Gahm Mi Oak - Koreatown

Soon Dae

I defy anyone to find or take a picture in which blood sausage looks appetizing, and does not resemble number twos.

Aaand I just started a post with the phrase "number twos." Go me!

I know that blood sausage is not for everyone, and thus this post will not be for everyone. But I love it. I have so far had Korean, Spanish, Polish, German, and Austrian versions, and all have been delicious. I'd very much like to try some good English black pudding in the near future.
The Korean version, Soon Dae, has a special place in my heart. My first encounter with blood sausage was when, as a 5-or-so-year-old I watched in speechless horror as my mother and grandmother stuffed rice and glass noodles into what my mom candidly told me were "pig guts," and then funneled the unmistakable deep burgundy liquid into it. Cooking it certainly does not improve its aesthetic appeal, as you can see above. I begrudgingly tasted some then, but found it hard to swallow. Traumatizing as that was, however, it was only a few years later that I learned to understand and embrace the virtues of that once nightmare-inducing concoction.
If you didn't think blood sausage sounded utterly repulsive before, you might now. Oops.
Anyway, I'm not presumptuous enough to have thought that I was going to convert any haters with my sanguine exaltations, and that photo. But if you do enjoy the rich taste of blood sausage, the Soon Dae at Gahm Mi Oak is excellent - probably the best to be found in an easily-accessible neighborhood in NYC. Well-seasoned (supplemented with a small dish of shrimp salt for dipping), filled with...um, some onions, spices[?], rice, glass noodles, and of course pork blood. Yum.

Soo Yook

We also got a platter of beef brisket and tongue, a fairly common accompaniment to beer drinking in Korea, and served at about room temperature, or slightly cold. I'm still getting used to photographing everything before I eat, so I forgot to take a picture before I started pecking at the thin slices of tongue. So that bald spot is where the small portion of tongue was, with one remaining slice hiding beneath the brisket, amongst which could also be found some stray strips of tripe. Mmm. The meat itself is pretty much unseasoned, but dipped in some scallion soy sauce it goes great with a tall, cold OB (I'm told it stands for "Oriental Beer"). Finely ribboned scallions, seasoned lightly with some soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, and chili powder, provided the vegetal counterpoint to all that meat.
The dish was fine, though I could have done with some more tongue. (A more juvenile self would have interjected a "That's what she said!" just then, but we are all adults here...and also I'm not even certain if that's the proper usage.)


The Staple

I've found that really good kimchi is surprisingly hard to come by in restaurants. It needs to be allowed to ripen and mature to the right point, and I feel that most restaurants serve their kimchi long before its prime. The kimchi at Gahm Mi Oak is far superior to its peers in that respect. I could happily eat a plate of it alone as a snack. And it goes sublimely well with the ostensible main attraction at Gahm Mi Oak:


Sul Long Tang

This is one of my ultimate comfort foods. As it arrives, it seems almost completely tasteless. But plop in a generous spoonful of salt, a couple dumps of chopped scallions, and you've got a serious umami-bomb that is deeply soothing, and great for hangovers, fevers, tummyaches, what have you (according to Korean moms, including my own, all over the world). Silky, long-simmered ox tail broth, with strips of brisket (other variations can also include tongue, tripe, tendon, and/or intestines and other bits of offal, but this one only has brisket), and at the bottom of the stone bowl lies a pillowy cushion of fluffy rice and rice noodles. Scoop up a bit of everything into a steady, well-balanced spoonful, take it gently with a small piece of the radish kimchi (kak tu gi), all together, and you'll be healed of whatever is ailing you. Or maybe not. But, it's, um...it's a really good soup.

Gahm Mi Oak
43 W. 32nd St.
New York, NY 10001
212-695-4113