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The Bulgogi Brothers

April 08, 2009 3:04 PM

By LAMA HASAN, CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS SEOUL

If you like spicy food then Seoul is your city.  Most of the dishes here are either infused with chilli or drizzled with some type of hot sauce. Even salads fall victim to the eye watering spice. 

The country is famous for its national dish of cabbage fermented in garlic, chilies and vinegar.  You may have heard of it, it’s called kimchi. It’s considered a national icon so much so that last year when a South Korean astronaut packed for her mission, she took a packet of kimchi with her, naturally.

But South Korea is also known for its meat dishes, or bulgogi, which means simply beef. The dish consists of thinly sliced meat marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar, which you can then cook on a grill usually found on your table.

For me, the thought of Korean cuisine conjures up images of barbecued meat, and for the full experience we decided to dine at a restaurant called the  Bulgogi Brothers,  mainly because it was on the map my producer, Clark Bentson bought and with set menu prices for as little as $8, it was too much of a bargain to pass up.

We ventured into the Myungdong district, an area packed with restaurants and shops.  The restaurant itself has a modern setting with tables that have a grill to cook your food.  Also on the tables are side dishes of pumpkin and sweet potato mash garnished with thinly sliced almonds, boiled sweet potatoes and chunks of corn, a plate of local greens, acorn jelly and radish all in hot sauce. In case you were wondering, the acorn jelly has a jelly consistency and that's about it.  It's tasteless.

The menu is foreigner-friendly complete with visual aids. The names of the dishes are in English and pictures are placed next to them.  We chose the Seoul Beef set menu, which comes with either glass noodles or rice and black beans. 

The slivers of raw meat marinated in a sweet sauce arrive with spring onions on a big dish.  All of the contents are placed on the grill and almost immediately the color of the meat changes.  Since we’re novices, our helpful waiter took over and acted as chef. 

Within minutes we began sampling the meat which is sweet tasting and tender.

There isn’t much on offer for vegetarians on the menu, which consists of beef with pine nuts,  beef wrapped in lettuce, raw beef, seafood pepper noodles and seafood dumplings.

If you’re in Seoul and all of the above doesn’t sound appetizing, then fret not because you can still get a little taste of home. On the way to the restaurant were several Starbuck stores, a Burger King, Krispy Kreme and a Bennigan’s.

Read more blogs by Lama Hasan

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April 8, 2009 in Lama Hasan | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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