Sung Korean Bistro is in a beautiful new space made over in the former Aioli on Elm Street, downtown. The feel is Asian-modern with clean lines; lots of black and white punctuated by red; modern furniture and traditional Korean touches.

Do not let the look lead you to expect equally elegant food. Korean food is hot, spicy and earthy. It arrives at the table still bubbling and steaming, accompanied by kimchee, the pungent, chile-flecked pickled cabbage that you must approach with a little caution.

This is not fusion food or Korean fine-dining. But it is a bit more refined than, say, Riverside Korean in Covington, where Sung's owner, Sung Oh, worked for his sister. It's a selected menu and gives downtown something that's an ethnic change of pace, but where you can make reservations, enjoy fine service and order an interesting bottle of wine.

We started with pan-fried tofu dumplings ($6) that were a little skimpy on filling, and delicious fried squid ($7). But the must-try appetizer is pajun, Korean pancakes that are somewhere between crepes, omelets and egg foo yung. Thick and spongy, they're stuffed with shrimp, crab and squid ($15); there is also a vegetarian version ($13).

Bulgogi ($16), strips of beef marinated in a sweet barbecue sauce, is probably the most famous of Korean dishes. Sometimes at restaurants, you barbecue it yourself over a table-top grill. Here, it's already grilled and piled on the plate along with rice - almost like a stir-fry. A similar strong, sweet and thick sauce, good on beef, somewhat overwhelmed the vegetables and sweet potato noodles in jab chae stir-fry ($14).
On a cold day this winter, try Sung for a bowl of soup. The kimchee soup ($12) is both spicy and Fahrenheit hot. My friend who ordered it had to take a phone call just as it came to the table bubbling and steaming. When he came back 15 minutes later, it was still too hot to eat.

The dish that I'm glad to know is being served downtown at lunchtime is the bibimbab. I could eat it once a week because it's so simple, healthy and satisfying. I could eat it more often if it didn't cost $13, which seems a little high, especially because there's not a lot of meat.

Rice is topped with a colorful mosaic of vegetables, meat and a runny fried egg. Add as much as you dare of the wicked-looking dark-red chili sauce that comes on the side, then mix it all together (or the server will do it for you). The egg yolk holds it all together.

Elegance to match the surroundings finally comes at dessert. The pastry-chef creations of mousse make a light contrast to the hearty meal.

Polly Campbell, Cincinnati Enquirer

 

An out-of-town foodie friend asked me to recommend some downtown ethnic dining choices that wouldn't break the bank. As I thumbed through the files in my head, I realized there really weren't too many options. One of the few that did come to mind was Sung Korean Bistro.

Owner Sung J. Oh opened this very chic bistro after 13 years at Riverside Korean, the Covington restaurant he co-owned with his sister and brother-in-law. Unlike Riverside, which embraces its ethnicity with open arms, Sung tries to stay true to authentic Korean food while making it more approachable for a less familiar audience.
Sung's dining room was crowded on my first visit. I was glad to see the business doing so well, but felt they could do with one less table in the dining room as servers periodically bumped into us throughout our meal. There is traditional-style floor seating in the back of the room, but I've not seen anyone sitting there on any of my visits.

People from all walks of life filled the black tables under the dim, red paper lighting. The young, hip crowd had found the restaurant's corner, but so had families with children, business people and the bohemian set -- that would be our table.

Unlike some of its neighbors' cuisines, Korean food is fairly healthy. There are lots of fermented foods, vegetables, grains and soups. Most dishes are boiled, blanched, broiled, stir-fried, steamed or pan-fried rather than deep-fried. And while comfort food is often equated with heavy, fried or greasy food, I personally feel a strong affinity for Korean dishes as comfort food.

We started with the Goonmandu ($6), pan-fried dumplings stuffed with tofu, scallion, onion and cabbage, and Gimbab ($7), rice rolls with radish, crabmeat, beef, egg and cucumber. The dumplings were so delicious I was afraid I'd burn my fingers as I popped them into my mouth. The Gimbab, on the other hand, was disappointing. We had the sense that in the interest of efficiency the roll had been pre-made and pre-sliced then set in the refrigerator until service time. It made for a product like those from my grocery store sushi forays.

For dinner my husband ordered the Bibimbab ($13) with beef, a popular Korean dish that includes a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (seasoned vegetables), a fried egg and chili pepper paste. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. A popular variation of the dish, which is also on the menu, is Dolsot Bibimbab ($16). It includes the same ingredients but it is served in a very hot stone bowl. Before the rice is added, the bottom of the blazing bowl is coated with sesame oil, which makes the bottom layer of the rice golden brown and crispy. At Sung both of these dishes are made with watercress, bean sprouts, carrots, radish, lettuce, a sunny side up egg and a choice of beef, chicken or tofu.

