The Marrow Spoon

It seems that lately I am doing a poor job living up to my name. That is to say, I am not being much of an evangelist, am I? Tres, tres fou of me.

Anyway, as I am sure you can imagine, there is so much to catch up on. So, let's begin!

You probably think all I do is eat panchan, and that I should have called this site The Kim Chee Tong, or something, but I have good news from the Secret Garden Restaurant. Observe.

As you can see, lovely generous pan chan, which we have grown to expect from all of the Korean restaurants dot El Camino Real in Santa Clara. Also, to your left, note the spicy and sour fried shrimp with fresh peas and mushrooms. They were plump and tender, and so fresh from the fryer that they stayed hot for about 25 minutes. To the right we have black noodles, I think more appropriately called cha jiang myun or something, but you can call them black sauce noodles and no one will be confused. The noodles are actually white, kind of udon texture in a thick black bean sauce. At Secret Garden, the sauce also has tiny cubes of tender yam and comes topped with fresh cucumber. Often this dish can be too salty or heavy, but Secret Garden gets it right. The server kidded me a little when I ordered it, "This is child's meal in Korea," which is understandable, because it has to be the only Korean dish I have tried that is not spicy or vinegary. It is mild, slightly sweet and 100% addictive.

To compare the very best black noodles in the South Bay, also try Tsing Tao in Campbell, a Chinese restaurant that is either owned by Korean people, or owned by Chinese people who like Korean food.

Secret Garden
3430 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95051