Korean Food Trip

'twas a rainy Saturday, March 24th. An unlikely day for me to go out, and in an unfamiliar place to hang around, too. The place is not very far, but I have little clue about the convenient transportation route going there.

      Well, this doesn’t sound like Janis at all, but I used to belong in a Christian church youth fellowship. Believe it, or not ;)

      I met Kuya Obeth when I was in high school when I joined the youth group. After a few years, Ate Lorna came into our church and become one of our advisers. The two of them always give advice to me, as well as other members of the youth group.

     

      After a while, I got busy with other things, school and friends, hanging around in gigs, and later got a job in Manila. Time came when I no longer fit in the youth group’s nice image and I don’t attend those fellowships anymore. Later, I heard that Kuya Obeth doesn’t go to the same church anymore and has been very busy managing several canteens and other businesses. Ate Lorna stayed and continued guiding the new generation of youth members.

      Thanks to technology and the internet, I found them on facebook. By November of last year, we planned to go out and bond, though the original plan is to gather as many youth fellowship members as possible. That plan took four months to finalize.

      So, here we are, finally. I was uber excited to see them! The place is called M Bul Go Gi, located at the lower level of Terraza Dasma, Robinson’s Place in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

      This is not a review whatsoever of the place and the food. I’m not very good in publicly criticizing things. This is all about the wonderful experience of eating out with my long-lost friends.

 

      Kuya Obeth knows a lot about Korean Food. He has been an English teacher for Korean students for a long time. Most of the time he eats out with his Korean students, and he stays in Dasmariñas, where a lot of Koreans live. Some of them are students while others are businessmen and executives of some manufacturing companies.

      This is my first time to ever eat in a Korean restaurant, though they don’t categorize themselves as one. Said they are just fast food.

      I must agree that the interior fits a fast food outlet, as well as the reasonably priced menu.

       But the service is really nice as well as the taste and quality of the food, unlike most fast food outlets. 

      The first thing that Kuya Obeth ordered is Samgyeopsal. Pork slices grilled on a hot plate with slices of onion and garlic. This is very yummy. It should be eaten in a particular way: on a lettuce leaf, wrap a piece of pork, slice of onion, garlic and chilli pepper, season with dipping sauce of soybean chilli pepper paste and sesame oil. Then pop it all in your mouth. Yum Yum...

      Another exciting dish is a common Korean street food, tukbokki or dukbokki, mainly served as a snack or appetizer. It consists of rice cakes, fish cakes, spicy sauce, some leafy vegetables and sprinkles of sesame seeds. It is very yummy and filling. Something that I look forward to eating again soon.

      Kimbap or gimbap is another popular street food. It is a bit similar to a sushi roll. A bit bigger, though. I was really excited for this one, mainly because I have been fond of Japanese food for a long time. It was nice and I liked it, however I like maki better because of the wasabi dip.

        Using the chopsticks is also a challenge in handling these big sized sushi rolls. The stainless steel sticks are not very easy to use compared to the flat wooden ones. And I’m holding the camera, so forgive me for the uber close-up.

     Bulgogi may be the yummiest of all the food that I have tasted that night. Thinly sliced beef seasoned just right. Sweet, savoury, aromatic, I don’t know. I’m not very good in describing taste specifically. It can be compared to my favourite Jap dish beef tepanyaki. It is sweeter and doesn’t have the sharpness of onion leeks, it is unique in its own way. Due to my excitement, I already have enough kimbap, dukboki and ramyun (which were served before the bulgogi), I have to take the order of bulgogi home and share with Ricky. 

      We have ate what seemed to be too much for three people. We are all full and satisfied.

      After our meal, we were handed some markers so that we can write something on their walls. I actually took the opportunity to plug my recently created blog and wrote the address near one of the dinner tables, hoping that out of curiosity someone might take a look. And as promised, I made a post. The waiter even took our picture so that they can stick it up next to our handwriting, which I doubt they would remember where.

      Kuya Obeth promised that we will eat again next time and in a better restaurant. They told me about a place near De La Salle, said that the ambiance is more Korean, hence more authentic experience. Though I’m looking forward to it, I’m pretty sure that this night will be more memorable. The food is good, but seeing two friends is so much better.

      Oh this is so goddamned wholesome, I’ll be sick. But for the love of friendship I'll be serious this time. I dedicate this post to my dear friends, Lorna and Robert.