and fairly authentic. The sauce tasted possibly store bought, but one of our diners certainly enjoyed it and wants to learn to make it.The ssam board was nice, and when asked we were provided with extra perilla. There could have been a wider selection on the board, but this was pretty good and the beef was well cooked.Our waiter was attentive and the food service was prompt.If you are looking for a hip DC night spot to take a date this place has the atmosphere for sure. If you are looking for good Korean food, just go to Annandale."
