[Busan] OK 암소갈비살 (Amso Galbisal) - BBQ in Busan (What a fun evening!)

It was our last night in Busan, hence we wanted to try some BBQ before we leave for Seoul the next day. Earlier, we went sightseeing in Gamcheon and by evening time, we were hungry again. We went to a street that had some BBQ shops but couldn't find one with beef though. As most of the shop signages were in Hangul, we had no idea whether it is ala-carte or buffet. Randomly, we picked a shop that had mostly local customers.

shopfront

I liked that the lady in the shop welcomes us (the tourists) and was patient enough to explain the items in the menu and how the pricing works. If I remembered correctly, they have a time-limited special where one could enjoy unlimited grilled meat (selected) for an affordable price of ₩5500. That's a very good deal if you ask me.

We ordered some the unlimited servings of meat, some ala-carte and of course, makgeolli. There were two guys (probably in their late thirties or forties) sitting at the next table, and he saw us having makgeolli. He was saying something in Korean but we didn't know what he was saying but he asked the lady to bring us a can of soda. Orhh...for mixing with makgeolli. He said he's buying us that can of soda. Hahaha!

setting up the table

The appetiser included a bowl of beondagi 번데기 which is steamed silkworm pupa. It was fear factor for us so we returned the bowl to the staff. No thanks. The guy at the next table chuckled at us and said it is 'health food' before proceeding to pop some into his mouth.

I liked the acorn jelly appetiser with its tangy broth. Very refreshing and appetising.

appetiser of acorn jelly

pork

grilling into deliciousness

Sprite, courtesy of the guy next table

While language barrier was there, that did not stop us from making merry with the guy at the next table. He was grilling some pork skin and offered us some. So nice. In return, we offered him some yukhoe as well.

It was my first time eating 육회 (yukhoe) which is raw seasoned beef strips. The seasoning included sugar, salt, soy, minced garlic, spring onion, pepper and sesame seeds. Mixed it well with the raw egg and add the pear strips for sweetness and crunchy texture. As a result, it was delicious!

육회 yukhoe

Makgeolli and good meat, we were happy! The folks were friendly and the food was good. Worth a visit.

delicious BBQ

taan 炭 @ 30 Liang Seah Street

炭 means charcoal. Not sure if they really are using charcoal to grill the skewers but this place is quite happening! The shop itself is smallish but come weekends, when evening falls, taan's staff will setup more tables and chairs along the road. Streetside dining, in essence. The shop gets busy as early as 6pm and if you're any later, the wait time for a table will be depending on luck. Reservations are encouraged.

shopfront

Staff are young and the place has a lively vibe. Plates after plates of skewer mountain could be seen emerging from the kitchen and landing on tables after tables. Never ending. Expect a table to be seated for at least 2 hours.

There is an on-going promo where skewers goes for $1 before 8pm. Price ranges from $1.50 to $3 per skewer and mininum of 2 skewers per flavour. The flavours or rather the seasoning on the skewers are original, chinese spice, spiced salt, teriyaki and spicy miso kimchi. Chinese spice tasted like the xinjiang grill seasoning with cumin. 

menu with pictures

order skewers via this sheet

flavoured Kirin beer

If you're new to the place, the staff will take about less than 2 minutes to explain the ordering system. Which is just to indicate on the order sheet the skewers that you wish to have. There is buffet option as well. One would have to eat about 20 skewers in order for the buffet to be worthwhile. Hence, we decided on ala-carte.

buffet option and reservation number

There's non-alcoholic drinks as well as alcoholic beverages. My friends ordered fruit juice and green tea while some of us had beer. The drinks are served prettily.

non-alcoholic drinks; green tea and watermelon juice

Nothing beats ice-cold beer on a hot and humid evening. The Kirin here is the frozen foam top version and surprisingly, it has about 5 flavours to choose from: cranberry, yuzu, original, lychee and apple. I had the lychee version which is sweet (just as I liked it) while Ivan had the apple beer which is veering towards the tangy saltish.

Kirin beer

Let's start with satay! We had beef and chicken satays. Even for promo of $1 per stick, these would come across as pricey. Normal satay that one could get anywhere else. The chicken ones are better. The ends of the satay stick would be coloured differently to differentiate the meats.

chicken and beef satay (5 sticks each) @$10

Next up was selections under the Meat category. We got beef, chicken gizzard, chicken wings in special sauce, house special chicken ball, fresh prawns and shishamo and quail eggs. Some of the items such as shishamo, prawns and chicken wings in special sauce, it is better to order at least one stick per pax as these are single items and not quite shareable unless it is you one bite, I one bite that type. Hahaa!

pork, beef, gizzard, prawns and shishamo

I'd recommend the gizzard in spicy miso sauce. Nice chewy crunchy texture that's not overcooked. The spice level here was pretty mild so no worries even if you can't take spice. The beef and pork were generally rather tough.

chicken wing in special sauce

oyster mushrooms

broccoli

Enjoyed the broccoli and oyster mushrooms. Very likeable! The chicken balls were peppery and has a crunchy cartilage in it.

quails egg

chicken balls

There are non-skewer items as well and we ordered the eel rice and also non-buffet items such as the Yunan grilled pork neck and teriyaki cuttlefish. I'd say skip the teriyaki cuttlefish unless you wanted a jaw workout.