We also ordered the Dak Bulgogi ($16), a grilled sweet and sour chicken breast served with white rice and the Kimchi Jigae ($12), a kimchi soup made with pork, tofu, onion and mushroom.

Of the three, the soup was the most successful. The chicken dish wasn't bad, but not something I would go out of my way to order again. Our server, who had to be told Sapporo was from Japan when my husband asked about Korean beers, also brought out Dolsot Bibimbab rather than Bibimbab. It was serviceable, but not extraordinary.

On a second visit with a friend who's something of a Korean food aficionado, we tried the Dolsot Bibimbab again to see if I missed something the first time around, but her reaction was the same. Even though we waited to stir our dish for several minutes, we never got that beautiful golden crunch in the rice, and by replacing the seasoned vegetables with tamer watercress, bean sprouts, carrots, radish and lettuce, I think Sung might have tipped the balance toward approachable a little too far.

Happily, we did uncover a phenomenal appetizer: Haemul Padjun ($15), a pancake with egg, shrimp, crabmeat, squid, green onion and pepper. It could easily feed four as an appetizer, but we agreed we'd prefer it as an entr´e so we could hoard all the tender morsels of shrimp and squid we chased around our plates to wash down with glasses of Living Jewel ($6) and Voices in the Mist ($5) saki.

Our service experience was similar on the second visit as well. While the staff is very friendly, they all seem to be in over their heads. None are completely comfortable answering diners' questions. If the concept is to make Korean food more approachable, the servers will play a big role in this, and the scent of fear can be an overpowering aroma.

BY Lora Arduser | CityBeat

 

A step into the relaxing, yet elegant atmosphere of Sung Korean Bistro provides a breath of fresh air for downtown dining. Our area has many different culturally oriented restaurants, but Korean food is not yet as popular here as Indian or Thai cuisine. Sung offers the perfect dare if you are willing to put a little something different on your taste buds and experience a trendy twist on an ancient way of cooking.

DOWNTOWN ESCAPE.
Recently opened on Elm Street, Sung greets you with a hip decor. The restaurant is predominantly white with red and black trim and lots of votive candles for mood lighting. Images of downtown are shut out by papery curtains over the windows, creating a level of mystique and allowing a feeling of being transported to a place far away. The seating includes a backlit bar, the traditional seating at tables with chairs and the Korean style of low tables with pillows for sitting on the floor. My friend and I went for a table by the shrouded window and settled in for what promised to be a serene and luxurious meal.

The dinner menu offers so many delectable choices that we found ourselves struggling to pick the perfect combination of appetizer and entree to satisfy our many cravings. Sung's menu boasts options for every textured taste, including dinners with soup, rice, noodles, grilled items, and stir-fry. With the helpful advice of our friendly waitress, we settled on an appetizer of goonmandu ($6), which is a fried dumpling filled with tofu, onions and cabbage. It was definitely the right choice, as it wasn't greasy or overdone like some dumplings can to be. For my entree, I chose maeun dak bokum ($15), a chicken stir-fry option served over rice with vegetables, and paired it with a glass of Montemoro Pinot Grigio ($7). I found it to be satisfyingly spicy - I ordered it at medium on a scale of mild, medium and hot - with a great balance of the rice to sauce ratio. (I like it with not much sauce left over on the plate.)

My vegetarian companion selected the dolsot bibimbab with tofu ($16), which has vegetables and egg over a bed of rice in a stone bowl that keeps the food cooking as you eat. She paired it with a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale ($4.50). This dish was especially interesting (at least in my mind) because it comes layered with the sunny-side-up egg on top, and the server mixes the dish at the table, adding spicy bean chili paste according to your spice preference. My friend is also a fan of having her rice crispy, and as the bowl continues to heat and cook the meal, it turns those outer grains crunchy.

AND THEN, DESSERT
Just when we thought our satisfaction with this new-to-us cuisine could not be any greater, we ordered dessert. As soon as the words "dark chocolate and raspberry mousse" left the server's mouth, our eyes lit up and the raging chocoholic in each of us began to kick and scream with joy. When we tried it, the dessert caused reactions in us that are similar to those found in the old Herbal Essences commercials (think "oh yes!"). We savored every last bite and became wholly convinced that "raspberry and dark chocolate" would replace the traditional example of perfect pairing "peanut butter and jelly."
With its unique and delicious food, great service, and completely chilled-out atmosphere, Sung is an ideal place to enjoy an upscale meal.

KATRINA SODARO | CIN WEEKLY