A trip to the neighborhood korean karinderia...

I don't know why but i have a fixation for everything korean nowadays.. be it the movies, food, their language... It must be the fact that I live in the so-called "little korea" of manila. Our place is literaly teeming with everything korean. Korean restaurants can be found in every corner and they are usually located with 5 meters of each other (no kidding!). We have korean grocery stores, video shops, internet cafes, botiques and even a wellness place (yes, there is such a place). It is even rumored that the video shop near our place only caters exclusively to korean residents. Can I say racial discrimination in my own country?! WTF?!?!?! well, it's just a rumor so we have yet to confirm it.

To totally immerse ourself in the korean culture that is starting to sweep the poblacion area, we ate at this little korean restaurant near our place. It's actually an apartment wherein the first floor and the garage were converted into a restaurant and the second floor is where the korean owners live. It was an authentic korean restaurant because the person manning the cash register was the korean husband and the cook was the korean wife and I don't think they know enough english to interact with the local clients. The kitchen helpers and waitresses were the only locals in the place.

It must have been those very rare times that they see a group of locals dining in. I could see in their faces that they were shocked to find us entering the restaurant. Everything was in korean. From the menu posted on the wall to the program they were watching on tv. One of the waitresses was kind enough to entertain us and answer our questions regarding the menu. At least they have a menu with and english translation. The waitress told us that their serving is only good for one person when in fact their portions were enough for 2-3 people! so we ordered more that we really needed. A surprise factor for us was that their bowl of rice costs 50 bucks! yes! I thought I just didnt hear her right but when I confirmed that it was indeed PhP50, I almost fell off my chair!

But even if the place was a bit pricey, the food was superb! their Galbichim (spicy beef stew) was really tasty and spicy. The same goes for their Beef Bulgogi and the Pan-fried Kimchi. Everything was yummy! They have generous servings, even the appetizers - Kimchi, spicy pickled cucumber and coleslaw(so out of place!). We consumed everything, especially the rice! hahaha!!!! It's not as cheap as Som's but we will definitely be going back for some more...