Myung Dong might be the most carefully camouflaged restaurant in Houston. There is no listing for it in any of the food guides for Houston. Even Google isn’t aware it exists. The only reference I found to it was from an Alison Cook review - from 1994.
Although there is a small English sign on the shopping center marquee it fades almost completely into the background. The convex shape of the building and the odd glow given off by the green plastic that drapes the windows make the structure look like a decommissioned a B-movie spacecraft. It certainly doesn’t look like a restaurant.
I went in anyway, convinced that only people intent on keeping great food from n00bs would go through this much trouble to hide it. My original destination was the La Roca next door, which serves up some of the best pupusas on what may be the best stretch of pupuserias in Houston. Korean food in this neighborhood? Not so much.
Step inside Muyng Dong and you may wonder if you have been transported to North Korea. Few people know what North Korea really looks like, but I have been to more than a few Soviet institutional spaces to easily suspend disbelief. Naked fluorescent light fixtures. Brown window treatments. Formica tables. Surplus cafeteria chairs.
The food I had at my one and only visit, however, was quite good.
Normally I’d eat bibimbap at the restaurant because the best part comes from the crisped bits of rice at the bottom of the bowl. Myung Dong packaged the rice, meat, vegetables, sauces and a perfectly fried egg separately that I was able to use my favorite cast iron pan to get the exact consistency I want at home. The red tinted rice was a bit more flavorful than typical white rice, so I think my next bibimpab order will be at in the dining room to see how it tastes when it doesn’t have to travel.
The typical sides that come with the Korean meal seemed quite a step above most restaurants as well and seemed more like foods you’d find in a Korean home. The kimchee was excellent, but my favorite were the tiny little dried fish, which look like seaweed salad, but have a great briny fishy taste.
The seafood pancake, often a flat crepe-like affair, had the consistency and volume of a very moist and doughy cornbread. I could have done without the imitation crab, but other than that it was the best part of the meal.
