We were always on the lookout for great tasting grilled meats and decided to go for the crowd favourite at Maple Tree House Itaewon. This area is pretty well known for its its cosmopolitan dining and nightlife, and is practically littered with many restaurants including Korean BBQ. Many foreigners like to hangout at this area too.
Arrived at that area at about 8pm and there was a queue already. Left our name and the service staff informed us to come back in another half hour's time to check if there's any available table.
let's dine here
Was basically just walking up and down that area to kill time. There was a huge Chinese restaurant, international restaurants serving German, French fares and plenty of watering holes.
soju bottles as wall decor
Finally got a table at about 840pm and we were pretty excited! The restaurant serves mid to premium range meats, and its diners were mostly working adults and tourists.
our corner
for larger groups
Our main target for the night was Korean beef, 한우 (Hanwoo). When else can we eat Hanwoo if not when we were in Seoul, right? But we were also mindful of budget so we ordered sparingly. Almost.
USDA Prime Ribeye (150g)
Premium Korean Aged Beef Striploin (150g)
charcoal fire is a must
wait for it
almost there
grab a bite of mouthwatering succulent piece
The beef was tender yet retained its beefy-ness. Not overly marbled but satisfying enough. I think we ordered another round of the striploin for the finale.
For drinks, we had Korean raspberry wine. Like a dessert wine. Offered a glass to the Caucasian family at the next table to try.
bokbunja
Also ordered some pork to grill. Fresh meat that was not frozen makes all the difference, you know.
front: Jeju Korean Black Pork Belly (150g) Back: Jeju Korean Black Pork Collar (150g)
let it grill~ let it grill~
The pork jowl was so amazingly white and promises of an amazing experience. Indeed, it had a fantastic mouthfeel and 'crunchy' firm when the meat was chewed. Juicy as promised.
Pork Jowl (150g)
pork jowl
The grilled meat came with leafy vegetables for the wrap, salad and some side dishes like kimchi and tofu.
pickled perilla leaf
We enjoyed the meats and left the place happy. Spent about $50 to $60 per pax. To end the meal, we were served cold omija tea. It's also known as five-flavours tea which consist of sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and pungency/tartness.
omija 오미자차
Maple Tree House
Address: 26 Itaewon-ro 27ga-gil, Itaewon 1(il)-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea Website: http://www.mapletreehouse.co.kr/kor/html/main.asp Contact: +82 2-790-7977 Business Hours:
Daily 1130am to 1030pm (till 12am on Fri and Sat)
We had pork and beef BBQ prior and there's still room for more. So what did we do? Went right into this shop that had lamb skewers! Right, we expect nothing less from foodies...but stressed leh...we ate and ate and ate somemore!
menu
We took the course set on the left; lamb cutlet, lamb chops, lamb skewers and tangsuyuk. No rice, of course. After that, we were surprised when the boss brought out a bottle of Harbin beer. "Service." He said. Which means, he gave us a bottle of free beer. How cool was that! Busan people are really friendly.
beer - complimentary
This BBQ place was more of Chinese-styled. Even the seasoning spices for the BBQ is reminiscent of Xinjiang meat skewers. Liked that the place is spacious, modern and using charcoal grill. Yay!
lamb chop on the grill
left to right: spices: flavoured salt (curry), cumin, chili flakes, pickles, salted peanuts and spring onions
The guy who attended to us, I think he is the boss since he was the one that brought the beer FOC. Pssst...He's also quite good looking. He helped to cook the meat, cut up the meat into chunky bite sized and also distributed the meat evenly towards the two sides of the grill where we are seated.
meat is cut-up to bite size pieces
양고기 meat from the lamb chop separated and ready to eat
The pineapple and rice cake (떡) are then left on the grill to char a bit. The meat was surprisingly gentle to the jaw. Not too gamey. Tasted pretty good with the cumin and flavoured salt. Not forgetting the ice cold beer. Ahhh...that hits the spot.
spiced it up!
And, then the tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) came. It looked rather impressive with its golden brown colour and large pieces. Unfortunately, that 'large piece' were mainly sweet potato flour. The meat was really really thin and tiny. We didn't finish this plate. The sauce was nicely sweet and sour though. What a pity.
sweet and sour pork 탕수육
look at the size and that's not a teaspoon btw
Lastly, the lamb skewers. Amidst the skewers, there was one with gingko nuts. Nice.
lamb skewers 어린 양 꼬챙이
self-rotating skewers
Here's a super short video of the action:
The food and place was nice and with friendly staff. It was just a random place that we dropped by. 맥주 감사합니다!
Hou Yangkkochi 호우양꼬치
Address: 168-150 Bujeon-dong, Busanjin-gu, Busan, South Korea Contact: +82 51-804-1199
There is a new Korean BBQ restaurant at 82 Amoy Street and we were excited to try! The restaurant is easy to spot and if you are lucky, you may get a parking spot close to the restaurant. PUJIM is owned by Busan native, Mr D.O Kim and this spacious new place serves Busan cuisine and good meats for its BBQ.
When you walk into the restaurant, you will definitely notice the purple neon signs scattered throughout the dark interior of the restaurant. Of course, the other noticeable item would be the smoke extractor above all tables. The neon signs gave the place a rather happening vibe and the tables are adequately spaced out.
