(disclaimer: crap pictures taken with a phone.)
Sunday evening we went with 7 friends to a restaurant in Korea Town called Shilla and had Korean BBQ. The meal was so amazing I thought I would make you drool a bit.
We sat around a large table with 2 grills in the center. This is where the main meat dishes would get cooked. Before the raw meat got to the table, the waiters delivered like, 8 or 22, I don’t know, small bowls of tastiness. I asked my friend who took us there whether they were to be considered apps or condiments (eat now or later, basically) and I think he was being polite when he said to eat them now cause he didn’t eat them to till the main food came. Guess what the rest of us did. View empty bowls here:
After the first round of OB beers were drank and most of the small dishes were consumed, they brought over large platters of raw pork and beef. The pork looked exactly like thick cut bacon. The dude put the slabs on the hot grill and a minute later used large scissors to cut into bite size pieces. Then he took handfuls of kimchi and raw garlic and put on the edges of the grill so when the pork fat was rendering, the golden juices would stroll down and cook the kimchi and garlic.
The beef seemed to be marinated in a sweet sauce which tasted like teriyaki (excuse my ignance) and was grilled also over the garlic. Accompanied by large romaine leaves, the beef was delish rolled in them with a fermented bean paste.
We also ordered Kimchi Stew. This is a steaming hot bowl of pork chunks (I’ve also had it with pulled pork, which I think is better), tofu squares, rice cakes and, as you can guess, kimchi. This. Was. The. Bomb. You can expect to see a recipe for this in the coming weeks cause I must learn how to make this.
And finally, I must give props to the sides dishes because they were each so delish (except for the mayo apples – ew.) They brought dried and salted tiny tiny fishes (cursing myself for not having a picture of those suckers), whose heads kept falling off, but were really cute. Kimchi, spicy daikon, spicy zucchini, pickled zucchini, salt in sesame oil (cleary a condiment), a mayo potato salad with apple chunks, spicy salad greens, broccoli heads in a spicy red sauce, and… what did I forget… anyone?
Now, you know me by now, I love me some pork and spice and oily goodness, but this was, in the end, a bit much for my body. My mind said yes but my stomach said, Oh hell no. I need a Korean remedy for uncloggin my arteries, too. Can anyone suggest one?
(You know I’ll be back in K-Town soon though, right?)
