2011 Fall Dining Guide
By Tom Sietsema
Sunday, October 16, 2011

An exuberant chorus of hellos welcomes us into a vast smoke-and-garlic-fragrant dining room, paved in acres of red carpet and lined with faux windows. Few Korean restaurants do comfort as successfully as this Falls Church establishment. Order the traditional seafood pancake, and the server snips chewy slices from the round as if it were pizza, then serves each guest a piece of the squid- and green pepper-covered appetizer. Ask for bibimbap, and out comes a mound of rice heaped with beef, greens and a fried egg, which the waitress combines for you at the table, making sure to incorporate the crisped bits at the bottom of the stone bowl. A diner doesn't have to touch the barbecue in the center of the table, except to lift out pieces of sweetly marinated beef (kalbi) after the personal attendant finishes stir-cooking. The floppy broiled dumplings sprinkled with nori are terrific; squid is a mite chewy, but seasoned just right for fire-breathers. You might need a GPS to find the restroom, as well as a second stomach if you hope to finish the many little salads, or panchan, that accompany the feast that is dinner at Han Sung Oak.