Korean Dining

[Terri-Lynn2]

My three year old and I want to go and try Korean food, but DH is worried about what to order since we have never been. Our curiosity was sparked by the article in CL a couple of months ago.

If anyone goes out for Korean food could you share what you usually order and a little bit about what it is.

Thanks

Terri

[daner94]

Hi Terri Lynn!

I love Korean food. I visited South Korea 2 years ago and just fell in love. I have been to 2 different Korean restaurants in the past 3 weeks.

You can do the BBQ thing or just order your food to come out on plates. The most popular dish is Bulgogi-- thin slices of beef that are marinated. So tender and delicious! There's usually chicken, short ribs, pork, and other items offered too.

I think your 3 year old would love the BBQ- kind of exciting! You order which entree you want and they bring out the raw marinated food, and set it on a hot grill in the middle of the table. The staff will come stir it and serve you. It smells fabulous. I think the best part is all the little dishes they bring (forget the name, sorry) about 10 different items-- small portions of kimchee (pickled cabbage), spinach salad, zucchinni salad, Korean potato salad, depends what they have in fresh that day.. They also bring sticky rice and lettuce leaves to make wraps. It is really a fun, new experience. And not so different from other Asian cuisine so if your DH likes Thai or Chinese I think he will really love it. And if he likes spicy food, all the better because they serve hot pepper paste which really kicks it up a notch. :)
I had friends in town recently that I took to a Korean restaurant and one of them proclaimed it was one of the best dining experiences he ever had!
If you have any other questions, let me know.

[emilycat]

Dana,

Okay, fess up -- what's this Korean restaurant? I've never eaten Korean food, but I'd really like to, and if the first experience is excellent, so much the better!

[Ohioan]

Try the bibim bop (or bap), too. It's grilled meat and various grilled vegetables arranged over rice, with some kochujang (hot bean sauce) and an egg on top. You can eat all the bits and pieces separately, but the authentic way is to mix it all together and dig in. Yum.

Cheers,
Phoebe

[JHolcomb]

Korean is really good. I've only had it once, in Paris of all places, but I fell in love. Raleigh has a couple of Korean places that I'm dying to try. Anyway, Emilycat, I think daner gave a fantastic description of what Korean food is like. The barbeque is the coolest part. The restaurants have this cooker in the middle of the table that alllows you to cook your own meat at the table. Quite an experience. I don't know how much you would find to eat there, though-most of the dishes that I'm familiar with have pork or beef or at least chicken in them, and I know you're not the biggest meat fan (ok, I just got an image of an actual meat fan. Oscillating, nonetheless...) but the kimchee rules. And maybe someone else can speak to whether or not there are many non-meat Korean dishes. I would imagine so, but I'm just not familiar with them.

On a side note, Korean chopsticks are the hardest things in the world to use 'cause they're metal. Even my Taiwanese friend had trouble with them!

[mightyh]

Daner did a great job of describing Korean, a food we ate a lot of when we lived in DC. It's really delicious.

Often Korean restaurants also offer good sushi and their big, brothy noodle bowls (sorry for the imprecise terminology here:D ) are to die for in the winter--similar to the Vietnamese pho, for those of you familiar with that dish.

[daner94]

Emily,

The great Korean restaurants are on Buford Hwy just outside of 285. We had the best meal at Korea.... Grill? sorry, I can't remember the name but I could tell you exactly where it is. We also went to Hae Woon Dae which came highly recommended but we didn't like it as much.

I have also been to Mirror of Korea which is on Ponce de Leon and Highland. That one is okay, but I would definitely go to Buford Hwy. A dumpling House called Baden Baden Hof just opened to rave reviews. Can't wait to try it.


PS- JHolcomb-- I have only seen the metal chopstix in Korea! I've only used the wooden ones here. But those metal ones were difficult to use-- too thin!


Dana

[KValley]

Emily,

I am taking some vegetarian friends to a Korean restaurant this weekend- specifically because there is such an incredible offering of meatless dishes.

