It’s around the time of year where people know whether they’re staying or leaving and I’ve learned recently several of my friends are leaving. So I’ve been scrambling to find time to meet up with everyone before the leave. Which is difficult when everyone lives everywhere. Over the break I met up with two friends I haven’t seen in a long time, both of which leave before the end of the year. We met in Itaewon a short walk out of Noksapyeong station to eat at Kiki Chanting, a Cantonese bbq and noodle restaurant. The restaurant has a nice open concept with two entrances which led us to some confusion as I came in an opposite entrance then the one my friends were waiting outside of. Thankfully they were waiting on the other side of a large glass windows so after checking that they weren’t sitting inside I was quickly able to spot them.. After everyone was together we headed to the counter to place our order, taking a look at the menu which the staff member told us was scheduled to change soon. (So if these items are gone or different I apologize). We ordered two Singapore noodles (I got one because noodles sounded great, they were 10,500 won each) and one bbq char siu (9,800 won). I didn’t take a picture of the chair siu because I figured we’d all be eating separately.
After we placed our order we grabbed a seat and some iced green tea in the self serve section along with two red sauces both spicy to me but different, and caught up. The kitchen was in the basement of the restaurant and food was sent up through a dumbwaiter. Which we found really cool.
I quickly learned as I tried my noodles that they were too spicy for me. I liked the texture of it and the meat (Kiki’s is part of the Manimal tribe, Manimal is known for their meat in Korea, especially around the Itaewon area). So I ended up sharing it with my friend who ordered the bbq char siu which was good. It was slices of meat, a more crunchy style of rice then we’re use to, an egg and some vegetables. I pretty much demolished all of the vegetables and was very grateful for the help with the noodles since I didn’t want them to go to waste.
They speak English at the restaurant so I highly suggest asking if something you’re interested in is spicy because that’s where I failed. (If you also can’t handle spicy food) I’m hoping to go back and try other things on their new menu and I’ll update this when I do. But if you like lightly spicy or semi-spicy noodles my friends greatly enjoyed the Singapore noodles.
They are closed on Tuesdays, but open all other days from 11:30am until 10:30 pm.