Location: E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, Libis. Across Eastwood (Citibank), a few meters after Grilla but before Outback
Cuisine: Korean
Price: PP
Attire: Casual (Family Dining)
Our Details
What we had: Bulgogi, Chicken Bulgogi, Kalbi Gui, Dak (Chicken) Kalbi, Bibimbap, Jap Chae, Samgyetang, and Bibimbap
*To note, we didn’t finish it all by ourselves, we were dining with family
Rating: ˜˜˜
Comments:
Food
The meat was notably well-selected and well marinated. The Bulgogi was moist and tender, and the Kalbi was excellent. (I can’t comment on how it was done because we cooked our own food) The bibimbap was good mainly because of the Korean rice. The jap chae was the best we’ve ever had – it’s not like a lot of commercialized Korean restaurants, where it’s just the noodles with soy sauce. It has all the ingredients that you would find in a quaint authentic local restaurant in Seoul, if not more. However, the samgyetang had ingredients that were not supposed to be there like munggo beans, and the taste of ginseng was too faint. But overall, this is the closest one can get to authentic Korean cuisine (to which I am partial). Plus, they have the Jinro soju, which goes superbly with the meal.
Price
Definitely worth it – it’s surprisingly cheaper than most Korean restaurants
Service
Waiters are not extraordinary but they’re not sloppy either. The control over the level of service is largely because the owner is always at the counter (at least for the last 3-4 times we’ve dined there)
Ambiance
No frills – typical Korean restaurant in Seoul, except bigger and you don’t need to sit on the floor.
Bathroom
Bathroom was typical – not particularly clean or spacious but not cramped or gross either.
The Long Story
We just passed by the restaurant while driving around Libis, having just come back from Seoul a few days/weeks ago and already missing Korean food. We popped in and found that 80-90% of the folks dining there were Koreans. A good sign, we thought. So we had the normal fare – bulgogi and kalbi, and much to our surprise, it was really good! The serving size is larger than most Korean restaurants in Manila would have it, though at almost the same price. The waiters would ask whether you would like them to cook the food inside for you, you have to make sure you say you want to cook it yourself – it’s cumbersome but there’s nothing like having control over what you’re going to eat.
There’s pretty much nothing else to say about this place (can’t go wrong with no frills) except that we would definitely keep going back there and recommend it to other people. The only difficulty is going to Libis on weekdays.
