Korean food is spicy; everyone knows that. Pickled kimchi packs a punch. But kimchi isn’t the only kind of Korean relish. The spicy chili-honey paste in the red oversized plastic ketchup bottles at Han-Wool is a shining example of Korean flavors at their finest. That sauce has it all. Now all it needs is a showcase - a basic palette of fresh sliced vegetables and steaming hot rice, topped with a fried egg - did someone say Bi Bim Bab?

Han-Wool’s Bi Bim Bab is heaped into a hot stone rock-cooker, which keeps everything sizzling until you’re ready to eat it. The egg arrives just soft enough that it doesn’t finish cooking until it’s scrambled all over the crunchy veggies and rice when stirred. And the rice along the edges of the bowl bakes to a desirably crispy brown when you (purposely) neglect to stir it. All dressed up in as much or as little of the sweet, tangy hot sauce as you like, the Bi Bim Bab is a rock-cooker bowl of deliciousness.

Han-Wool may seem like a bit of a hole in the wall - perhaps with only the solid selection of imported Asian beer in the window going for it - but it’s very spacious for a hole in the wall, and does its Korean dishes right. I’d say their delectable Squid Bokeum, stir-fried in chili paste, comes in as a close second to the Bi Bim Bab. But having temporary free reign over your table’s very own bottle of chili-honey sauce makes it worthwhile to order the latter instead..

Han-Wool: Korean and Japanese Restaurant
3608 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 382-6221

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