Last time I went (and I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of this dish) I had an enormous bowl of sticky rice, with Korean chestnuts, gingko root, yams, broccoli and tofu with a variety of sauces for dipping. It was so fresh and flavorful- and the sauces were hot, mild, sweet, savory, gingered, pickled. Delish!

[kima]

You have a Korean restaurant in Ellensburg Julie? I am impressed. It has been my experience living in small towns that the most exciting restaurants have served Chinese- Canadian food!!!:eek:

[KValley]

Oh No! It's in Yakima- which is not exactly a mecca of innovative cuisine, either, but there is this restaurant, a great Indian place, Italian, and some amazing Mexican- a large Hispanic population, so it's the real deal.

No, don't eat out much here in town! Chez Julie is pretty good for us!

[JHolcomb]

OK, we have a friend coming in from out of town for the weekend and we were going to do sushi, which I am slowly growing to like. Very slowly. It's a texture thing, not a raw thing. Anyway, I must convince my husband and our best friend that they want Korean instead. Because after all this talk, I really want it. And now I'm really curious about whether we'll get metal or wooden chopsticks.

[SandyM]

"I want to be young and wild, then I want to be middle aged and rich, and then I want to be old and annoy people by pretending to be deaf."

I just had to say, this is too precious for words. :cool:

[aggie94]

Emily,

Korean places generally serve a lot of seafood dishes - shrimp, squid, octopus, etc. In fact, my favorite all-time meal, that I seriously think I could eat everyday, is spicy squid from this hole-in-the-wall Korean place in town. It's SUPER spicy, so yummy and flavorful - it's basically a stir-fry squid and veggies dish with a chile paste-based sauce that will knock your socks off. Served with sticky white rice and several different kinds of kim chee, which I also could eat all day.

DH hates it when I bring it home, because he doesn't like the smell of it (he doesn't care for the smell of chile paste or anything else super hot like that), but he just left this morning for two weeks in Guam. I can't wait to pick up some take-out for dinner tonight!!

There are also lots of great meatless soups (like kim chee jigae)and noodle-based dishes that are filling enough to be main courses. And of course, don't forget the gyoza -- yummmmm!

[Terri-Lynn2]

Well you have my mouth watering now...I have a general idea of what to expect and I think we will love it. I think my son will love the idea of the BBQ at your table.

Thanks to everyone for your input. I am going to print this off for DH and let him ease his mind, it sounds like he will be hooked in no time too.

Thanks again.

Terri

[Beth Y]

At Korean restaurants, our 3 year old particularly likes the Korean pancakes...I don't know what they are really called but they are sometimes and appetizer. They are not like AMerican pancakes, but are more like flat, flavorful, eggy things, with vegetables or meat or whatever type you order. You can dip them in a soy dipping sauce or not, depending on how much salt you want your kid to have. My kid gobbles them up.

[catharine]

How timely that I should come across this thread (don’t know how I missed it last week). On Friday I took a good friend of mine out to celebrate his graduation, and we wound up at this Korean restaurant.

I had been there once before, a long time ago with DH. At that time we were totally overwhelmed because the wait staff didn’t speak much English and we didn’t really know what to do with all of the raw meat, condiments, lettuce leaves, etc. We also had a hard time figuring out what to order. Overall it was a frustrating experience and we haven’t been back.

Well, to make a long story short, I figured I would give it another try with my friend. This time it was much better. We ordered the combination plate of Korean BBQ (chicken, beef, shrimp, scallops, and veggies - $50) and a couple of appetizers. The staff somewhat more helpful in explaining what the different condiments were and the fact that you were supposed to put the meat and veggies into the lettuce leaves to make wraps. We preferred not to make wraps, but the food was pretty good. The staff even came over and helped us cook a bit when they noticed we were letting things go too long :)

So my second attempt at Korean food was a success. I would do it again and I recommend trying it with an open mind.