One of my favorite things about Korean BBQ are the side dishes or banchan that accompany the meal. We had dishes of kimchi, kongnamul (cold boiled bean sprouts with sesame oil), pickled cucumber, fishcakes, and japchae. MMmmm. I could make a meal out of just banchan.
For the main meal, my friend and I family-styled it up and shared an order of dolsot bibimbap and bulgogi with an order each of the soon tofu soup.
The broth of the soon tofu tasted like it had been stewing for hours and the intense seafood/shrimpy-ness of the soup reminded me of home. The one thing that would have made this soup over the moon delicious would have been a little more seasoning in the salt department.
My opinion of the Bibimbap was that it was just alright. Nothing too wrong with it but nothing extremely right either. The gochujang or red pepper paste lacked a little seasoning and fell short in the spicy and sweet categories. I also wished there had been more namul (sauteed or seasoned vegetables) in the dish.
While the bibimbap was a little bit disappointing, the Bulgogi was nicely marinated and sweet. Additionally, the cut of meat used in Tofu Ya's bulgogi was nice and lean. If I am not wrong, bulgogi is suppose to be made with sirloin or other prime cuts of beef. However, I have been to many restaurants and ordered bulgogi, only to be served a plate of less than lean meat! Argh!
Bulgolgi always reminds me of the 2nd international age group meet that I ever represented Singapore at. Held in Busan Korean, that was the first time I was really introduced to Korean cuisine. While in Busan, I dined on a steady feast of ginseng chicken, kyoho grapes, the sweetest peaches ever (bought from the street cart across from the hotel. Also when I learned that mama t can split a peach in two simply by twisting it) and bulgolgi!
Bulgolgi always reminds me of the 2nd international age group meet that I ever represented Singapore at. Held in Busan Korean, that was the first time I was really introduced to Korean cuisine. While in Busan, I dined on a steady feast of ginseng chicken, kyoho grapes, the sweetest peaches ever (bought from the street cart across from the hotel. Also when I learned that mama t can split a peach in two simply by twisting it) and bulgolgi!
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Wow, what a trip down memory.. to Pusan, Korea. (Busan/Pusan..?) The picture of that soup makes my mouth water, it was on the second trip to Pusan for the Asian Games that I come across that lovely HOT soup, I dont even know the name till I read it here. Dunno about my peach breaking skills any longer, nobody to half it for any longer, seeing that Nikki and you can afford your own peaches now!!
ReplyDeleteAww yeah... Now that Nik and I have fully grown stomachs (and then some) we don't need/want to split a peach! I can still recall how amazed we where when you so skillfully split the peach!! :)
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