Mixed Reactions to Jajangmyeon
August 26, 2013 3:58 PM   Subscribe

What's with the (possibly perceived on my part) mixed reactions I get when I ask for this Korean dish?

I'm an American in the Midwest and a big fan of Korean food (but by no means am I a connoisseur). Years ago I discovered jajangmyeon at a little hole-in-the-wall and liked it very much--bits of pork and seafood in a jet-black savory sauce over noodles. When I related to my server how much I liked it, she seemed pleased and said hardly anyone ever ordered it (I had never heard of it, but tried it based on its description on the menu).

Since then, I've gotten sort of strange mixed reactions when asking for it in different Korean restaurants in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. At places that had it on the menu, my servers would chuckle or their eyes would light up upon my ordering it ("Oh, you want jajang?" with a big smile); at places that didn't have it on the menu, I'd get an almost curt "No, we don't have that."

At first I thought maybe I was mispronouncing the name of the dish, but I've tried asking for it "cold" (without pointing to it on the menu or indicating that I was unsure of its pronunciation) and was understood without a problem. FWIW, the dishes others in my party ordered have never gotten a reaction from the server other than the usual "Okay, very good, and for you?" Then I began to wonder whether it's considered the equivalent of mac-and-cheese or some other such amateurish comfort food, and kind of insulting to ask for. Except that I've gotten the happy face and the cold response in both down- and upscale Korean places. Maybe it connotes a particular Korean ethnicity or social group that's in/out of favor with the staff of that particular restaurant?

Am I imagining these sort of skewed reactions to my ordering jajangmyeon, or is there some reason it's especially liked/disliked in some parts of the Korean community?
posted by Rykey to Food & Drink (11 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
It sounds like the places who are curt are curt because... they don't have it, and don't make it, and you're being perceived as the stupid American who didn't even bother to read the menu before ordering... I can understand that being frustrating for a waiter even if they like the dish you're asking for. Have you gotten a curt response from any place that DID have it on the menu?
posted by brainmouse at 4:01 PM on August 26, 2013 [11 favorites]


If it's not on the menu, they might not have the ingrediants, or they don't do special orders. The pleased responses might be in appreciation for your verging away from the standard dishes everyone orders.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:10 PM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Maybe the places that don't have it on the menu think you are being rude and stereotyping them, like 'oh hey you're Korean, make me this Korean food I heard of! You must have the ingredients and recipe ready because it's Korean just like the other Korean food you put on the menu!"
posted by jacalata at 4:19 PM on August 26, 2013 [9 favorites]


My mom calls jajangmyeon "Chinese noodles," and that was the only name I knew for the dish until I was well into my twenties. I've always thought (though not necessarily correctly) there was a connotation that jajangmyeon is not-quite-entirely-Korean.
posted by brina at 4:28 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


At least in Maryland, jjajangmyeon is mainly sold by specialized Korean-Chinese restaurants that will also serve jjampong, tangsooyook, and kkanpunggi. Occasionally a normal Korean restaurant will offer it, but it's rarely listed on the menu and they only offer it as a special (see the numerous signs taped to the wall written in Korean). It is not a dish as ubiquitous as bulgogi or doengjang jjigae because it requires specialized noodles that aren't used very often outside of the aforementioned Korean-Chinese dishes.

If you have a lot of good Chinese restaurants nearby you might try searching for zha jiang mian, which is what jjajangmyeon is based on. Less sweet, more savory, equally good.
posted by rq at 4:31 PM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


Maybe it connotes a particular Korean ethnicity or social group....

Sort of. As the wikipedia page implies (but not clearly enough), it is not really Korean food, it is Korean-style Chinese food - I think associated with a Korean diaspora in the Shandong region of China? I am not really familiar with the history but it is definitely viewed as "foreign" food in the Korean context or at least an obscure subset of Korean food. This is from my Korean in-laws btw.

My experience in the Bay Area is consistent with yours - more traditional Korean restaurants will not have 짜장면, only a few do. In fact in SF you have to go to Japantown of all places to find it, and I don't think any of the old-school Korean places in Oakland have it either.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:32 PM on August 26, 2013


Response by poster: Yeah, that's occurred to me, brainmouse, and I can see where it'd be frustrating (restaurant work veteran here), except: 1) A few places had the "some of our 50+ dishes are on one of these three menus, some are on another, and still others are only on the signs/chalkboards at the register" kind of setup. So I didn't feel unreasonable asking for something in case I'd missed it. 2) Other places have definitely done special orders (judging from the requests of other diners). 3) Many of my international friends have told me that they often order "off the menu" at their respective native-culture restaurants (I realize that ethnic restaurants≠Korean restaurants, ≠all Korean restaurants, etc.). 4) In every other way, the server was most pleasant and accommodating--and not at all rude about the jajangmyeon--just... a little abrupt. Kind of akin to the response you might get in Little Italy if you asked for Spaghettios ("Uh...no.")

It may well be that I'm coming across as rude, and if so, I'll be careful not to ask for this dish unless I see it on the menu. Of course it's also possible that I am misinterpreting curtness, or that I just happened to get a more-frustrated-than-average server each time. I was just curious as to whether there was a reason beyond the typical ones why this dish might elicit a particular reaction.

Thanks for the answers so far!
posted by Rykey at 4:33 PM on August 26, 2013


Best answer: Rykey, rq has it. Jajangmyeon is pretty much only sold by Chinese-Korean (or is it Korean-Chinese?) restaurants. Even if you go to the Korean restaurants with the 20 page menus, they are highly unlikely to have it. My best analogy would be if you went to an all-American diner (with a 20 page menu) and asked for chopsuey or General Tso's chicken. Chopsuey/General Tso's chicken is an American dish in that it was popularized by American-Chinese (Chinese-American?) restaurants, but not something you could easily find at even the most all-encompassing American roadside diners.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:37 PM on August 26, 2013 [9 favorites]


So the curt reaction is probably "whah? we're a Korean restaurant, silly wabbit."

Growing up in suburban Chicago in the 1980s, I only got jajangmyeon when we hit up the Chinese Korean place on Lawrence Ave. You can now pick up instant versions at the Korean supermarket (which, if it has a food court, is a better bet for jajangmyeon) but they all taste weird and metallic to me.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:41 PM on August 26, 2013


In Korea you'd only go to places specifically known for jajangmyeon. Like restaurants that only serve that. Here in San Francisco, the only places I know of that have it are the chinese-korean spots and like places with 'jajang' in the name.

Wouldn't stop me from asking though. They're probably not as annoyed as you think.
posted by danny the boy at 4:43 PM on August 26, 2013


Response by poster: Even if you go to the Korean restaurants with the 20 page menus, they are highly unlikely to have it.

Well, now I feel really lucky to have found a restaurant really close to home in my new town that serves jajangmyeon (and a bunch of other stuff--it's a Korean-owned pan-Asian place that serves everything from Korean to Chinese to Viet to Thai and Indian)!
posted by Rykey at 4:53 PM on August 26, 2013


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