Samchon Bunsik, the latest addition to Chennai’s ever-growing Korean food scene, is surprisingly packed on a midweek afternoon. While one table is occupied by three Korean women having a leisurely lunch, three tables have been joined together for a large group of Indians and Koreans. This is a promising sign, if anything.
Kim Myung-soo and Kim Hyo-jin, a couple from South Korea, moved to India with the hope of setting up set up a restaurant nearly a year ago, and it was not long before they fell in love with Chennai. Having run a corndog place back home , they came with experience as well.
“In Korea, it is difficult for older people to start and establish a business given the number of young people who have thriving establishments. I didn’t want to sit at home for the next 20 or 30 years and was keen on travelling to India to set up a business, and also help the underprivileged,” says Myung-soo. He is the Samchon, or uncle of Samchon Bunsik. Bunsik is a generic term used to refer to inexpensive dishes that make up street food. “I am excited to show people different kinds of Korean street food, or bunsik,” Hyo-jin says.
Fried chicken at Samchon Bunsik | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Chennai’s well-known Korean restaurants have a gourmand spread, with grilled meats and an extensive selection of dishes. At Samchon Bunsik however, things are a lot more simple and come at a price point that is a lot easier on the wallet as well.
The K-Drama staple fried chicken is our first order of business, and we try three variants – the Samchon special chicken, yang-nyeom or a spicy and sweet chicken, and the honey chicken, which is a sweet and crispy chicken that comes with a special sauce. While there is an option to order a dipping sauce, the fried chicken, especially the Samchon special variant, comes so well seasoned that it works best by itself. The crunch is on point, and the chicken is succulent and well-cooked.
While you could make this a part of your main course with the fried chicken rice bowls, we move onto the dal-galbi deopbap, a rice bowl with spicy chilli paste chicken. Cooked with slivers of carrot and spring onion, the chicken on hot rice here makes for the perfect comfort meal. For a spice fiend like me, the spice levels are not too intimidating, and actually leans more into hot-and-sweet territory.
The fuss-free, usual suspects all find a place on the menu – corndogs, kimbap, kimchi fried rice, japchae or glass noodles, and kimchi jeon or kimchi pancakes. Most dishes come with vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, and the restaurant even has fried cauliflower seasoned with the flavour options available for their fried chicken. Myung-soo says that they are also planning on introducing a paneer variant, something their trial diners seemed to love.
Tteokbokki | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
No deep dive into Korean street food feels complete without a taste of tteokbokki. We sample the original, spicy sauce one, which arrives steaming with a sliced boiled egg on top. With Chennai’s monsoons not too far away, the tteokbokki or even the instant ramyun bowls on their menu are sure to be worthy weather companions.
Myung-soo and Hyo-jin are eager that we end our meal with the dalgona latte, a sweet latte topped with pieces of dalgona or a crunchy melted sugar street candy you probably know of thanks to Squid Game. For the strong and sweet coffee, the dalgona feels much too sweet, and is probably best had as a separate treat.
Dalgona Coffee | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Having only been open a couple of days, the Korean couple seem buoyed by the city’s response. “I really like Chennai. It matches my personality,” Hyo-jin says, smiling. In a corner of the restaurant, Tuho, a fun game is placed where diners can try throwing in sticks into baskets of varying sizes. There will also soon be hanboks that diners can wear and take photos of. Hyo-jin adds, “More than just being about the food, we want people to experience and learn about Korean culture.”
Samchon Bunsik is at fourth main road, Kamaraj Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur. A meal for two costs ₹1,000.
Published - September 27, 2024 01:15 pm IST
