Guksi — Restaurant in Providencia

I was feeling like Korean soup. I've l lived in SFO and Oakland, and dated 2 Korean women. Over 2 decades I've tasted really good Korean food, and I feel I can say with confidence -- for a gringo lol--  what is good Korean and what is not.

Giwon is not.

I ordered the soup. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't Korean. It was a mix between chicken noodle soup and egg flower soup, but with the egg in tiny curds rather than stringy (flowery). I took a few sips and that was that

I also ordered the fried chicken with the red sauce. If you've ever tasted the real thing, you know you're in for a treat: the chicken is crunchy, the sauce completely envelopes the chicken.

The first batch of chicken wasn't crunchy all around and wasn't completely coated with sauce-- it's as if they had a shortage of sauce in the kitchen or otherwise were skimping.

The second batch had the same lack of sauce problem, and the chicken this time was covered in a donut type batter (think corndog type texture).

I ate a couple of pieces and ordered the check.

Kind of bummed out, I got on my phone and saw that about five blocks away there was another Korean restaurant -- BIWON--  that might be worth a try. I went there.

Unfortunately that one also ended up...

The food is pretty good, it looks like it's really authentic, the size of the portion is adequate, but still a litte expensive for a bowl of miso soup with ok handmade noodles, for such a limited menu, they shouldn't have ran out of kombucha, I think there are some things that could improve. The place has two long tables on which you'll have to share with strangers, but I think that's part of the experience they try to bring to us. The service was ok, but at the time we went nobody else was there, and it took ages for them to notice that we needed to check out. I think we were lucky it wasn't crowded, but overall it was a good experience. Fun fact: it resembles a lot to similar ramen...

As a Japanese native, raised in Vancouver Canada, lived in Toronto and Miami and now Brazil, and traveled to eat in over 50+ countries, a gourmet foodie and chef, I am always chasing some good asian eats that I have experienced in Canada. I’m not sure how this place has good reviews, their food is NOT korean. I ordered a kimchi tonkatsu ramen and the noodles were terribly mushy like instant noodles style. I also ordered a spicy mayo fried chicken, which was good but it was japanese karaage, NOT korean fried chicken. Very disappointing meal, don’t...