Welcome to Em & M: the first-ever meal critics of The Echo. Sparked by a love of chocolate and a play on words, we, Emily Dayton and Malini Jathavedam, are excited to take you along for our 3-year-long tour of the finest restaurants, cafes, and eateries near Tenafly, New Jersey. We call ourselves “meal critics” rather than “food critics” for one very particular reason: we review more than just food. We will be exploring other factors such as service, price, ambiance, vibes—everthing it takes to create the perfect dining experience. As food connoisseurs, we sample foods from both vegetarian and meat-eating perspectives since we aim to share the best meals for all to try.
This week, we tried the local restaurant DAOM, located in downtown Tenafly. Best known for their Korean food, we had to try some of their bowls. Emily got the bulgogi rice bowl, which comes with bulgogi, rice, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, chickpeas, and almonds. Emily is not a big fan of chickpeas and almonds, so she chose to remove those items from her bowl. She thoroughly enjoyed the bowl and thought the ingredients paired well; however, she thought the meat could have been cooked better, and she would have preferred the rice to have a sauce or some type of flavoring. Although she did have a few minor criticisms of the meat, overall it was still satisfying to eat, and she would recommend getting this bowl if you choose to eat at DAOM in the future.
Malini does not eat meat, so she opted for a vegetarian meal. Upon first glance, the menu doesn’t look too vegetarian-friendly; however, after asking, we were delighted to hear that many of the proteins in the meals could be swapped out for vegetables or eggs. Malini chose a spicier noodle dish, called Jjolmyeon. We were told that it was a fan favorite for its chewy noodles and unique-tasting sauce. In fact, the word “jjolmyeon” directly translates to “chewy noodle.”
The bowl contained a base of wheat flour noodles, various vegetables, and eggs. The bowl was saucy, had a good crunch from the sesame seeds sprinkled on top, and had a very strong flavor. The sauce, according to the menu, consists of gochujang: a Korean fermented chili paste, and vinegar. We were warned it was going to be a spicy dish, but we were not prepared for it to be served cold. Usually, we associate spicy foods with being hot, yet this cold and spicy dish was an exciting and refreshing surprise. Another surprise coming from the spicy Jjolmyeon was the tangy, sweet flavor. Not only was it cold and spicy, but this sweetness gave a very pleasant balance to all of the ingredients with each bite.
One of the best parts of the meal, which we both appreciated very much, was the value of the food, considering its price. For the price of $15.00, Malini received a chewy noodle bowl with a boiled egg on top, a miso soup, a small container of kimchi, and a small container of pickled vegetables in a bag with a cold bottle of water. All of their main dishes come with these sides, but they also offer sides of kimbap, two kinds of dumplings, chicken tenders, and french fries. They do this to make sure meal fills you up compleltey—although our rice and noodle bowls each lasted us two meals by keeping them in the fridge.
Overall, we enjoyed DAOM thoroughly—it hits most of the important factors for a restaurant. The only thing we weren’t big fans of was the seating. Unfortunately, the few chairs at DAOM were taken, so we had to take our food for takeout. While we love a good meal from the comfort of one of our homes, we felt we missed out on the cute, modern looking restaurant that we so enjoyed. With quick and affordable food, this is the perfect place to get a bite during an IDT, and we look forward to going again soon!
