So, my husband and I had seen this place in Annandale for some time and
were somewhat drawn to it since nothing on the outside was written in English
and it held the promise of potentially authentic Korean food. We kept forgetting this little non-descript
place and finally decided to try it out when we had a guest in town.
Nak Won is a small restaurant in a tiny shopping center. Again, non-descript, right next to a Verizon
Wireless store (and an optical store I think…can’t remember). Parking is obviously scarce, but besides the
parking out front, there are a few spots in the back.
Overall, the menu seems to have a tasty number of dishes (and it’s in
English). However, there is a special on
there that is only Korean. I can only
assume that it must be something good, but without a translator, I can’t really
confirm. If someone can translate it, I
would be grateful =).
 |
| Nak Won Nom Noms |
 |
| Wonder what’s so special about the Special? |
The banchan (sides) were pretty good:
 |
| Nak Won Kimchee, Bean Sprouts, and Seaweed banchan |
- Kimchee: Standard Korean fare – good spice / sourness.
- Bean Sprouts: Wasn’t a fan of it. It had a bit too much of that fermented / spoilt taste.
- Seaweed: Standard.
 |
| Nak Won Cucumber and Shredded radish banchan |
- Spicy, pickled cucumber: Good flavor, not overly pickled / sour or spicy. I think I still prefer the version served in Viet Goel Lightouse.
- Shredded radish (?): This is like the Korean version of coleslaw but not quite packed with as much mayo. It was a bit on the warm side for me so I wasn’t fond of it.
 |
| Nak Won simple zuchini banchan |
- Sautéed Zuchini: Simple flavor but good.
Onto our order:
- Seafood Pancake: For those of you that haven’t had the pancake, it’s essentially a combination of egg / starch with different seafood (e.g., shrimp, squid, etc.), green veggies, and sometimes jalapenos / green peppers. Nak Won provides quite a large serving. We ended up taking a quarter of it home. It’s thick, starchy, satisfying with a good kick of spice when you bite into one of the embedded jalapeno chunks. The pancake has more veggies and barely any seafood, so that was disappointing. For the price of $14, we were hoping for some more seafood.
 |
| Seafood Pancake (but more veggie than seafood) |
- Beef Short Ribs Soup: This was quite tasty and there were very large chunks of beef (a nice surprise and a great positive). The broth was satisfying but from a flavor standpoint, I may still prefer Yechon’s version.
 |
| Hearty Beef Short Ribs Soup |
- Seafood Soft Tofu Hotpot: Overall, good spice, light tasting, but not much seafood in it. It was more tofu with sparse seafood. I still prefer the versions served at Viet Goel Lightouse.
 |
| Seafood Soft Tofu Hotpot (Got gypped on the seafood again) |
- Grilled Mackerel & Bean Paste Soup: This was a very flavorful dish. The fish is a lot more filling than I expected and you can taste the grilled flavor. The bean soup was salty (as expected) and has good chunks of onion, jalapenos, and tofu. Overall a good dish, but the dish is better at Ga Bo Ja.
 |
| Grilled Mackerel & Soup: Simple and tasty |
So, overall,
the food was good and the pricing is pretty average (i.e., somewhat pricey) compare
to the other Korean eats. I’m not sure
if we’ll become regular customers of this particular restaurant, but we may
give it another go to try out the lunch specials and to sample the other
dishes, such as the BBQ, in the future.
Check
it out: http://www.yelp.com/biz/nak-won-restaurant-annandale
Food Quality:
Flavorful
and filling.
3.5
Moos
Service:
The
waitress was friendly but nothing above normal service. As with most Korean restaurants in Annandale,
you probably do get better service if you’re Korean.
3
Moos
Overall Rating:
Overall,
food was good but I think that from what we tried, the only item that stood out
was the Beef Short Ribs Soup. My rating
could change if we come back to try out the much talked about BBQ.
3.5
Moos
No comments:
Post a Comment