Korea

I’m going to go ahead and spoil it, there wasn’t any K-pop playing when I drug the old Culinary-Passport to Seoul Korean Kitchen but the snap & crackle showed up later. The restaurant is kind of odd because they took over another restaurant and that other restaurant’s branding is all over the place still. In spite of that, the employees I interacted with and the décor that was deployed throughout was enough to give a Korean vibe. .

They weren’t too busy when I got there, however there was a short wait while some tables were cleaned and sanitized. While the menu isn’t extensive it does have a good sampling of Korean dishes and I found myself going back and forth between bulgogi and bibimbap. Bibimbap was what I was planning to get when I left the apartment but the lure of the bulgogi made me as wishy washy as a politician checking poll numbers. Fortunately the nice lady taking my order steered me toward the bibimbap. Hot pot version please.

My sides came first.

I love these but I’m not sure why we’re calling them sides instead of included appetizers. Without exception everyone (everyone I saw anyway) who got these ate them before the main dish arrived. I guess it really doesn’t matter, the important thing is they were tasty. The cucumber had some sweet chili oil (or something like it) on them, the broccoli were steamed tender and had a touch of sesame oil on them, yum. The potatoes were ok, the kimchi had just a hint of spiciness and would do for a wide range of palates, I even used my chop stick skills, such as they are, to eat these. I abandoned those when the star of the lunch arrived.

The bibimbap arrived in a very hot stone bowl sitting on a plastic tray thingy that made it possible for the wait staff to handle. This was where snap & crackle came in. The rice under all these other ingredients was frying and creating a crunchy little base at the bottom. As I was getting that auditory show the colorful spinach, carrots, sprouts, beef and nori covered mushrooms provided a nice visual complement. Oh and the sunny side up egg in the center didn’t hurt either. Once I added the sauce and stirred it up it wasn’t quite as eye catching but it was pretty delicious.

As mentioned I didn’t even pretend like the chop sticks were going to be sufficient to the task and dove in fork first. The flavors and textures, including the crunchy rice on the bottom, just blended so nicely together I’m not even sure what more to say other than if you haven’t ever tried bibimbap you need to and Seoul Korean Kitchen can help you out.

If you aren’t tired of Korean stuff check out the recipe, music and random fact on the Tell Me More page.