Chai

The most authentic Chinese restaurant in Ulsan is Chai. Located behind Lotte Multi Plaza and the Express Bus terminal, Chai is a two story ‘traditional’ Chinese design. The restaurant has regular seating on the ground floor and tonnes of space for events upstairs.

The menu is huge. Literally, it must weigh about 10 kilos. There are far too many dishes to choices, and I can never remember what I had the last time I was there. As per the usual Chinese style, each dish is meant to be shared with a group, and it’s best if you order a few. One dish runs between 15000 and 25000 won, but there is definitely to fill two hungry people if you order the rice.

The sauces are excellent, if you enjoyed good Chinese food at home, or in China, for that matter, you’ll be impressed with this restaurant. Going to a Chinese restaurant is rather like going to a European restaurant, it’s such a huge culture with such a huge cuisine, but Chai does well to represent most regional dishes.

 

As for alcohol, I’m not one to experiment with crazy communist liquors that can also be used as paint thinner, but I did enjoy the family sized bottles of Tsingdao that are available. The slightly hoppy, German style beer makes an excellent chaser to the various sauces.

If you can handle your average Korean spice, than you won’t find anything at Chai too bad. Though the staff will try to tell you that it’s spicy. Because, as I’m sure you know, NO foreigners can eat anything spicier than, say, water.

I enjoy dining at Chai, my only real complaint is with the size of the chairs. An entire family of Tibetan refugees could camp on one!