Fusion, Dowon Chinese & Korean

I love it when I learn something new. Part of the fun of being in medicine is the constant learning and reinventing one has to do. We are all taught the base knowledge, shown how to apply it and then told to constantly question and relearn as new discoveries are made. Learning however is not just in medicine, and today I gleefully learnt of a new cuisine. New restaurants pop up in Winnipeg all the time, and Dowon Chinese & Korean Restaurant had been on my radar for the couple months they have been open. Initially I scoffed at the name and thought it featured Americanized cuisines, but I quickly perused the menu and found something new, something fascinating, something mindblowing: this was Korean Chinese cuisine. A quick Wikipedia search revealed this to be a hybrid of Chinese recipes with Korean flavours and influences originating in the north of China. I was amazed. Where was this my whole life? What have I been missing?

Dowon Chinese & Korean Restaurant is located on Pembina Highway on the corner of Crane Avenue. The large structure with large signs beckon one forward. One can tell this was a bar that was retrofitted to become a restaurant. Nevertheless, the owners did a fine job of creating a cozy and inviting atmosphere.

The menu was extensive. After researching the popular dishes of Korean Chinese cuisine, I was delighted to see them all showcased. It is obvious where the (Northern) Chinese influences came from with the base of noodles, rice and deep fried meats. Thoroughly excited, I ordered a hefty amount, both to tide me through another day of call but to try as many specialty dishes as possible.

I was thrilled when I saw this. The two most famous Korean Chinese dishes are Jjajangmyeon (noodles with Korean black bean sauce) and Jjamppon (spicy noodle soup). Dowon does something brilliant and lets one order half portion of each. The Jjajangmyeon features chewy wheat flour noodles that were strong enough to lock in the flavours of the salty black soybean sauce. A mixture of sweet, salty and savoury, the sauce was blended with pork and vegetables. Excellent! The Jjamppon features the same noodles in a chili oil soup with vegetables and (frozen) seafood. The noodles again were chewy and thick enough to soak up the wonderfully chili soup. Tasty!

Researching the Mapabap revealed it to be a Korean take a popular Szechuan tofu dish. Here Dowon fries the soft silken tofu with Korean bean paste and mixes in vegetables, slivers of pork and Korean spicy peppers. The spicy peppers resembled Jalapeno peppers and added a intense spiciness to the dish. Dowon does a nice job of handling all the flavours in the sauce. Finishing it with the side of rice is the ultimate in home comfort food.
 

Kkanpunggi is another signature Korean Chinese dish. Taken its roots from Sweet & Sour Chicken, Dowon takes breaded boneless chicken, fry it golden brown, and mix it in a red pepper and garlic sauce. The key to this was the addition of lemon: the citrus adds a sour and tart element that interplays with the fried chicken well. The chicken itself was done perfectly with its extremely crispy exterior housing tender moist morsels of protein. Excellent!

Taking its Korean roots, I was served four banchans for the meal (from top to bottom): Pickled Potato & Onions, Spicy Cabbage, Kimchi, and Bean Sprouts. Everything was average and as you would expect for them as banchans.

Dowon is a special place for me now as the restaurant that introduced me to Chinese Korean cuisine. It was easy to pick out the Chinese and Korean influences, but I was most impressed by the new flavours instilled in dishes I had grown up eating my entire life. Finding places like this is inspirational and motivates me to seek out more diverse and unique cuisines, both in Winnipeg and abroad.