Story by Chan Lilian
Pix by Amanda Khong
KOREAN restaurants are mushrooming in Penang as they seem to be getting popular for several reasons.
The spiciness of Korean food suits the local palate.
The simplicity of the cooking and dishes prepared from lots of vegetables are healthy choices for health conscious people.
While many associate it with the more upmarket restaurants and hence more expensive price tags, engineer Ken Yeoh, 33, is about to change that perception.
Ken has brought Korean food prepared with a high standard and quality ingredients used by Korean restaurants to local hawker complexes under the brand name Bee Won Korean Food, with one at the recently opened BSP Waterfront Food Court at Persiaran Karpal Singh.
In Korean, Bee Won means “secret garden”.
“My business partner, who is Korean, has opened outlets at 1st Avenue and Gurney Paragon while I chose to go to hawker centres. I source the ingredients from Korea and I personally make sure that my staff prepare them specifically to the timing and amount given,” Ken told the Buletin Mutiara team when we went to his outlet.
The first dish introduced by Ken is the dukbokki.
It is soft, chewy rice cakes resembling chee cheong fun but with spicy Korean sauce.
You can tell them how spicy you want it to be. Whether it is tongue numbing spicy or mild, it is an interesting snack food with fish cakes, sesame seeds and seaweed.
What’s Korean food without kimchi, right?
At Bee Won you can have kimchi pancakes, kimchi ramen and kimchi on its own.
Talking about pancakes, there are several varieties available.
Try the seafood one which is delicious.
Or if you are a rice person, you will love the bibimbap or hot stone rice. The soft tofu stew is also a hot selling item and if you want some comfort food, the ginseng chicken soup is the perfect choice.
Some of the sets go for only RM10 each.
Ken intends to keep Korean food affordable and yet, tasty and authentic. He received some VIP guests during the opening of the BSP Waterfront outlet when Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was at the opening of the complex, dropped by with several exco members, assemblymembers and councillors.
Indeed, young professionals like Ken have successfully brought an international touch to local hawker outlets.
At BSP Waterfront, you can find Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Western and Japanese food besides our famous Penang fare.
Bee Won Korean Food is open for lunch, dinner and supper at BSP Waterfront Food Court.
Bee Won also has outlets at Gurney Paragon and 1st Avenue Mall food courts which are open for lunch and dinner.
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