Try Every Korean Restaurant in Ermita and Malate (27) (see all posts TEKREM)

Surveying the Korean eateries, including those serving Korean-Chinese fare, located in the neighborhoods of Ermita and Malate, nearby work and home.  Minimum of 1 dish per place.  Currently 45 establishments.  Though anticipating that most of the places will be mediocre, I look forward to exploring more of my environment.

Dwaeji Bang is a Korean restaurant.  Specializes in Korean BBQ, focus on pork.  The name of the place means “pig (dwaeji) room (bang).”

Back in the day, kitchens in traditional Korean houses were often equipped with cast iron cauldrons.  Called “gamasot” in Korean.   Wood-fired from below.  At least one, the more the better.  Of varying sizes : a big one for boiling soup, a smaller one for steaming rice, etc.  Starting in the late 1960s, as Korea underwent rapid urbanization/modernization – apartment buildings, gas stoves, mass-produced/cheaper/easier-to-maintain cookware – the gamasot became largely obsolete.  Nowadays found at the occasional restaurant making soups the old-fashioned way.  My uncle built a set-up at his cabin, but with an aluminum pot (see 3.226 Gamja Tang).  At certain BBQ restaurants, the grills are fabricated to emulate the lids – come to think of it, the advent of Korean BBQ as we now know it happened around the same time that the gamasot were being abandoned, so the original lids may have been used at the time, though the lids alone are manufactured these days specifically for grilling purposes – which works because the seasoned iron provides an ideal cooking surface with evenly distributed heat, while the sloped shape allows for fat to run off.  In any case, it’s more about nostalgia than function.

Kinda fun to grill meat on a gamasot in Malate and tell my dining companions about it, but the gimmick wore off quickly – indeed, the lid was taken away after the initial order of samgyeopsal.  The other items came precooked, probably because they were marinated and would’ve required extra clean-up – a lazy excuse to deprive customers of the full experience.  Whatever.

Arirang is a hotel.  Presumably under Korean ownership/management.  Presumably frequented (if that’s the right word) by Korean tourists on very tight budgets.  Includes a restaurant.

The menu offers various dog dishes: soup (yeongyang tang), boiled meat (yeongyang suyuk), hotpot (yeongyang jeongol).  The term “yeongyang = healthy/nutritious” is a euphemism for dog.   Thanks to TEKREM, I may have discovered the only restaurant in Malate that serves the stuff.

The food was pretty good.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN PHILIPPINES)