PUJIM's interior
PUJIM is fairly new and there is an opening promotion at the moment. The menu will indicate accordingly, or you could also enquire from the friendly staff.
menu
artwork
We noted that free wifi is available in the restaurant. For drinks, the range of alcoholic drinks included local beer or Korean beer (Hite/Cass), soju (plain or flavoured), makgeolli, baekseju, bokbunja, and non-alcoholic drinks of canned drinks and bottled water. You can also BYOB and the corkage fee is $50 for wine and $70 for others.
drinks
This BBQ place offers 6 types of banchans and for BBQ, there is a minimum order of 300gms for the first order and subsequent order is in minimum of 100gms thereafter.
banchan for two tables
For the banchans, the kimchi was pretty good and the apple salad was rather refreshing. The surprise item was the pickled celery. It was a surprise as the taste is of a familiar and unexpectedly homely. Try it and you'll understand what I mean.
lovely kimchi
pickled celery
are we having bread later?
The utensils are placed in the drawer located at the ends of the table.
retrieve the utensils and we are ready to eat
The staff will do the cooking and diners only need to enjoy the food. There are plenty of dishes that one could order while waiting for the BBQ. We started with Busan Amok Tang (부산어묵탕) and Seafood Soup (해물탕). Two medium sized bronze pots were brought to the table and placed ontop of the gas stoves.
Seafood Soup 해물탕 @$35 (UP $40)
Busan Amok Tang 부산어묵탕 @$35 (UP $38)
The haemultang (seafood soup) was loaded with seafood such as flower crabs, large scallops, prawns, mussels, clams, octopus and squid. The soup was slightly spicy with a lovely umami flavour. Shiok!
The Busan Amok Tang (Fishcake Soup) is suitable for the kids, and came with many variants of fried fishcake (long, short, round, squarish), lots of onions and spring onions and some ricecake (tteokbokki). The soup was sweet and tasty. Our table liked both of these soups. I personally preferred the seafood soup.
There is also the seafood pancake 해물파전 which looked slightly different from what I had tried before in other Korean restaurants. The flour was really to a minimum and the base was mainly green spring onions.
Haemul Pajeon 해물파전 @$35
Plenty of crunchy shiny prawns ontop of the pancake and some squid too. The pancake was nice, not overly seasoned, and lovely prawns but I kind of missed the flour. Dipping sauce is provided but it was not necessary. This dish was also noticeably oily towards the base.
prawns
Next up, meats! We were so ready for these. Started with Premium Beef Ribeye Cap, which is said to be the tastiest cut of a steak. It is shaped like a prawn and is located under the front section of the backbone.
Premium Beef - Ribeye Cap @$38 per 100gm (UP $43 per 100gm)
sizzling in progress
The smell from the grill was amazing. The prawn-shaped meat cooked well and we got to enjoy this delicious and rare cut within minutes. The cooked meat would be laid ontop of the white bread for guests to partake.
The meat had lovely grill marks and the thin layer of meat was easy to breakdown. As this was not marinated, one could enjoy the natural taste of the meat. The meat was easily chewed and it wasn't too oily.
Ribeye Cap
Next, was the ultimate Premium Beef of dreams. The striploin A4 wagyu. Look at those marblings and imagine its melty taste..mMmmm.
Premium Beef - Striploin @$35 per 100gm (UP $40 per 100 gm)
listen to its sizzles~
fire dance
I actually preferred the striploin over the ribeye cap. Loved the oily mouthfeel of the striploin and it just melted in my mouth. Minimal chewing was needed. Enjoyed this premium beef very much!
striploin - chunky cut (by female staff)
striploin second piece - strip cut (by male staff)
What goes well with the grilled meats? A little bit of alcohol. Beer or soju, your choice. Wah, did not realise that the flavoured soju was actually pretty good.
flavoured soju (grape) and Korean beer
For non-beef eaters, one could do BBQ pork as well. The version here uses Iberico pork and diners would have a happy-belly good time with quality meats. The pork collar was a formidable looking chunk. Enough meat to feed all the meatatarians in the group!
Iberico Pork Neck @$54 for 300gm (+30gm free) (UP $20 per 100gm)
Not too sure how this large chunk of meat was supposed to be cooked but luckily, the staff was on-hand to do the cooking.
look at those fats!
Watch the meat cooks and hear it sizzles (please don't mind the noise behind):
The pork neck needs to be cooked much longer as it was of a thick cut and with plenty of fats. Till the meat turned a delicious brown and that's when it is ready to be eaten. The pork neck has stronger flavours and it paired well with icy cold beer.
Iberico pork neck
For pork, of course one must not leave out the pork belly cut. Samgyeopsal is the classic cut for Korean BBQ. The plate of pork belly in PUJIM looked really beautiful and the layers of fat and meat were so evenly spread!
Pork Belly 삼겹살 @$11 for 100gm (UP $13 per 100gm)
grilled samgyeopsal
chunky meat lettuce wrap with a dab of gochujang
After all the unmarinated meats had been consumed, it was time to move on to the marinated beef brisket.
beef brisket $16 per 100 gm (UP $18 per 100 gm)
The thinly sliced briskets cooks quickly, and once again, we enjoyed the tasty flavours of this cut. Tender, slightly leaning on the sweet side and highly enjoyable. Recommended.
grilling the briskets
beef brisket wrap
It has been a while since I've enjoyed good quality meats at a Korean BBQ place. It brings back lovely memories of Busan's trip.
All in all, PUJIM is a Korean BBQ restaurant that offers its diners not only good quality meat but also Busan's flavours and hospitality.
Special thanks to Alvin for extending the invitation and PUJIM for hosting us. Had enjoyed the food and the hospitality. Will be back, see you soon.
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