Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant & Nabe Bakery @ Ampang

Thanks to Chris who discovered Uncle Jang from their Facebook page, the glowing review sparked our interest and our curiosity get the better of us. Hence, we were all set to sample the famous Chuncheon Dak Galbi dish in Ampang few days back.

Dak Galbi is a popular South Korean dish where marinated chicken cubes are stir fried in a go chu jang (chili pepper paste) sauce together with cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and tteok (rice cake) on a hot plate. Dak Galbi originates from Chuncheon, Gangwan Province. Hence the dish is also called Chuncheon Chicken (春川炒辣鸡). It is also known as the commoners galbi or university student galbi because of it’s huge portion and reasonable pricing. So occasionally, tummy fillers like cheese, ramen, udon and rice are thrown in.

One can choose to sit on floor cushions or chairs at this popular no-frills restaurant. Food will be served on a cast iron hot plate that is situated in the center of every table. We were there early, but soon after the place was bursting at the seems with mostly Korean patrons, almost 80% of them – always a good sign.

Saw the caricature of Uncle Jang? According to their facebook fans, it resembles the owner Uncle Jang so much.

This simple, neat and absolutely typical budget Korean diner has a bilingual menu and specialises in dak galbi (spicy, RM 22 or non spicy, RM 19) along with other simple dishes such as samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and dakgyetang (kimchi chicken soup with rice). By the way, dak (pronounce as duck) means chicken in Korean.

They even have a step by step guide on how to prepare the dak galbi dish. But fret not, as the foreign worker will do most of the cooking. Just sit back and relax!

Remember to put on the apron if you are a messy eater.

Cute right?

Upon seated, we were served with a fine range of complimentary condiments, cabbages, kim chi and pickled onions.

We went for both spicy (RM 22) and non spicy dak galbi (RM 19), plus an order of tteok (downloaded a complimentary voucher from their FB page) and ramen (RM 6). It took awhile for the chicken to cook thoroughly so we were all sweating from the heat. The chicken was pretty spicy; even after we asked for a 1:1 ratio. We’ll go for 2 (non spicy): 1 (spicy) next time.

However there is something special about a group of us eating out of the same pan. It’s real fun! When you are left with a quarter of the food, signal the server to add rice,seaweed and greens (RM 6)  to the leftover dak galbi and the result was the best part of the meal. Very delicious fried rice!

So basically with all that food plus a delicious fried rice that was served towards the end of our meal, 2 servings was more than enough for 3-4 girls.

Dakgalbi can be enjoyed on its own or wrapped in lettuce leaves for a fresh, clean taste.

All in all, Uncle Jang serves delicious, scrumptious, outstanding Chuncheon Dak Galbi and we love it to every bits! The price is fairly reasonable as we paid less than RM 15 per person. We’ll definitely be going back, because we don’t really mind smelling like food post dinner. 🙂

Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant
D7 Jalan Excella III, Excella III,
Off Jalan Ampang Putra,
Taman Ampang Hilir,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-80512208

No 1-1, Jalan Puteri 1/7,
Bandar Puteri Puchong,
47100 Selangor.
Tel: 03-80512208

11-3, Solaris Mont Kiara,
Jalan Solaris 1, Solaris Mont Kiara,
50480, Kuala Lumpur.
TEL: 03-62112536
(above Maybank)

Opening Hours
Mon:12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Tues:6:00 pm – 11:00 pm,
Wed – Fri: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm

We were looking for a spicy after dinner treat and stumbled upon Nabe Bakery Cafe, located just 2-3 minutes drive away from Uncle Jang.

Having opened their door a month ago, business was thriving with mostly Korean patrons.

Nabe Bakery and Cafe is manned by a Korean husband and wife team, and they uses mostly Korean imported ingredients for their cakes and breads.

Iced Mocha (RM 9.50), believe me when I said that it tastes better than Starbucks (!!!)

Ivy’s Red Bean Icewater  aka Patbingsu (RM 9.50)was equally fascinating. Patbingsu is a famous korean shaved ice dessert and it came laden with fresh fruit cubes, sweetened azuki bean, small pieces of tteok (rice cake) and drizzled with fruit syrup! Our servings of patbingsu was huge enough to be shared too.

We could not resist having a slice of their cheesecake (RM 6.90) even after a very filling dinner. I find it a tad different from our conventional creamy, dense cheesecake as Nabe’s version was cottony light and fluffy. Not jelak at all!

I could see Nabe Bakery coming as the next RT Pastry House, the Korean version.

Nabe Bakery Cafe
No. 16-11, Ground Floor,
Jalan Ampang Putra,
68000 Ampang.