6.193 TEKREM 42 + 43 : Bul + Yak

6.193

17 (Fri) July 2015

Deungsim

1.0

at Bulgogi Korean Restaurant

-Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-

with K staff

Try Every Korean Restaurant in Ermita and Malate (42) (see all posts on 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.

Bulgogi Korean Restaurant is a Korean restaurant. Supposedly specializing in beef, as the Korean name So Han Mari (“one cow”) would falsely suggest.

I should’ve sensed something amiss from a restaurant where the chef/manager would be senseless enough to smoke right out front and let himself be photographed doing so.

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.

* * * *

9 (Sat) May 2015

Jajangmyun

2.5

at Shabu Yaki

-Malate, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-

solo

Try Every Korean Restaurant in Ermita and Malate (43) (see all posts on TEKREM)

This post covers two restaurants, same dish, different dates. I will do this more often to accelerate the completion of TEKREM.

Shabu Yaki is a Korean/Chinese/Japanese restaurant. A little bit of everything; on this visit, most customers (all locals) were eating shabu shabu.