Yunan Grilled Pork Neck @$10.80

The pork neck was rather lean and sliced thinly. The sauce was a mixture of tangy, salty with a slight spicy kick towards the end. Lovely. Oh, not forgetting the salad that was served along with this dish. That was yummy as well.

teriyaki cuttlefish @$6.80

Best dish of the night were the eel fried rice and the fresh grilled oyster with minced garlic. The fried rice was of a single-pax main portion or sharing portion for two-pax. The oyster was served piping hot and the combo was similar to the chinese restaurant type of seafood.

Eel fried rice @$8.80

fresh grilled oyster with minced garlic (1 piece) @$5.80

If you would like to know how much would feed a 5-pax party, here's what we ordered:

food to feed 5 pax (2 guys and 3 gals)

Overall, we spent about $32 per pax for this meal. Thank you Ivan for the recommendation. Dinner with Kris, Shermaine, Alvin and Ivan. TGIF!

iSteaks Diner @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

iSteaks had existed for so long at Holland Village but I've yet to try it. Hardly believable, yes? So when the gang decided to do a food trail at MyVillage and iSteaks happened to be at the same location, well what else could I do? To try it of course!

order and pay first

But of course, there was one tiny weeny problem. It was so difficult to get a seat on a weekend! Works similarly to a food court format, one basically need to stand close to the table that you think would be finishing their meal. For some reason, I felt like a vulture that day.

cowboy decor

It was our third meal for the day. Prior to that we had dined at Petaling Street and Hajime, so we decided to go modest in iSteaks. Ordered a 250gms NZ and AU ribeye, and an AU lam shoulder all with two sides. Hmm, I guess that's about 650 to 700 gms of meat for the 5 of us, excluding the sides. WoooOoo...we big eaters!

AU Lamb Shoulder @$16.50

The lamb shoulder was tough! Had to send it back to the kitchen to help us cut it. Think they saw that certain parts were rather rare and helped us to cook it some more. The lamb tasted much better when it came out of the kitchen the second time round. The spinach & sesame salad was good. Tastiest of the lot. The buttered corn kernel were rather normal.

AU Ribeye 100 days grain-fed 250gms @$27.50

Look at that thick-cut meat with nicely pink center for the AU ribeye. The Australian meat had a more beefy flavour, and of a texture that can be described as 'macho'. The sides of cauliflower cheese and sauteed brussels sprouts were enjoyable.

NZ ribeye 250gms @$23.50

However, I do prefer the NZ ribeye for its more genteel texture. The mac & cheese were off that day, so we didn't enjoy any of it.

give me more meat!

Not sure since this place is perpetually packed on the weekend. It probably wouldn't have a queue before 12pm. The queue continued all the way till 230pm on a weekend. The place seemed popular with families and young adults.

Hot Tomato Café & Grill @ Westgate

Have always passed by Hot Tomato, be it their Star Vista branch, or Plaza Singapura and it seemed that its crowd consists mostly of the young adults. Brought parents out for lunch and we ran out of places to eat. The usual favourite would be Ichiban Boshi but mom wasn't in the mood so bro suggested Hot Tomato for us try its western fare.

It was off-peak during a weekend and about 330pm when we visited. Yeah, we were having our meals at odd hours. Having tunch (lunch cum tea)!

Service was friendly and top-up option was explained. Add $3.50 to get a soup of the day and a drink where one could choose from ice lemon tea., lime juice or hot beverages of coffee or tea. We chose ice lemon tea to quench our thirst on a hot Saturday.

dining area

menu

upgrades

The menu consists of salads, meats + pasta, meats + rice combination, or the usual meats+salad+french fries.
By default, the menu where it states pork chop or teriyaki chicken chop...those will come with a side of salad and pasta. One could inform the staff to remove the pasta for bigger salad portion.

top up $3.50 for each order of main course to get soup of the day and a drink

The soup of that day was tomato soup. A tad too watery for me though but generous in serving portion. Dad ordered Roast Chicken & Garlic Shrimp Combo and boy, what a huge serving! It has french fries (his favourite), olive rice and corn on cob with half baby roast chicken. The roast chicken was pretty regular sized and baby seemed like a misnomer.

