7 Things You Have To Watch Out For When Ordering Chinese Food In Korea

Korean restaurant owners have shared words of wisdom on what to watch out for when ordering Chinese food. Next time you go for Chinese food, keep these tips in mind!

1.

Be careful if the food tastes different each time you order. Chances are, if the same menu tastes different every single time, the restaurant hires day chefs, who tend to care less about the cleanliness of the kitchen.

2.

If the onions in the jjajang (짜장) sauce is soft and soggy, try not to order from that restaurant again. Soggy onions mean the place makes a large batch of the sauce and uses it until it runs out. Don’t waste your money on sauce that isn’t fresh!

3.

Have you ever ordered sweet and sour pork and got something that has turned rock hard, rather than crunchy good? That means the restaurant didn’t use fresh ingredients to make the menu. Old pork can give off a terrible smell too.

4.

Watch out if the fried rice comes out way too quickly. This should hint that the restaurant cooks the fried rice in large portions, keeps it warm in a rice cooker, and serves whenever it’s ordered. There’s no way to tell how old that fried rice is.

5.

If your jjambbong (짬뽕), or the spicy noodle dish, smells funky, it is likely the restaurant isn’t doing a good job of keeping their seafood ingredients fresh. Seafood can start smelling fishy, even if it hasn’t gone bad just yet. Watch out when ordering from such a restaurant!

6.

Chinese restaurants that only deliver, without a serving hall, are much more likely to pay little to no attention to keeping the kitchen clean because there aren’t customers watching. Be careful when ordering from delivery-only Chinese food restaurants.

7.

If the jjajang sauce has a sour aftertaste, it might be better to throw it out. There is no vinegar used to make the jjajang sauce, so it shouldn’t be sour. If it’s sour, either the dish was cooked with a base soybean paste that has gone bad or really old onions.