Due to the close geographic proximity of China and Korea, it is not uncommon for the two cuisines to be found side-by-side. But in Mok Hwa, a restaurant just located off the Syracuse University campus, the cuisines are fused together.

When I arrived in Mok Hwa, the small, modern-looking restaurant was filled with student and faculty customers. The waitress promptly greeted me and asked to sit.

Despite being busy, she quickly brought me ice water and three little bowls. One contained yellow cubes that she told me were spiced radish. They were coated in a sweet, spicy orange sauce and were really crunchy. The second contained steamed bean sprouts in the same colored orange sauce, which tasted less sweet. The final bowl contained cubes of soft, sweet potato in a light brown marinade. It literally melted in my mouth.

I tried to order the wonton soup but was informed the restaurant was out, so the waitress recommended that I try the hot and sour soup. It arrived in an average size bowl, generous for its price. It looked a lot like egg drop soup and consisted of a clear, goopy liquid with strands of cooked egg whites floating around. It was delicious, earthy and slightly peppery in taste. It contained rectangular tofu pieces, tender mushrooms and little chopped spring onions. The soup was thick, so it didn’t have the same slimy texture that I associate with egg drop soup.

The waitress also brought a little bowl of miso soup. I did not order it and am not 100 percent sure if it was complimentary or a mistake. Regardless, it was the best miso soup I ever had, having the perfect balance between salty and the rich, silky taste of soy. It had no seaweed pieces, but contained tiny tofu cubes which sunk to the bottom. I greedily finished it and wished the waitress would make another mistake and bring me another.

For the main dish, I ordered the beef bulgogi. It’s a dish made up of thinly sliced beef strips marinated in a sweet Korean barbecue sauce. It arrived, still sizzling, in a high stack on a hot black dish. The beef pieces were tender and easily ripped apart. The sauce on this was delicious — sweet and tasted similar to a teriyaki sauce, but thinner and filled with onions and rich mushrooms.

This meal also came with a small bowl of white rice in a little tin pot, but I actually wished they brought another bowl or plate out for this dish. It was very hard to eat the rice and the marinated beef together, since both plates were so packed with food.

I also ordered the popular beef bi bim bap meal. Its bottom layer was white rice. It was topped — in beautifully presented and separated segments — with mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, white onion, bean sprouts and seaweed leaves. In the center was minced beef that had been lightly seasoned and cooked in sesame oil, with a fried egg sprinkled with little seaweed strips.

I initially thought it looked like quite a small serving, but I was stuffed by the end. Everything was so fresh, and despite being steamed, the vegetables were still crisp and crunchy. The flavor of the beef had run through the dish and lightly crystalized the rice at the base, making it really chewy and crunchy, which I loved. The rice was also sticky rice, making it easy to attack with my minimal chopstick skills but not at all gooey.

The service was very minimal and efficient, so if you’re looking for something fresh and healthy to eat and don’t have a ton of time on your hands, you should definitely visit Mok Hwa. It’s definitely more expensive for a quick meal, but it’s worth it for the taste and quality.

Published on March 29, 2015 at 10:07 pm