Jajangmyeon

Jajangmyeon came out of Chinese-Korean kitchens a little over a century ago and was adapted so thoroughly that it now reads as Korean. The sauce is black soybean paste fried with onion, courgette and diced pork until it is thick, dark and mild — closer to sweet than to salty. It arrives either poured over the noodles or beside them, for you to do it yourself.

Mix it properly before the first bite, until no noodle is still white; that step is the dish, not a preliminary to it. Pickled yellow radish and raw onion dipped in a little sauce go between mouthfuls to cut the richness. The sauce stains permanently, which is why the napkins are the size they are.