Pyongyang Koryo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is one of three specifically North Korean restaurants that exist outside the secretive Stalinist state. The others are in Beijing and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. All three belong to the same business group, which is said to be one of North Korea's most profitable international enterprises.
North Korea's food shortages have eased in recent years, but the country's dining-out scene remains almost totally undeveloped, except for foreign visitors and state dignitaries, to whom Pyongyang Koryo will seem highly familiar.
It's very similar to the hotel restaurants in the North Korean capital to which they get shepherded. Indeed, the cover of the menu features a picture of the Koryo Hotel, 'the official foreigners' hotel' in Pyongyang.
This restaurant is intriguing. It's spacious and modestly decorated with kitsch pictures of pastoral scenes of the kind that were beloved in eastern European restaurants. According to a North Korean source who is a frequent visitor to Kuala Lumpur, it is also reasonably authentic.
What is the difference between North and South Korean cuisine? Koreans claim the differences are huge, but to me there seemed to be few, except for the ambience - it's raucous and bawdy in South Korean restaurants, and severe and reserved at Pyongyang Koryo.
My two dining companions were both Hongkongers of exacting standards, a moviemaker and an employee at an upmarket wine merchant. Both were gourmands and sometimes hard to please. But we were all delighted by the sumptuous miso soup and pumpkin soup hybrid. Koreans traditionally use the pungent fermented soya bean paste doenjang, but, authentic or not, this soup was a winner.