Eat in Seoul for less

This post is long overdue. I’ve been keeping this a secret for almost 2 years now. My dad even published an article ahead of me after i showed him the place.

This place doesn’t seem to have a name. All i know is that it is located in Seoul Condo, a street intersecting burgos street and makati avenue. If ever you come across this place…i guarantee that it has one of the most tasty kimchi and most likely best value-for-money and authentic korean places you can go to in manila.

The first time i entered this place, with mig of course…a long awkward silence hit the restaurant. No they didn’t notice me, but this obviously Filipino man beside me. They thought i was korean until i spoke and just started pointing at their wall mounted menu.

For the two years I’ve been a regular here, these are what I know about the place:
1. 98% of the time, they have koreans as customers.
2. The mom is the chef, a small but robust woman takes care of the kitchen.
3. The dad takes care of the coals. You’ll see this old man lighting up coals in the entrance before you even enter the restaurant.

4. Their child is the manager, she entertains guests, makes the checks and takes orders on some ocassion. The place isn’t big so you can’t miss her..and she’ll teach you how to eat the korean bbq too.
5. For a time we used to get free food, compliments of the chef, probably for being the only Filipinos who come there…until I told my brother, his girlfriend my dad and other relatives. Still…I love their kimchi jige.
6. I can be vomit-full with good food, and only spend about 650 pesos…and that already includes 2 giant grilled meat plates, softdrinks, all the lovely banchan you can eat and a slice of pineapple.
7. Food is pretty digestible since you eat a whole lot of vegetables while you’re there.

It’s pretty obvious that I’m not Korean because we always gorge on maybe 8-12 kinds of banchan even before the bbq gets cooked. But who cares, they are pretty happy to serve you all the banchan you want just as long as you order. My top 5 favorites are of course, the chinese cabbage kimchi, the leek & lettuce kimchi, the radish kimchi, the leek kimchi and the giant radish in wasabi. On some occassion they have “seasonal” banchan like clams with gojuchang, a korean omellette, chili and dilis…and all sorts of fancy little things. Again, you would have to go at different seasons of the year to experience those and hope the chef (who i fondly call momsy) decides to tweak the banchan at that time.

The bbq. Yes we have tasted almost everything. All of them have their own characters. If you like beef there are 4 kinds of beef bbq on the menu. But what I like is the Daeji Kalbi (marinated spicy pork) and the Marinated spicy chicken.
That’s what we always order. On some ocassions with my brother, we’ve ordered the typical samgyupsal which I also like, but I really like bbq that has the sauce slopped all over it most of the time. For those who want to taste the pork, it’s samgyupsal for you.

Because of the horrendous amount of pictures I’ve been able to collect through our years of eating there, I’ll just post the gallery.

After a large meal, you get a cute little slice of pineapple to finish it off. Make sure you aren’t going to any other place after since you’ll be smelling of coals and bbq.

But believe me….it’s damn worth it. How many times a year can you go to korea for less than a thousand pesos? Because of this place…it’s limitless!