Japchae - Rice Heaven

Free with an order of Ramyun

This Japchae (glass noodle tossed with mixed veggies) is one the free side dishes that came with my previous order at this restaurant.  I used to always like the free side dishes here before. But like the Ramyun that I ordered, this Japchae wasn't as good as before, this tasted old.  Anybody who is familiar with food seasoned with soy sauce is familiar with the smell of "old" soy sauce seasoned food.  There is a hint of stinky smell in such old food. Food that is seasoned with soy sauce that sits in room temperature for too long often generates this hint of stinky smell.  The food is still edible and you normally won't get sick from it, I know because I had eaten  a lot of such food in my life. Some of such food came from my grandma who left the food out on the dining table for too long before I got to it. While I never got sick from it,   the subtle stinky old soy sauce smell  wasn't pleasant. I could eat it when I was a child who visited my thrifty grandma after a long day of school and was starving.  But I always resented the stinky smell whenever I detected it from the food that my thrifty granny was just saving for too long.  I have to give credit to my mom for "always" serving me fresh food. My own mother never served food that didn't taste good.  My grandma was a good cook too but there was always this 20% chance of my visits with her when she served me food with that stinky soy sauce smell.  

Besides the Japchae, the rest of the side dishes were also not as good, or fresh.  The fish cake slices were somewhat tolerable, and they were on the edge of going stale too but not yet.  The Kimchee just tasted spoiled to me, and it was so bad that I had to spit it out. I had never spitted out Kimchee and this was my first time doing so.  I never knew Kimchee could get spoiled, since it's a pickle. But now I realize even Kimchee can get spoiled.  It's too bad, because I used to love the Kimchee in here so much that I offered to pay extra to buy more to take home.

Again, I think it's important for restaurant managers to really taste the food before they serve to the customers.  If the taste is off, don't put it out there, because it's just not good for the business.  I don't think this one single incident will stop me from returning to this restaurant. It's because I'm sure this Japchae was good when it was fresh.  I know because I had it many times in this restaurant before. I hope this is just a one-time oversight.

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