Soon Dae Ya @ Ampang Korean Village

 A friend whom I met from Korean language class introduced me to Soon Dae Ya when we were excitedly talking about Korean food in Malaysia. According to my friend, Soon Dae Ya is so far the best Korean restaurant she had ever tried as she felt the food is really authentic and it's even recommended by her Korean friends. Apparently, Soon Dae Ya is well-known even among the local Koreans. After reading some reviews of the restaurant, I'm not surprised by the restaurant's popularity because Soon Dae Ya serves a very special dish that we couldn't find elsewhere other than Soon Dae Ya itself. Does this make you very curious already? Haha.

So this very special dish we are talking about is 순대 (Soon Dae). Some of you might be wondering what is this Soon Dae. Or those who are familiar with K-drama might have heard of it before. 순대 (Soon Dae), also referred to as Korean blood sausage, is a Korean dish made generally by boiling or steaming cow or pig's intestines that are stuffed with various ingredients.The most common type of sundae is made of pig's intestines stuffed with cellophane noodles (dangmyeon), barley, and pork blood. It is also a popular street food in North Korea and South Korea.

Self-explanatory poster. The main attraction here is none other than the 순대 (Soon Dae) itself.

 If you know where is Shin Sun Mi Korean Market or Nabe Bakery, then you can easily locate Soon Dae Ya. Soon Dae Ya is located above an Arabian Food Market called Berkat Madinah.

Hubby's welcome-to-the-shop pose. Haha. And that's my hubby's mum who loves to enjoy Korean food as well.

 We decided to order Soon Dae and Bossam. Both are highly recommended by food bloggers.

Lovely photo of Hubby and his mum.

Another shot of them.

 Look how they serve the complimentary Kimchi and Kkakdugi in old-fashioned pots!

Hubby's mum showing the Kkakdugi (radish kimchi) in pot!

Look at the portion of the Kimchi given! So generous! For the first time I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish the Kimchi. Usually I would finish the Kimchi all by myself but not this time. Haha.

깍두기 (radish kimchi)! 깍두기 is a type of kimchi but uses cubed white radish instead of cabbage.

My all-time favourite, 김치(Kimchi). The colour of the 김치(Kimchi) is so inviting and appealing with its deep red colour of the gochujang and certainly is a good appetizer for us before indulging in our meaty affairs.

All of us didn't know what to do with the three huge green chili. I think Koreans eat it like raw cucumber but we decided to give it a pass.

Another close-up shot of the beautifully marinated 김치(Kimchi).

 Green Onion Pancake or 파전 (Pajeon)! This is a complimentary dish and we are very happy to be able to try it. It's obvious that the restaurant is very generous with the amount of carrots and green onion. It's very different from our Chinese green onion pancake as the Korean version has less batter and more ingredients, which makes every bite very crunchy. Besides, dipping the 파전 (Pajeon) in the special sauce will accentuate the rich savoury flavour of the pancake. Definitely the best 파전 (Pajeon) I have ever had so far.

 Spot my new hairstyle! This time I'm spotting a new fringe and shorter hair length.

I'm craving for it already! It's actually a simple dish to make so I'm going to make my own 파전 (Pajeon) next time!

Here comes the star of the day! Soon Dae!

 Look how beautiful they are!

Although the 순대 (Soon Dae) have different colours and stuffings, each of them tastes quite similar to me so it's hard to distinguish them from each other. One thing for sure is all of them are stuffed with cellophane noodles which makes it very chewy. As you can see, the 순대 (Soon Dae) is steamed on a steamer! Hence it's actually a very light dish which will not burden your stomach even after gobbling down all of them. 

So beautiful that they deserve more close-up shots.

So I'm guessing this is the one with pork blood stuffings by looking from its colour which is dark blood red.

 Complimentary pork broth without any seasonings so it's just pure broth.

보쌈(Bossam)! The pork belly is boiled in a broth that contains ginger and onions to reduce the smell which explains why we have the complimentary pork broth. Salty and spicy condiments are used to spice up the flavour like 쌈장 (a mixture of red pepper paste and bean paste) or 새우죽 (shrimp paste).  Surprisingly, the boiled pork belly doesn't taste bland at all and is even more flavourful than the usual grilled pork BBQ. I never thought that steamed or boiled pork belly could taste so delicious until I tried this out.

When I said each bite of these pork belly is heavenly, I'm dead serious about it. I even shut my eyes close while chewing just to focus on the amazing flavour that oozes out with every bite.

Epic Korean meal! 

Complimentary Korean Barley drink after our satisfying meal. Very refreshing indeed after all the meaty dishes we had.

 A special condiment they serve here is 새우죽 (shrimp paste) which is very similar with our shrimp paste. I normally don't eat shrimp paste because of the strong odour. This time I decided to give it a try by adding it in my 보쌈 (Bossam) and surprisingly it compliments the pork belly so well that I'm no longer afraid of eating shrimp paste. The reason why I'm highlighting this it's because I strongly recommend the combination of pork belly with shrimp paste!

Hubby is happy and satisfied with all the good food!

The wall is full with words scribbled by customers who visited the restaurant.

Hubby and Hubby's mum relaxing after a good, satisfying meal.

Me!

Photo of us!

Overall, I think I just had my best Korean food experience so far! Everything is really good here and this place is a must try for all Korean food lovers. I'm serious about this! Would definitely come back to try the pork cutlet and beef soup which are some of the dishes recommended by food bloggers as well! I'm officially in love with 순대아 (Soon Dae Ya)!

Address:

17-L2 Jalan Ampang Putra,

 Taman Putra Sulaiman,

68000 Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
(Same row as Bangi Kopitiam)

Tel: 04-2515170

by

CSY