From time to time, foodie friends will submit articles for VegetarianinKorea, this one was by my friend Stefanie. It is her first visit to a Korean restaurant! I love hearing all those "first time" stories! Interesting perspective. Thanks Stefanie!)
Korean Food in the DC area!
Chalica did a shout-out a while back asking for folks to write a guest blog for her food blog. Me, being the wanna-be foodie that I am, said, “ooh, me, me!” However, I don’t live in Korea. I live in the U.S.A. – Washington, DC area. So, she wrote me back and suggested I find a local Korean restaurant.
I did a Washington Post search (I totally
trust its food critic, Tom Sietsema), and his review was pretty good of this local restaurant, Yechon. 
We headed out to this Annandale restaurant. It’s right off the highway, so getting here, on a weekend, wasn’t too bad (in DC we care about traffic - the closer, the better. Free parking? Bonus points!)
The outside makes Yechon look like it’s having an identity crisis.
The wood paneling makes it look like a Texas Roadhouse. The “open
24 hours” sign gives you a giggle. What, are they serving bacon and
eggs in there? When you walk in, though, it has the traditional seating
you would expect to find in a Korean restaurant.
We ordered tuna sushi as an appetizer.
Turns out we didn’t need to do that. Our server brought out about
10 small dishes for tasting. I wonder if this is common in Korean restaurants.
The dishes (honestly, not sure what they all were) consisted of soup,
veggies, rice and noodles.
The menu is broken up into tradition
Korean dishes and Japanese dishes. I stuck with the Korean choices,
ordering the Bibim Bap: rice mixed with assorted vegetables and rice.
My dish came out in a stone bowl. The presentation was beautiful. The rice on the edges of the bowl was crispy, giving the dish some much-needed texture. It was a very generous portion; tough to eat it all after all the small tasting dishes. I was a bit disappointed, and surprised by the lack of seasoning my dish had, though. I’m assuming I should have used more of the sauces that were provided to me.
I noticed a lot of folks ordering the Korean BBQ - looked rather appetizing. I may just have to go back and give it a try.
Any restaurant the gives free appetizers is a winner in my book. An extra bonus for those as good as Yechon’s. Overall, this was a fun dining experience. For those of you interested in trying new things, and have a group of friends that want to come with you, I would suggest Yechon.
Visit Yechon at 4121 Hummer Road, Annadale,
VA 22003 and online at http://www.yechonrestaurant.
(Do you have a food story to submit? Email me a vegetarianinkorea AT gmail DOT com)
