Hot humid days call for cold noodles at Desa Sri Hartamas' Lee Ga Korean Noodles Restaurant

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — The sweltering weather has got me looking for food to cool down with.

I decided to take my cue from the Koreans. When the heat is dialled up for their summer, they turn towards naengmyeon or cold noodles to stay refreshed.

Hence, I've been visiting Lee Ga Korean Noodles Restaurant almost every week for their cold noodles.

For those new to cold noodles, start with Mul Nengmyun (RM26 for a regular portion).

You get a stainless steel bowl filled with a chilled broth made with beef broth and radish water kimchi water. In the middle, find a mound of chewy noodles. The thin noodles are crafted from buckwheat and sweet potato starch.

Find the restaurant in the ever busy Desa Sri Hartamas area

The restaurant gets busy especially during peak hours

Taste the broth and see if you like it. For me, I like its cool effect on my throat and how it's savoury with just a touch of sweetness.

On the table, find vinegar and yellow mustard. Add it to zing up the bowl, whether you want it tangy or a broth that will clear your nasal passages.

Your bowl of noodles is served with homemade 'kimchi' (left). There's a refreshing radish 'banchan' too with your bowl of noodles (right)

I don't get tired of the chewy thin noodles combined with the refreshing broth hence it's my comfort food now.

If you crave for a tingling spiciness on your tongue but still want to drink the refreshing beef broth, there's Mul Bibim Nengmyun. This combines the best of both worlds where you get cold soup layered with a spicy kick.

On days I want to change up my meal, I ditch the broth for the dry spicy cold noodles or the Bibim Nengmyun (RM27 for the regular portion).

If you can take spicy food, try the Bibim Nengmyun or cold noodles with a spicy 'bibim' sauce

The same noodles are crowned with a fiery red bibim sauce, hard boiled egg and pickles. You do get some broth at the bottom of the bowl but if you like it with more liquid, they provide you with a small kettle of hot broth on the side. Add a bit of the broth and slowly mix the sauce to coat the thin noodles.

And if Bibim Nengmyun is not spicy enough for you, go for the Hoe Nengmyun (RM30 for a regular portion). You get seasoned raw stingray that adds another layer of spiciness.

There's an option to enjoy the Hoe Nengmyun with seasoned stingray that is spicy

Lee Ga also offers the Pyongyang version of cold noodles. This uses a different type of noodles as it's mainly buckwheat. There's also an option to add side dishes like the seasoned stingray, boiled beef slices or boiled pork meat and innards to bulk up your meal.

If you find the noodles too hard to handle as it tends to clump together, you can reach for a pair of scissors to cut through them. However, try to untangle them with your chopsticks so you get that sensation of slurping down long strands of chewy noodles.

With the soup and rice, you can also have seasoned stingray

For those who cannot live without rice and soup, don't fret as there's a gukbap option. Pick which broth you want and it hits the table, hot from the stove with steam to fog up your spectacles.

It's best eaten with a bowl of rice and the dipping sauces.

The broths range from beef and vegetables, pork meat and innards, chicken to the simpler bean sprout broth. As I wanted to try the Korean pork blood sausage or sundae, I selected the Sundae Gukbap (RM30) for that particular combination which also has pork meat and innards.

When it's raining, try their selection of soups with rice like the Sundae Gukbap filled with 'sundae', pork innards and entrails

The sundae's texture wasn't what I expected as it's got noodles inside it too that gives it an interesting texture. Think soft and slightly chewy. For me, the soup and meat tasted a little bland.

Luckily you get dipping sauces like ssamjang and saeujeot on the side. I like both sauces, hence I combine both together to give a flavour boost to the whole bowl of soup.

The ssamjang is a mix of fermented soybeans with gochujang hence the fiery red colour while saeujeot resembles our local cincalok as it's made with fermented shrimps. It's not as pungent though, giving a subtle saltiness to your food.

You're given 'ssamjang' to amp up the flavour of the blanched pork slices (left). There's also fermented shrimp for a salty dip to eat with the pork slices (right)

Go for the ultra crispy Bindaetteok, a mung bean pancake filled with vegetables

For side dishes, just order the awesome Bindaetteok (RM27). The mung bean pancake filled with vegetables is pure crispy heaven with well pan fried golden edges to make you happy.

Do avoid the mandu though. I usually love dumplings but these just didn't impress at all. They're king sized with a minced pork and beef filling but the thin skin and filling just tasted a little flat and mushy for me.

Lee Ga Korean Noodles Restaurant, 34G, Jalan 27/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur. Open:9.30am to 3pm (last call 2.30pm), 5pm to 9pm (last call 8.30pm). Closed on Tuesday except when it's public holiday. Tel:03-28562041.

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