Yummy pork BBQ alongside Sejong Street at Myeong-dong
During Noona's last visit to Seoul, she managed to have a yummy pork BBQ alongside Sejong Street at Myeongdong. To be honest with you, Noona did not know if the restaurant is really specialised in pork BBQ. She just assumed from the pork symbol beside the restaurant's name. Other than that, from the restaurant's window, Noona saw a lot of exhaust pipes on top of the table (which usually also comes with the grill). Yup, a lot of observation was done before Noona decided to go inside the restaurant.
The restaurant offers BBQ menu in a set and ala-carte dishes. Since there were only two of us, we decided to go with the ala-carte pork meats. The waiter prepares the grill and serves us a lot of side dishes. The side dishes alone have made us so happy. As you can see, there are a lot of them. Really a lot.
We ordered two type of pork meats. The long one which comes with a layer of fat is really a must-order-food in Korea. It is called Samgyeopsal. Well, it is literally a thick, fatty slice of pork belly meat. The meat is usually not marinated or seasoned. It's just grilled that way on the grill. You can eat the samgyeopsal by dipping it in sesame seed oil mixed with salt and pepper.
You do not really have to do a lot of cooking when you are visiting a Korean BBQ restaurant. The waiter and waitress are very initiative in assisting the diners to cook their meats. I love this kind of culture as I am a lazy chef. My pure bliss comes from eating, not cooking.
Oh right, before Noona completely transported into another world filled with yummy grilled pork and forgot about the real world, Noona would like to let you see into her bowl of rice. There are big stones in her rice, like literally big stones. The rice is apparently cooked together with bamboo charcoal. The charcoal absorbs chlorine, bad odor and toxic substances from water. By cooking the rice together with the charcoal, the look and quality of the rice improves. The rice does feel more delicious compared to the normal white rice.
If you would like to try out this restaurant, you can come to Sejong Street which is located straight behind Sejong Hotel in Myeongdong. The restaurant is located alongside the street. The restaurant allows smoking though. Noona remembers the Japanese tourist beside her was smoking while grilling meat.