Korea is a Beef Lover's Heaven

I can't go to Korea and NOT do a post on it's yummy food. I know my market post (you can read it here) already had all the street food we were stuffing ourselves with, but real food is different, because everything that was not Kimchi red was really good.

Upon the recommendation of my fried Jay Jerrick Epping Boy (JJEB), we tried Bulgogi Brothers in Myeongdong. It was also on the recommended list of restaurants that my friend J found from the web.

We ordered Bulgogi (with Mushroom) with Soup.
This was around KRW 25,000 (SG$28.50 or Php950) per person.
They put in three portions in the middle where it's cooked.

It looks (and tastes) like Sukiyaki to me. 

It comes with side dishes of pickled veggies that they all call kimchi.

Depending on the price of the restaurant, some have more interesting sides.

I liked this one because it was sweet and a bit chewy.

The ambiance of the place is casual, but more polished than the street side bulgogi shops.

The food was good, but I honestly could not taste the difference between the beef quality of a KRW6,000 order from a hole in the wall vs the KRW25,000 order at Bulgogi Brothers. In fact, I liked the Bulgogi at the first restaurant we ate at better because it was served in individual hot bowls and it was just loads of Beef and Mushrooms with no extenders like veggies or vermicelli. Yumyum... (you can read that post here).

The following night, we were looking around for a Korean BBQ place we wanted to eat in as we were walking around Myeongdong (AGAIN!) and we chose this one because it was endorsed by a Korean Celebrity (he's a comedian... kaya hindi gwapo) that my camera shy "evil-step sister" (we will now call her ESS) friend recognized.

This was the restaurant with my friend J hugging the comedian.

The restaurant was casual with the hanging things to suck the smoke so you leave the restaurant thinking that you don't smell like BBQ. Hahaha... But you do... just a little. 

We ordered pork belly.
This was really good.

some cut of beef...

and marinated beef ribs.

Because they served it with greens, I decided to go back to my no carb ways :)

I just kept eating it like this... Happiness...

I think this was when we were cooking the beef ribs. Look at the fat!!! 

It's even better when you sprinkle some salt on it!

We were very happy with this meal. I think an order of one type of meat (around 150-200g) costs around KRW15,000 (around SG$18 or Php600) on average. I think our meal for three with soft drinks cost a little over KRW40,000.

As we were walking around and doing our shopping, we saw this guy on the street selling dessert.

He was filling giant cream puffs!!!

Of course I had to get one :)
It was only KRW2,000 (SG$2.20 or Php80) 

Because the puff was so big, the custard (which tasted more lemony that creamy) to puff ratio was not that good in some parts.
It was too much for one person (actually even for 3!!!).

For my last dinner in Seoul, in the Apujong area this time, the area referred to as Seoul's Rodeo Drive with all the name brands, was a proper Korean BBQ dinner, with the restaurant boasting the freshest meat in Korea. It's actually better if you call for a reservation because they told us, we could only come at 8:30pm. The restaurant wasn't really full when we got there, but our server cooked for us for the whole meal (so maybe, for foreigners, it's the server you need the reservation for).

They also had the hanging thingies.

They had more interesting starters/side dishes in this place.
This salad with brocolli, radish, fruits and nuts was very nice and refreshing.

every meal in Korea comes with this type of kimchi

Leaves to wrap the meat in.

Salad with dressing. This was good with the meat too.

and some sort of sweetened squash.

We ordered Prime Rib (200g was around KRW52,000 SG$58 or Php2000)
and the other thing they recommended which cost about as much.

And we also ordered Bulgogi which I think was much cheaper (around KRW20,000) i think!

We also ordered the beef rib soup (also recommended by the website my friend J found) not realizing it would be full of beef. Yummy... It tasted like nilaga but we had too much food! hahaha.
I think this was also around KRW18,000 (SG$20 or Php685) 

In Korea, they use charcoal for the BBQ

The prime rib was to die for. It was sooo good.
That's why it was expensive... because they ambiance of the place wasn't nicer than normal.

The service was really good though.
The lady cooking for us would divide the food equally and put it on the mushrooms so it won't overcook.

She was teaching us to eat it like this.

But I preferred eating it with salt and miso paste on lettuce. Yummmy.

I think the Prime Rib was really worth the price. If I go back to that place, I'd just order the prime rib and the beef rib soup, because the Bulgogi pales in comparison to the Prime Rib. If you're interested in eating here, just message me so I can ask my friend for the name of the place.

On our last day, we were planning to leave the hotel at 1030am to have brunch at the Hello Kitty Cafe before I flew back to Singapore, but I didn't do my research and it was only when we were about to leave that the concierge told me that the Hello Kitty Cafe was 40minutes away by taxi from the hotel and it would probably take us longer in the afternoon because of Saturday traffic. 

FYI, traffic in Seoul is 10x worse than Manila traffic... and if you're already used to Singapore, staying in the cab that's not moving will really drive you nuts. Just Saying.

So I asked my friends of they could take me to the place where they had Korean Beef Stew that they were raving so much about. 

This was the medium beef stew. J's hand is in the picture for perspective.

They serve it in three sizes: small KRW35,000 (SG$39 or Php1330)
medium KRW45,000 (SG$50 or Php1710)
large KRW55,000 i think! (SG$61 or Php2090)

My friend J cutting off all the bones. Thank you :)

This was very good, but it was quite difficult to eat a lot if you're trying to limit your carbs intake... Good thing it was a weekend so cheat day it is!!! :) The small order was just enough for two with one large piece of meat left over, while the medium order was a little bit too much for three people. Our meal for three with three cups of rice cost us less than KRW50,000 (SG$56 or Php1900). The restaurant was also in the Apujong area, just drop me a line if you want more details so I can ask my friend.

A holiday in Korea is definitely an eating and shopping holiday. You can eat really good food for a small amount of money, you just have to fly to get there first. just saying.

Thanks so much J and ESS, I really ate so well and had so much fun with you girls :)