Job Discussion Forums

[ChuckECheese]

[ChuckECheese]

I prefer Korean food because Korean food is healthier and tastier. I find Korean food healthy because they use less MSG then Vietnamese food.

Korean food portion is much larger than Vietnamese. I also love the fact that when eating at Korean restaurants, there is abundance of delicious side dishes and they don't charge additional money for them. Also, unlike Vietnamese food, Korean side dish refills are all free.

At any Vietnamese restaurant, it's very annoying when you have to pay for every little side dish. And they base the food with MSG. The Vietnamese noodle "Pho" soup is 50% MSG. (50% is a little exaggeration, but close to it)

Another good example is that when you go to a really upscale Italian or Western restaurant in HCM city and order some past dish (i.e. spaghetti), don't assume that garlic bread will be included with the meal. You have to order the garlic bread separately and pay for them. It just amazes me how these upscale restaurants will nickel and dime you to death...

Why don't they just include everything with the meal and jack up the price a bit.

Well, these are the reasons why I like Korean food better than Vietanamese food.

[larryB]

[huxter]

"Many" Vietnamese restaurants not using MSG is something I seriously doubt. Surely these restaurants are in the majority. After all, MSG is a way of making food out of the most simple ingredients taste halfway-decent and Vietnam, still being a very poor country, naturally embraces such a product.

Although I have lived and worked in Hanoi for the past three years, the first thing I see in provincial shops while away on weekend motorbike trips is shelves laden with packets of Mi-Won "seasoning", and this is in places where even Coca Cola is hard to come by!

Having lived in Korea beforehand, Korean food reigns supreme in my view. I see going for a Korean meal in Hanoi as a treat, a Vietnamese meal as more of a chore (besides a handful of restaurants which dish up good food). Korean food has much more taste and a wider variety of flavours, not to mention significantly less oil. Bring on the Sam-gyeob-sal!!

However, I still believe that, despite my views on the culinary virtues (or lack of) of each country, Hanoi is still by far and away superior to Seoul as a city to live in. But that's a different story....

[larryB]

I hear ya Huxter - but I mean restaurants. You are talking about rural shacks that sell one dish, like pho or something. I eat in restaurants, rather than market stalls. Most market stalls believe the hype and use that stuff, sure, and as you say, it may be poverty / ignorance, but it is also across the region.

I also love Korean food. Was simply pointing out how Chuck E Cheese keeps trying to put Vietnam down - this time by calling pasta and garlic bread Vietnamese food!

[ChuckECheese]

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

While you may not agree with the message, don't take it out on the messenger. Stick to the topic. The topic is not the messenger.

[jaganath69]

Anyone who thinks Korean is better than Viet must be huffing the crack pipe, seriously. Think flavour, subtle and varied, that is Viet food. Then think boiled bark in chili, no other discernable taste, that is Korean.

[kigolo1881]

Korean food is not bad, that is mostly the bbq style of restaurants.

However most meats such as galbi is saturated in a thick marinade that at first tastes great, but after awhile is just a pity to the tastebuds, hence the meat taste is obsolete.
Samgyupsal on the other hand is just cuts from the belly resembling bacon, however it is totally bland and you need another dip/sauce for any flavor. When you order ribs, they come just as nature intended them to be and one has to add some salt or Red Hot Pepper paste.

If you eat seafood in Korea, it looks similar to a hotpot but there's just water in it and all the pretty mussels, clams, snails etc have no flavor, hence you will again need the red hot pepper paste.
When you eat korean sushi, there are a few types of fish, but guess what, they all are bland and have no flavor, unless you dip them into soysauce and wasabi or RED HOT PEPPER PASTE.

Many more korean dishes are great, there's a variety of sidedishes to each meal, however, half of those are pickled in red hot pepper paste and taste like kimchi. Oh yea, kimchi's has a million different varieties such as the all-too famous cabbage kimchi, cucumber kimchi, radish kimchi, baby radish halves kimchi, cubed radish kimchi, sliced radish kimchi, etc.
Besides those, there are of course the greens, green veggies pickled in red hot pepper paste.

it's interesting at first to have so many diff. sidedishes, but not for long when one finds out that those sidedishes are ALWAYS there at every meal, and i've noticed that even korean's barely touch any of those. It's just a nice decoration to pretend there's a fully set table.

SPAM is interestingly popular in many dishes due to the influence of the military in S.Korea. Can't argue that, THAT is healthy.
chuckecheese, i think you were brainwashed to believe that korean food is best for your wellbeing.

~~~~~~~~
Viet food has its share of MSG, but it's overrated and "NOT POISON"
Pho has a bit of msg, but also fresh veggies, noodles, beef, herbs etc and is much more wholesame than many korean dishes combined.

There are many different types of dishes in viet. food, ranging from bland, salty, spicy to mild, but the main difference is that each dish is edible in its own and there's no need for the all purpose red hot pepper paste to make a dish decent.

What about Goi Cuon? Spring rolls, with etiher shrimps, fatty pork (like samgyupsal), or even fried fishsticks?
What about Cha Gio? Eggrolls with shredded pork and glassnoodles and carrots?
What about Bun Bo Heo? Udon type of noodles in a nice pork broth that has been cooked for hours to drain out the juices.
What about Thit Nuon? Charcoal flavored grilled meat on with rice and an optional sunny side-up fried egg, cucumbers and slice of tomatoes?
What about Hu Thieu? Rice noodles in ground shrimp and tofu paste, with crab meat and tomatoes bits in a wholesome seafood broth?
What about Lau Muc? A hotpot wiht baby squid, celery, and other veggies?
What about Can Chua? A soup made with fish or chicken, beansprouts, celery and pineapples?

Thats just to name a few.

~~~~

Don't get me wrong, one's preference on certain cuisine is his/her domain and shall never be put into question. Just as you voiced your preference over another, so did I.

Bottom line. I really like to eat all sorts of food, whether its from Korea, Vietnam or anywhere else.

PS: i just hate TOMATOES!

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

A few comments:

1. I have NEVER been in a restaurant where garlic bread is included. It's always an extra. But all the French restaurants in HCMC include normal bread with the meals.
2. I used to think Vietnamese food was the worst in the world until I tried Korean, and found it to be even more bland & tasteless than VNese. Both countries seem to think the best way to cook food is to boil it until no taste remains, though I'll make an exception in the case of Vietnamese seafood which is superb (particularly at Hong Hai restaurant, Pham Ngoc Thach St)