Scissors help enhance Malate dining experience

I've been watching a lot of Pucca on the Disney Channel lately. The cartoon about the ten year-old girl with super powers and a big crush on the local ninja is quite charming, and also quite appetizing, since Pucca works in a noodle restaurant. Hearing about my Pucca fascination, Anson Yu, who conducts Binondo walking tours with Ivan Man Dy, took me to Myung Sung, a tiny Chinese Korean restaurant across the Diamond Hotel in Malate to try what he says, according to his research, are the noodles served in the cartoon. Ordering was an interesting experience, as the proprietor only speaks Korean. The Filipino staff is helpful though, so telling them what we wanted was no problem. The noodles turn out to be Jajang Myun (P250) ramen noodles with vegetables in soybean sauce. This is not a broth-based dish. I guess you could say it's like Korean pasta. The noodles were long, the dark, sticky-sweet sauce making them clump together. Instead of a knife, I was given a pair of kitchen scissors to cut them with. The noodles were more than coated with sauce, which was sweet and salty, reminiscent of hoisin sauce. The serving was big, good enough for two. I loved it! The scissors were a bit surreal, but they added to the dish's charm. I don't know if they give scissors to all the patrons who order the dish or if I was just lucky but I will say that there's an element of home-cookedness to the experience. Anson had the Jjam Pong (P300), a soup-based noodle dish with seafood and vegetables and tastes like Japanese ramen. Nothing special in terms of taste but is a good dish to be eating on a rainy evening. There's a lot of similarities between the two cultures, and nowhere is this more prominent than in their cuisine. Another dish to look out for is Gun Man Du (P200), sautéed meat in dumplings. You can choose between steamed or fried. We, of course, picked fried. These are some of the best dumplings in the city, the meat's juices sealed in its soft skin and crisp brown base. Dip them still warm into the salty sauce provided and you are in heaven. I suggest you stick to the house tea, as the softdrinks, at 50 pesos, are quite pricey. My Myung Sung experience was an interesting field trip. I don't know if tasting the kind of noodles that Pucca serves enhances my viewing experience, but now I understand why the restaurant she works in is so popular, and why people keep coming back. I know I want to.