Korean Choice Restaurant & Guesthouse

  Korean Choice Restaurant & Guesthouse is extremely easy to find.  It’s located in Azaiba, not far from the Sultan Center as you can see on this map located on the back of their business card.  Korean Choice Restaurant is in the building immediately to the right of Azaiba Shopping Center which is just a few shops including a barber shop. The owners are currently scouting out good spots in Muscat to open a larger restaurant as the demand for authentic Korean food in Muscat has grown.  For the time being, it will remain at 2849, Way 4846. (Not to be confused with the other Korean restaurant I reviewed 3 months ago which is also in Azaiba.)                                                    This is the smaller room in the restaurant which can seat up to 12 people.   Plenty of tables in the main room for customers  The friendly owners, Mr. Yeom and Mrs. Kim! (Korean women do not take their husband’s last name in Korea.) The food pics in this post are from 2 different visits.  They only charge 5 rials per person! (and 500 baizas per soft drink)  The food was fantastic!  By the way, they sell kimchi for 4 OR/kilo!   Mrs. Kim prepared us some sashimi on our 1st visit as they went to the fish market that morning!  It was great to have our friends, Kim and Bill, with us on our first ever visit to Korean Choice Restaurant. We share the “Korean connection” as they also lived in Korea (for 1 year) and we also share a love for Korean food.  Another friend who has “the Korean connection” is Geoff and he jumped at the chance to try out Korean Choice.  The sweet potato (goguma) was so delicious!  If you order bulgogi, you have the option of having them cook it in the back kitchen or in front of you at your table.  As you can see, we opted for our table.  As with any authentic Korean restaurant, there are plenty of sidedishes (panchun) and then you have some choices for the main dish: beef, chicken, fish or pork (bulgogi).  The steamed dumplings were good.  The Dol Sot Bibimbap was a real treat. Now that’s some authentic Korean food that I’ve really missed!  3 of us had this for lunch on our 2nd visit.  Speaking of our 2nd visit, we had the pleasure of dining with new friends, Gokhan and Naomi, who have been in the Sultanate a little over 5 months.  Map of Korea with photos of some regular customers  A platter of fruit is always a great way to end a meal!  This was a special order of duck prepared for us on our 2nd visit.  SO good!  I didn’t have any of the fish, but I was told it was very good.    This “garden” on the side of the villa is where Mrs. Kim grows many of the plants used for authentic Korean cooking!   Here is what the guest rooms (5 available) look like at Korean Choice Guesthouse.  Not bad at all for 45 OR/person each day including breakfast and dinner!  With only 5 rooms available, make sure you book far in advance if you wish to stay here.   In case you were wondering what “Muscat” looks like in Korean: