[ food + drink ] Unfortunately, since there were only two of us and the BBQ experience is the thing to do at Shin Jung, we opted for the two items for which they’re most famous: kalbi beef short ribs ($32) and beef bulgogi ($25). Both options come with the wonderful rotating selection of unlimited banchan dishes. On this visit we enjoyed cabbage and radish kimchi, paper-thin slices of pickled daikon, mashed potato, bean sprouts and pickled chayote, all of which we devoured almost immediately, forcing a second round to appear within minutes of the first. My hubs and I are KBBQ experts, but first-timers should ask for a quick primer before turning on the grill. If you aren’t normally comfortable in front of a stove, the idea of cooking your own meat at a restaurant with limited tools can be daunting. Regardless, it’s fun, it forces real human interaction, and it requires diners to set their phones down for a hot minute and be present with what they’re doing. A blessing and a luxury these days. It’s a mystery how the chefs at Shin Jung slice the kalbi — generally a very tough cut of meat that requires hours of braising to tenderize — to be so tender with just a few minutes on the grill, but that expertise is what you pay for. The PHOTOS BY ROB BARTLETT beef bulgogi was also excellent, perfectly umami and sweet and salty all at once. I like to move my pieces to the center of the grill, the hottest heat, for a nice char right before enveloping it in my lettuce leaf and sticky rice. All the food came out at once, so you can imagine how many dishes were on our table at the same time. While Shin Jung Korean Restaurant is Orlando’s phoenix, and its literal rise from the our server was kind and fairly attentive, the restaurant was ashes has been well worth the wait packed, so getting her attention was a challenge at times. At one point, we helped ourselves to a stack of napkins when BY HOLLY V. KAPHERR we couldn’t make eye contact with her. (Sitting next to the server’s station can have its benefits.) wo years following a fire that rendered the restau- just cooked from the kitchen. When she did come by, she failed to clear the empty plates We started with a saucy, spicy bowl of tteokbokki ($15), rant a “total loss,” according to the Orlando Fire Department, mainstay Korean favorite Shin Jung is which my dining companion described as Korean gnocchi. until we asked. Even when we were done with our entrees, the plate of raw meat juices and bones back in business and better than ever. Orlando Weekly’s last It’s an apt comparison — the thick rice cakes are pillowy from the kalbi remained on the review visit to the restaurant still lingers in our archives, but with a pleasing chew like a good Italian dumpling. table — right through desit happened more than 20 years ago, so we felt a visit to the Tofu skins and bits of crispy pork throughout sert. Who wants to enjoy the vibrant sauce are infused with gochunew digs was well overdue. a delightful dessert of To illustrate just how joyful the city is to see Shin Jung’s jang, the Korean chili paste. hotteok ($9), sweet We also chose the Shin Jung samreturn, we visited on a Thursday night — usually a moddessert pancakes erately slow night for restaurants — and the place was so pler ($15), a plate of the house’s best filled with nuts packed they were turning away parties of four or more. My dumplings served with sweet chili and caramel, next companion and I were only two, so we got the only remain- sauce and spicy soy sauce. The to a plate of raw ing barbecue table left, in the back of the restaurant near the plate featured six vegetarian meat juices? Not server’s station. Not a great spot, but it gave us a panoramic dumplings with cabbage and carI. Not you. Not rots, six pork dumplings with view of the striking redesign. anyone. Prior to the fire, Shin Jung’s interior was akin to the Pizza an intoxicating gingery aroma, The dirty Hut dining rooms of the 1990s: dim lighting, dark walls, and six addictive nori-wrapped plates notwithhazy clouds of smoke wafting from the BBQ tables. The new seaweed rolls, battered and fried standing, we’re Shin Jung is nothing like this. The bright white walls lift with glass noodles in the center. so happy this My only the entire room, making it appear restaurant, a fixcomplaint much larger than its square footSHIN JUNG KOREAN ture in Mills 50 about the age. Screens on the wall play BTS RESTAURANT since its opening in BBQ experiand other K-pop vids on loop, add1638 E. Colonial Drive 1993, has reopened ence at Shin ing to the cheerful vibe. Industrial 407-237-0451 and is receiving such Jung is that a shelving above the front window shinjungkoreanbbq.com love. With chilly nights minimum of two is lined with colorful bottles of $$$ on the horizon, a cup of people at each table plum wine and cute knickknacks. ginger peach tea and a bubmust order barbecue Modern wooden booths replace bling bowl of kimchi stew will be the dated maroon banquettes of the old space. Modern fix- plates to cook at the table. This isn’t the case at other exactly what I’ll want to warm me up. Korean BBQ restaurants, and I wish Shin Jung would lift tures fill the space with bright, lively light. Another improvement is an outdoor patio on the west that silly restriction. I’d love to be able to order the japchae I’m thrilled the new, fresh, lively Shin Jung will be there side of the building, where you can enjoy both fresh air and or kimchi jjigae or dolsot bibimbap while my partner cooks again to take my order. KBBQ, minus the inlaid table grill — your bulgogi will come his own meat. Alas. dining@orlandoweekly.com
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NOV. 10-16, 2021 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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