Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant

We went to try something Korean but how authentically Korean I won't know. Anyway, this was unfamiliar territory. We were heading for Batu Ferringhi and our stomachs were growling as it was past our dinner time. Feeling more adventurous, we decided to stop by this Korean joint at Jalan Tanjung Tokong. Our Korean dining was limited to Seoul Garden (gone there with the kids as well as my volleyball kakis)... and there isn't much to that in the sense that a lot of their food is processed food.

The tables were set on square holes. You can either sit cross legged or with your legs in the hole. I think this section is definitely for those people who still have young joints. There is another section for those people with cranky joints... with real tables and chairs. The snaky metallic things hanging over each table deliver air via suction over the 'bbq-pits' on the table. No sparks fly from the briquettes cos the air is sucked upwards. Quaint, huh?

This is the bbq stove. Fire is from charcoal briquettes and the metallic tube made sure high heat was achieved pronto. I read somewhere that barbecuing implies machoness... after all, it's one of the earliest cooking method of the Neanderthal man! We were actually quite lost with the paraphernalia used. The metal chopsticks were so flat that I had difficulty hanging on to my food... goes to show how inept I am with them!

Spoilt for choice. I've just learned the side dishes are called banchan, small dishes of food served with the main meal. Kimchi is one of the many banchan(s) that came together with the bbq order. We had these super big bean sprouts, apple salad, some pickled black beans, pickled radish and some sauces which I've no idea what they're called. From their barbecue menu, we called for Hanbang Dweji Wang Galbi (marinated pork) and Yang Nyum Yang Go Gi (mutton). The meats were nice, juicy and tender.

And this is how you eat them... popiah style with the salad leaves as the wrap. The waiter showed us how to throw the stuff together. One of those you put into the wrap is raw garlic, and surprisingly it added a different sort of pleasant flavour to the wrap. The waiter was very helpful even though we didn't quite understand his instructions. What we had to do was to put a little of everything and rice and roll it up the best we could without them dropping out. Other Half simply loves the burst of taste (as he so describes) when you bite into them. LOL! It is quite nice actually and I've gotten some idea for dinner at home to try in future. Grill some meat and roll them in salad leaves...not bad! The natural stuff in the veg will not be destroyed by the heat.

And the food just kept coming.. there were pajeon, a kind of Korean pancake, steamed eggs or gyeran jjim. I'm a sucker for steamed eggs and the one I had here had bits of vegetables in it. It's nice to eat with a little of the sauce for the meat. And all that for 3 of us... Son is still stuck in NS.

We also ordered the Beo Sut Jeon Gol, mushroom soup in beef stock with pieces of beef in it. There were a few types of mushroom in it. The soup was soothing as the night was getting late and it was a bit cold in the restaurant. Service was excellent. The waiters hovered around and were quick to serve. They even had people stationed outside to guide the patrons in.... and of course they were all foreigners. I cannot imagine our own local people this hospitable or so hardworking these days.

Anyway, this was an adventure in the sense we went in not quite knowing 'how' to eat the food and came out of the restaurant feeling a little less ignorant. I think many of us don't try new stuff because of fear that we'd look like fools.... to which I'd say it's good to throw caution to the wind sometimes. You gain more than the loss of the little so-called dignity. LOL!