Cycle 4 – Item 218

11 (Sun) August 2013

Hanwoo Bulgogi + Gamja Sari

3.5

at Jang Yunjo Gamasot Gukbab

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with DJ, Dad

I’ve never eaten at the same place on two consecutive evenings in the 4+ years of GMTD.  I can’t recall if I’ve ever deliberately avoided doing so, though I’m sure that I’ve refused to eat the same thing twice in a row at home.  Anyway, my father suddenly showed up for dinner, and this was where he wanted to go, so there we were.

Fortunately, the fine bulgogi made the immediate return worthwhile.  The meat itself was tender to a fault and tasty if a bit bland, typical of hanwoo.  The marinade was well-balanced, not too salty, not too sweet.  The platter also came with pine and enoki mushrooms, shredded daepa, and dang myeon (glass noodles).  Everything was grilled in a bulgogi pan filled with beef broth.  At the end, a separate order of gamja sari (potato-starch noodles) were added to the remaining broth, a first for me; super chewy, similar to jjol myeon, totally awesome, the best part of the meal – hence the 3.5 rating.  15,000 won for a 250-gram order (6,000 won per 100 grams), minimum 2 orders, plus 3,000 won for the noodles – excellent deal.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)