Experts in Korean food say you can typically know the quality of a Korean restaurant's food by its banchan, or the little free appetizers that come out before the meal.
I am by no means an expert on Korean food. In fact, I've never been to Korea. So, I can't really comment on authenticity. However, I can say that the banchan at Joon Go was quite tasty, and overall, our lunch there was pretty enjoyable.
I can't resist a good seafood pancake. It's one of my favorite Korean foods and the one at Joon Go was crispy on the outside, flavorful and substantial on the inside, and definitely satisfied my pajeon cravings.
I had originally sought out Joon Go because my Korean colleague had told me about how much he loved and missed Korean naengmyeon (냉면), a cold, chewy noodle made from buckwheat and potato starch.
Not many places in Hong Kong offer it, but he had read that Joon Go had this unique dish.
I think I got confused, so I ended up ordering the wrong dish. Instead of ordering naengmyeon, I ordered the cold buckwheat noodles, which are more like traditional soba noodles and not as chewy as the cold ones. These cold buckwheat soba noodles were fine and pretty healthy, but they didn't stand out in any way.
The bi bim bop was a bit of a disappointment because the rice did not really form a crispy crust on the bottom. It was more like a normal bi bim bop served in a stone bowl.
All in all, the food at Joon Go was reasonable good but did not blow us away. My favorites were the banchan and the seafood pancake. I wish I had ordered the naengmyeon correctly, because I think that's one of the things that makes this restauramt a bit more unique. We haven't been back since that first time, so unfortunately it's hard for me to comment on the rest of the food.
In short, I think it Joon Go offers pretty good Korean if you're in the area and feel like Korean. Because I have not tried too many dishes, I can't comment too much more about the place.
Next time I go, I will most certainly ask specifically for the naengmyeon!
Joon Go Korean Restaurant
209 Jaffe Rd, Wan Chai
