We were originally going to try this Spanish Tapas place but they weren't open for lunch and after hemming and hawing, we did end up back at Tachibana for lunch (still one of the better sushi places I've been to in MD) but for dinner she decided that she wanted Korean food. She had been to Woo Lae Oak for lunch but never dinner and thought it would be too expensive, but since I was paying I told her it wasn't a big deal. Strangely enough, Woo Lae Oak was the name of this fancy Korean place that used to be in NYC that I always wanted to try but never did. I'm not sure if these are related or not, but none the less I was glad to try it. The inside is definitely fancier than your typical Asian restaurant and the waitstaff is very formal and serious. The menu consists of the appetizers, Korean BBQ, soup dishes, rice dishes, noodle dishes, and then what they call All Time Favorite entrees. To be honest, the prices weren't that bad unless you were ordering the BBQ, but that's expected when you order BBQ at any Korean place (or at least the places I've been to). We thought that BBQ would be too much for 2 people, so we ordered the Haemul Pajeon (seafood and scallion pancake -$10), the Soon Tofu Jigae (tofu stew with seafood - $13) and the seafood bimbimbop ($16).
The small order of pancake (you can order the larger one for $15) had 4 pieces which was perfect for us. I usually find these pancakes very greasy and oily but this one was strangely not so. I did fine the batter a little bit too thick and would have preferred it to be a bit crispier. The inside had scallion, oyster, squid and shrimp, but to be honest I didn't really see or taste most of them. I know they were in there but it wasn't like they were prominently featured in the pancake. Next came the tofu stew and bimbimbop. I started with the tofu stew which was basically super soft silky tofu with spices and the same seafood combination that was in the pancake. At least here, I definitely could tell that there was scallop and there were 2 medium sized tiger shrimp with the shells on. While I liked the dish, it did look like something I could probably make myself. Even though the dish was not huge, served with white rice, I was pretty full by the end of it. I forced myself to eat 2 spoonfuls of the bimbimbop. Of course this one had seafood in it too (clearly my mom and I are cut from the same cloth). I did notice that I didn't see a fried egg on this which was a bit disappointing because that's the best part of bimbimbop but when I thought about it, it might have been weird with the seafood. The two bites I had were pretty good, the chili paste had flavor and heat but was still sweet. There was lots of pickled veggies and kimchi in it which just added to the intense flavors of the dish. I really wish I had more room for it so that I could give it a better assessment. Even though we were full, since it was a "holiday" we did order dessert as well. I will still stand by the fact that I don't think Asian dessert are good. Their dessert menu was clearly more Westernized, which was totally fine by me. We ordered the blood orange mousse cake ($8). It was a very light orange mousse with a layer of almost orange rinds (I don't think that's what they were but it was almost a tough/hard layer of orange that wasn't the fleshy part) and light vanilla cake. It was totally fine and I loved the fact that it was super super light but again, it wasn't anything to write home about.
The one huge disappointment of this restaurant was the service. Our waitress never checked on us after she took our order and I constantly had to ask for a re-fill of water. By the time we wanted to order dessert, we had to flag down a hostess to help place the order and to get our bimbimbop boxed up (and when I say boxed up, they had you a container for you to box yourself). I don't always like waitstaff that is too attentive, but you should come by at least once or twice to ask if there's anything else we want, especially if you notice that we have finished our main meal. I'm glad I tried a new place in MD and I would come back here again but I wouldn't say that it gets a spot on the permanent rotation. Total bill: $59 with tax and tip.
Note, I know I'm listing this under MD when it's really in VA, but I'm just too lazy to create a new tag.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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