The Korean BBQ Experience

On Sunday, my roommates and I had dinner at a Korean Barbecue restaurant. Korean BBQ is kind of like Japanese -hibachi-grill-meets-Melting-Pot because you cook your own food on a grill at the table.

The table is in a sectioned off area and there is a space for the grill in the middle of the tabletop, which they bring out lit and shortly after you sit down. As soon as you order the meat you want, they bring out 25 side dishes, rice, lettuce and the raw meat. As you cook your meat, you nosh on the little side dishes, if you dare to try them--most of the time we had no idea what we were eating, but Laura did warn us of the fish cakes and the little fish heads. I thought a few of them were kind of tasty and do not care to know what I ingested just in case I don't like the answer!

The experience was fun, but if I'm going to spend that much money on dinner, I want it cooked for me. It was hard to socialize and pick at the sides and keep an eye on the meat all at once--the thin slices would cook pretty quickly on the hot grill and stick to the grates if you didn't pay close attention. As we cooked more and more meat, the smoke kept building up and soaking into out clothes.

The Korean-style beef wrapped up with rice in a lettuce leaf was pretty tasty and the trip was definitely worth the new experience. Next time, I'll leave the grilling to someone else.