Actual Chinese – Gugugu

As far as I know, this is the only authentic Chinese restaurant in Ulsan.  No jjajangmyeon or kimchi, it’s the real thing.  There are some other lamb skewer places around and small restaurants, but here you have a big selection and no apparent attempt to Koreanify the food.

If you know Chinese food at all, you know that there is huge regional variety and the very term ‘Chinese food’ is kind of useless.  This restaurant offers dishes from all over China, but is a northeastern style place, so it may not be what you’ve encountered in Beijing or Hong Kong or wherever.

It’s a small place down an alleyway near Taehwa Rotary, directions at the end of the post.  The owners are friendly, there’s a giant dog on the roof who will whine at you as you enter, the beer flows freely and they’re open late, though I have no idea when exactly they close.  No English, but you can manage.  They speak Korean and Mandarin, if you have either of those in your group.  And if you’re one of those nerds who learned Japanese you should be able to read the menu.

There’s a large variety of meat skewers–we went with lamb.  Good flavor, tender, and cheap.  Order more than you think you should.

They come with the mysterious spice mix that involves cumin, pepper, and peanuts.  I don’t know what else, except for goodness.

We went with three main dishes this time around.  The first was beef and leeks, in a vaguely sweet sauce.  This was where we discovered the Korean menu has mistranslations–the Chinese says it’s beef and the Korean says it’s lamb.  Definitely was beef.  I suppose it’s nice to see that it’s not just English that gets mangled.

This is yuxiang rousi, a Sichuan pork dish.  Despite being Sichuan, it wasn’t particularly peppery–this was one place where you noticed this is northeast China, where peppers aren’t used so much.  Still good, but keep it in mind.

And this is a stir fried eggplant thing that is awesome and I don’t remember the name of.  Look for eggplant in the menu.  It has seafood as well; it’s Chinese food so it’s not vegetarian friendly.

They did give us this spicy veggie thing for free.  I don’t know what it is, but it involved cucumbers and rice noodles.

Gugugu is located in Sinjeongdong near Taehwa Rotary.  On the main north-south road with City Hall, you’ll be looking for a 7/11 and a Climberholic next to each other on the west side of the street.  There’s also a decent Chinese grocery store a little further toward the rotary on the right side, if you want ingredients to make your own.

Go down there, it’s on the left side and the sign is in Chinese. (Check our drinking and dining map for a more exact location – Ed.)

Now, the meat of the post.  I have brought you the magic.  The holy grail.  A menu translation.  This translation is not perfect, and I didn’t do it so I’m not taking credit.  But it will guide you in this land of Chinese delights, use it well.

Page 1 Skewers:

Lamb

Beef

Beef Tendon

Heart

Chicken Intestine

Chicken Heart

Pig Heart

No Idea

Squid

Shrimp

Dried Tofu

Chicken Wings

Beef Headcheese (not sure, maybe intestine)

Page 2 Pork:

어향 is fish seasoning, so yuxiang rousi

Some kind of seasoned pork, maybe five spice

Dried Tofu and Pork Wrapped in Lettuce

Hongso Ribs (stir fry with sugar and soy sauce)

Sweet and Sour Pig Ribs

Ribs and that Bean stir fry

Pork Shoulder Chili Stir fry

Pork Shoulder tempura

Sweet and Sour Pork (탕수육)

Spicy Pork Tempura

Sweet and Sour Pork Tempura

Pork Belly and Chili Stir Fry

Page 3 More Pork:

Pork Stew

Extra Spicy Pork Stir Fry (I guess, I don’t know)

Pork and Egg Stir fry

No idea, the Korean is weird on this one

Seafood and Burnt Rice (누룽지) Soup

Fish Seasoning Pork Liver Stir Fry

Pork Liver Stir Fry

Intestine Stir Fry

Kung Pao Pork

Spicy Pork Stir Fry

Pork and Green Onion Stir Fry

Page 4 Not Pork:

Sichuan Pepper Tofu

Tofu stir fry

Dried Tofu Stir fry

Shrimp Tempura

Shrimp Stir fry

Silkworm Tempura

Silkworm Stir fry

Corn and Pine Nut Stir Fry (maybe)

Page 5 More Not Pork:

Don’t know, some seasoned vegetables

Cucumbers and seasoned vegetables with 양장피 (like rice paper, made from sweet potatoes)

Century Egg and Tofu

Dried Pollock and seasoned vegetables

Dried Tofu and seasoned vegetables

Cucumber and Beef and seasoned vegetables

Pig Ear and seasoned vegetables

Some kind of seasoned beef, not sure

Anchovies and Peanuts

Cucumber and seasoned vegetables

Page 6 Other and Fish:

Beef fried on an iron plate (like teppanyaki)

Pig Intestine on an iron plate (might be cow, no idea)

Fish:

Hongso Hairtail (stir fry with sugar and soy sauce)

Pollack Stir Fry

Sichuan Pollack

Corbina Tempura

Squid and Chives Stir Fry

Seasoned Squid (might be five spice)

Page 7

Beef Stir Fry

Beef with cumin

Chili and beef stir fry

Beef Heart and cumin

Beef Tendon and cumin

Lamb and cumin

Beef and Lamb and Garlic with cumin (really not sure, don’t recognize the chinese characters)

Chicken:

Kung Pao Chicken

Chicken Wings Tempura

Hong So Chicken Wings (stir fry with sugar and soy sauce)

Page 8

Dog meat!

Lamb Hot Pot

Stews:

Dwenjang Jjigae (된장찌개)

Cheonggukjang (청국장)

Stuff to have with drinky drinks

Sundae (순대, probably chinese style)

Kimchi fried rice

Eggplant fried rice

Egg fried rice

Hot noodles

Cold noodles (probably chinese style)

Rice

Boiled dumplings 물만두

Page 9

海味烧茄子 – Braised Squid with eggplant

炸茄盒 (menu has a typo) – Fried Eggplant

地三鲜 – Sautéed Eggplant with Potatoes and Green Bell Pepper

烧豆角 – Braised Green Beans

木须韭菜 – Chinese Chives with Eggs

肉炒木耳 – Fried Pork with Black Fungi

肉炒芹菜 – Fried Pork with Celery

川白肉 – Pork with Pickled Cabbage

香菇肉片 – Sliced Pork with Mushrooms

元葱炒栮 – Fried Onion with Black Fungi