It was a travesty of Korean BBQ.  The meat itself had been improperly frozen, for too long.  Then, it was placed on the grill, still frozen, which I hadn’t realized until looking over and seeing blood pooling on top of the slab.  Even worse, the coals were way too weak, failing to produce a proper crust to seal in the juices.  Finally, it was overcooked – ordinarily, I’d take my meat piece by piece before it got overcooked, but here they cooked everything together off to the side and served it all at once.  The result was horrifically dry, slightly gamy.

When I complained to the Korean chef/manager, he stubbornly attempted to put up various defenses, each more ludicrous than the other, none of which I’ll bother to describe here.  My sense – speculation derived from various things that he said during the surprisingly long argument – is that he immigrated to the Philippines at a young age, around adolescence, 20 years ago, probably hasn’t been back since, worked in the service industry here but never had any formal training/education.  As such, he has no idea how to do things properly and has no idea that he has no idea.

This restaurant is BANNED.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN PHILIPPINES)