갈비집

Who doesn't like AYCE K-BBQ?  All you can eat Korean barbeque.  Heaven for carnivores.  I'm glad that Los Angeles has a great Koreatown but I have been spotting KBBQ restaurants in other places also.

But what is KBBQ?  Well, here's Bongja 할머니 for explanation:


I've tried a lot of KBBQ places here in Los Angeles, one in the Temple City area, and one in the Philippines.  Every place tastes different and I do have a favorite one.

My former co-workers and I frequent this place in Koreatown called Goong.  Then they changed the name to Bulgogi House.  And what do you know, they changed the name again to Castle BBQ #2.


A Yelp review that sounds so true about this place goes like this, "If you don't mind waiting 40 minutes for really good KBBQ, this place is for you."  And it is across the street from the famous BCD Tofu House, where K-Pop stars tend to visit if they are in the area.  I'm not a huge fan of BCD, except for their tofu.  I like Castle #2 BBQ way more.  Especially their brisket and marinated 불고기.

An upgrade of sorts that they did to the place was playing K-Pop MVs.  I mean... if you are a K-Pop fan, you won't mind the wait because you'll be entertained by BIGBANG, 2NE1, SNSD, Beast, etc.  I don't mind waiting for my pork belly strips to cook while watching Crayon by G-Dragon.  (The last time I was here a few days ago, they played Blue, Monster, Crayon, and Don't Hate Me in a row.  I think that was enough time for my meats to cook haha...)

Their Korean wait staff are really friendly.  And no, I did not need to bust out my restaurant Korean to order.  ;-)  I do leave a little 감사합니다 on my paper place mat before I go.  But the best thing about this place, apart from the K-Pop MVs, is that they have a $9.99 menu.  Most KBBQ places I know have a minimum of $16 for lunches and $25 for dinner.  This place has $10, $13, and $16 menus... all day.  Just pick your meats.  I'm pretty happy with the $10 selection so if you're on a budget, this place is for you.

And oh, make sure you wear clothes that you are not doing to wear again the next day.  Chances are, your clothes and hair will smell like brisket by the end of your meal.  ㅋㅋㅋ~


OO-KOOK Korean BBQ is one of those $25 places.  There's one near where I live and when we tried this place out, they just opened for business.  They gave us so many 반찬 and surprisingly, not all of them are 김치.  They do have a nice variety and for $25, we made sure we made... well, ate the most out of that.

I love their marinated 불고기 and their LA 갈비.  And whatever that egg-ish yellow paste 반찬 is... I love it.  I did manage to practice my Korean numbers while I was there because the guy assigned to our table preferred writing down the item numbers instead of the names.  Eh, no biggie. 


As for a 갈비집 closer to Korea... Seoul Garden at The Block, SM North EDSA.

I went here to meet up with a couple of good friends from elementary school.  I must say when they invited me to meet up for lunch, I was quite touched.  I mean, I haven't seen them in close to ten years but they still wanted to meet and spend some time together.  And they're fellow VIPs so that's always a plus!

It's like a hotpot/buffet type of system at Seoul Garden.  You get to pick your meats and other food items from a center table, as well as your drinks and desserts.  They provide you a jug of broth for the hotpot in the middle of the grill.  They have mild and spicy meats, vegetables, corn (!!), tofu, and even cold cuts like hotdog and ham.  It's not like the KBBQs here where they bring the meat of your choice to your table.  I mean, you still cook your own food but yeah, you have to stand up and get your meats yourself.  I don't remember how much it cost but it was definitely in the PhP500 above range.

So there you have it.  Have you tried other KBBQ places?  Do you have any recommendations?  I would love to try out your favorites!

맛있게 드세요!