The unyielding quest to find fantastic pork bone soup continues, leading us here, to Jinmee, a new Korean restaurant featuring a 15% opening discount. After ordering an extra spicy gamjatang and reassuring the waitress that I indeed wanted extra spicy, our somewhat large group was presented with two sets of banchan. Interestingly enough, one set contained one more dish than the other. I guess they're still working out the kinks. It's safe to say that all seven side dishes were tasty with several requiring a quick refill.
The gamjatang ($9.99) arrived bubbling, a bowl of white rice on the side. At first glance, it looked promising with meaty pieces of pork neck bones stacked on top of each other. Then, picking up the spoon and giving it a stir, I was disappointed at weak resistance, the soup clearly lacking heartiness. Yet, as they say on those cooking shows, "taste is king". One spoonful of broth later and my hopes were diminished. The broth tasted overwhelmingly of perilla seeds, which should have come as no surprise given the disproportionate amount of ground perilla on top, and bland spiciness (i.e. heat, no flavour). This dish's saving grace is that the pork is cooked well, the bones separating from each other with a gentle tug, and the meat releasing itself from the nooks and crannies with little effort. Yet while the pork bones are easy to navigate, the flavour leaves me dissatisfied.
Quest failed.