Hwang Jin Yi at Desa Sri Hartamas: Restaurant Review

From the seas of Korea to the suburbs of KL: Hwang Jin Yi is a hidden cove In Sri Hartamas where the bounty of the ocean comes flooding in, awash with everything from puffer fish bulgogi to steamed stuffed sea bream, hairtail fish to tile fish, skate fish pancakes & croaker fish stew to pollack hot pot.

Diverse Menu

Tucked on the first floor of a Hartamas shop-lot, Hwang Jin Yi currently lures mainly Korean customers, but it wants to now cast its net wider to reach Malaysians too. Its aquariums are not extensively populated, but its menu is impressively diverse, with many recipes we’ve not spotted elsewhere.

An Acquired Taste: Skate Fish Offal Stew

For the truly bold, we suggest this ‘skate fish offal stew’ (RM100) – said to be similar to Iceland’s notorious ‘rotten shark meat’ (hakari). The internal organs of skate fish are fermented for weeks, imparting an extremely pungent ammonia-rich smell that’ll burn up the nostrils, cooked in a mushy, what-the-heck’s-inside stew with a savoury flavour that’ll wake you up better than coffee. Warning: This is the ultimate definition of an acquired taste; many local customers may struggle to finish two spoonfuls.

Grilled Mackerel

Need something safer? Straight from Jeju Island comes finny pleasures such as this mackerel, salted & grilled (RM60).

Seaweed Soup

Also more comforting than horrifying: Steaming-hot seaweed fulvescens soup (miyeokguk), customarily a celebratory birthday dish. Thick, slimy & nourishing, made with maesengi seaweed (an autumnal delicacy), studded with sesame seeds & filled with hidden treasures of plump oysters.

Wrapping up with more oysters, this time in a mound of Hwang Jin Yi’s house-prepared kimchi, meant to be paired with pork belly & bundled in lettuce leaves for a meaty, moreish meal.

Hwang Jin Yi’s ‘banchan’ side dishes are appreciably varied, with sea snails, quail eggs, konnyaku jelly, glass noodles & biscuits all coming into play alongside the more typical veggies & pastes.