Yang Yom Galbi BBQ in Korea

Julianne and I went to one of our favorite galbi bbq restaurants for dinner. I want to put the proper spelling and names of all the different foods I took pics of but I'm too tired right now to consult a dictionary--plus I always get some of the names confused (especially 'gochujang' and its different types) even after all of the time I've been in Korea. I was spoiled during my first 3 years in Korea by always eating with Korean teachers who would order for me, or being with other expats whose Korean totally blew mine away . . .

Anyways, yang yom galbi is probably my favorite bbq meal in Korea. This is the outside of the restaurant we went to.

I, of course, brought along my camera. I think the pics I took tonight of the different Korean foods are some of the best that I've been able to take with my SLR on the manual setting. Some of the 'basics' of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and other stuff are things I'm actually starting to get a handle on though I still have a long ways to go and a lot to learn.

kimchi

yang yom galbi

This meat is marinated in a sauce that is totally awesome and in my opinion beats sangyapsal and other bbq galbi. It is usually brought to the table on a tray with tongs that you use to put it on the bbq.

You cook the meat until it's almost ready . . .

. . . and then use scissors to cut it into smaller pieces.

This picture is a great example of one kind of culture shock a lot of foreigners have when they first eat bbq in Korea. The cooked pieces of meat are still on the bbq and yet the next strip of meat is put on to cook on the same surface and in close proximity to the cooked pieces of meat . . . I'm pretty relaxed about the whole thing now but when I first arrived in Korea I was a bit freaked out.

onions

Some people eat them as they are, and others put them on the bbq to cook a bit. You can also put them inside the lettuce leaf that you use to wrap up the piece of galbi you're eating.

sauce and sea salt

You pick up a piece of galbi and dip it into the sauce, and then dab some salt onto it. Then you can eat it as is or wrap it up with a piece of lettuce after putting whatever other items you want into the wrap.

gochuchang

This is the less spicy or hot kind that is seriously almost better, well, in many ways it IS better than ketchup--which says a lot because I LOVE ketchup. You dab some of this onto a piece of galbi and eat it as is, or wrap it up in the lettuce. Julianne and I will sometimes also put some on our rice which totally makes most Koreans do a double-take, lol.

Soup--molten lava hot soup.

The infamous hot green pepper that Korean men will always try to get foreign men to eat to prove and display their masculinity and virility. There are some people who believe it helps boost stamina and 'vigor'--I think it's just a case of men trying to prove they're men by doing dumbass stuff in front of each other, and any women present . . .

Two people can eat all of this food, plus two bowls of rice and two individual size bottles of Pepsi, for 20 000won--wow. Restaurants also generally give free refills on kimchi, gochuchang, lettuce, and green peppers.

J