Roast Chicken & Garlic Shrimp Combo @$12.90

U.S Choice Pork Chop and Sausages @$12.50

The pork chop was of a manageable portion. Guys would love to dine at Hot Tomato. It has enough meat, some carbs and the salad was pretty appetizing with the vinaigrette dressing.

Teriyaki Chicken Chop @$9.20

The chicken chop was a bit dry for me and the rosemary herb was rather strong. A normal juicy well marinated teriyaki chicken thigh would be great. The spaghetti can be done much better as  the current version tasted pretty much just salt-based. The salad was crunchy and refreshing with nice dressing.

In general, it was value-for-money. Meat, carbs and greens. They have it all. According to their friendly manager, the philosophy is so that each customer walks away feeling full and satisfied.
 

Gan Yakitori 岩やきとり @ Star Vista Part III

Quiet dinner at Star Vista.

sapporo draft beer @$8++, cabbage with miso (complimentary)

cosy interior

what shall I have today?

To go with beer, how about some hearts, liver and chicken yakitori? Preferred the heart, as the liver was not as soft as expected.

chicken hatsu and liver @$2.80++ each

chicken thigh and negima @$2.80++ each

Those sticks were just enough to line the tummy, so ordered a bowl of oyakodon.

chicken oyakodon 親子丼 @$11.80++

The oyakodon was served piping hot, with tender and smooth chicken meat. Yums. Rice was soft and sauce was not overpowering.

Travel | Seoul 28 Oct - 2 Nov 2014 | Wangbijip 왕비집 @ Myeongdong 명동

When in Seoul, eat BBQ! That was part of the plan, and it was opportune that Wendy's friend would be joining us for dinner. Wendy is someone whom I've known since university days. We were hostel mates, "Wheel of Fortune" (am not sure how many of you remember this!) virtual contestants and basically, one who will remember each other's birthdays, though we only meet twice a year. Wendy was my travel buddy to Seoul, last year.

"Meet at Exit 9 at Myeongdong at 8pm. Don't be late." she warned.

Arrived at Exit 9 wifi-less and mobile phone pretty useless. Time was 8.05pm. No Wendy.

Oh no, did she get mad and left already? She is particular about timeliness after all. Waited for about 5 minutes before running around Myeongdong station for signs of Wendy. No luck. Gave up at 820pm.

Should've asked her earlier where's our dinner venue. Sobs. To head back to hotel, or to roam around Myeongdong? Chose the latter, 'coz already there mah.

Was wandering around aimlessly, feeling cold, hungry and anxious, thinking of whether I should eat the streetfood or head to one of those brightly lit restaurants or whether Wendy was angry, or... when I noticed a familiar looking tote bag. Of all the different paths we could have taken, the time that had lapsed, the many shops that one could've gone into, I bumped into Wendy and her friend. It was a "wow" moment for me.

Hence, she brought us to Wangbijip (she did the research), a Korean restaurant specializing in grilled meat (galbi).

restaurant's entrance, go up the stairs beside the beauty shop

There was a queue and so we waited for 15 minutes before getting a table. The menu was simple. For grills, there's a choice of pork and beef. Wendy doesn't take beef, so we settled for pork belly. One portion each. Plus a kettle of makgeolli.

No problem ordering as the staff is conversant in Mandarin as well.

waiting for our food

side dishes 반찬

spring onion salad with raw egg

we are so ready

Wangbijip's staff will do the cooking, but their attention would be divided as there is no one person assigned on a per table basis. So ours was impatiently flipping the meats then left it over the grill for quite a while as he went away to do the other table. But it was alright, as the pork belly still tasted better in Seoul than back home.

dinner

we're almost there

gorgeous meat

The restaurant was full of tourists actually. To our left, was a family from Singapore and to our right, was probably from Hong Kong. 

The pork belly was so good. Wrapped a hot one with the fresh crunchy lettuces, accentuated by the tangy kimchi and a dab of that gochujang. Yums! 

pot of rice wine

It was a tiny pot, but we poured about 6 to 7 small bowls. My dinner kakis claimed they'll drink, but pssshh, not true lo...

cheers 건배

Did about 3 bowls and feeling a good buzz. Offered one bowl to the Singapore family and that was it. Done.

all grilled pork belly, should taste like this

What was so good about the grilled pork belly? The meat was not frozen and cooked just right. Fatty and oily enough to sizzle, tender and every chew entices even more. 

The meat was about ₩13,000 per pax and the makgeolli was about ₩5,000.

Paid about $20 per pax.