Bibimbap (Korean Dish)
Have you ever had Bibimbap before? If you ever had Korean food, you must have tried Bibimbap. I introduced this to a friend of mine, her first time eating at a Korean restaurant. She ended up loving the dish.
For those that never had Bibimbap, it is a Korean Mixed Dish consisting of a hot stone bowl filled with white rice, mixed sauteed vegetables, and Gochujang (Chili Pepper Paste). Sometimes, the dish is topped off with an Egg and a choice of Beef, Pork, Chicken or even Shrimp. Vegetables can be a variety depending on where you go to eat but almost always julienned. It can include mushrooms, daikon (Asian Radish), bean sprouts, lettuce and even tofu. All the vegetables on top with the egg creates a gorgeous palette of colors and of course appetizing. You won’t be able to resist once you see and smell it.
If you never had Bibimbap before, try it at your nearest Korean Restaurant. It is such a staple food that its almost impossible to screw this up! Mix thoroughly before eating the dish!
Bibimbap (Korean Mixed Dish)
Kyochon! Korean Fried Chicken (Northern Blvd, Bayside NY)
Kyochon
156-60 Northern Blvd., Queens, NY 11354
718-939-9292
Kyochon, a fantastic place for Korean Fried Chicken. These fried chicken are not your ordinary KFC, far from it in fact. They are much more tastier and less greasy. Be prepared to wait though while they cook your order, it can easily take 20-30 minutes. On a busy day, you might have to wait a long time for a table. On the other hand, they do deliver! Again, be prepared to wait anywhere from 30-40+ minutes for a delivery. I prefer to order 20 min ahead of time and then pick it up myself since I’m not far from either in Bayside rather than wait for a longer delivery.
Here’s a tease… More after the jump!
Kyochon Fried Chicken Sweet Garlic
Gahm Mi Oak Korean Restaurant
Gahm Mi Oak
43 W 32nd St
(Btw 5th Ave & Broadway)
(212) 695-4113
24-hours, but there’s a limited menu after a certain time.
On this day, my Korean friend Danny came back from Boston for spring break and was going to take us (Kim, Dawen, and I) to a tasty place for “local korean food.” No, none of that fake american crap that gets pumped out everywhere else. I was so looking forward to this day that I literally starved myself, waiting for this fantastic delight. And when the time came, Danny-boy forgot where on earth it was and decided to call his homeboy. No one picked up. So after walking up and down and around the block, he decided to go in a korean cell phone store and asked where it was. Long story short, that man gave us wrong directions and we didn’t know where to go. We couldn’t stay out in the freezing cold anymore so we picked something that was price affordable and shared the korean experience.
Alright when we first came in, it looked like a nice cozy place. 
There was a couple in front of us, but after when Danny spoke with the waiter in Korean, we were off to a traditional table where there’s no chairs and only pillows on an elevated platform towards the back of the restaurant where the kitchen is. See it would have been nice if Danny boy told me we were gonna sit traditional style because then I could mentally prepare myself to sit with my legs crossed. Because of my thick ass thighs, usually the blood flow to my legs get cut and I have to recross my legs. Very annoying, but it happens to the best [fattier] of us.
When we finally sat down, we had korean menus!! I’m like, what in the hell is this? Danny literally had to recommend some of the things he thought was good. Apparently he didn’t translate the entire menu or asked for an english menu, which would be good!! I knew what I wanted, well the only thing I can eat and that’s the bibimbap. I wanted to see how their take is like here in comparison to Li Hua in chinatown. But yeah, after seconds of settling down, 3 waiters at different times came to us and asked what we wanted. I found that very annoying and I absolute HATE to be rushed. I really do. I know it’s all in good faith, but still, give me some time.
So Danny recommended the Sul Long Tang, which is snowy white ox-bone soup with white rice and white noodle, add scallion, salt and pepper to taste. I wasn’t in a soupy mood since I was famished, so the three of them decided on this since we had came out of the cold.
Okay, time for appetizers which came out the second we finished ordering! Wow, talk about fast fast service!
Kim Chi. Of course you get it in all korean restaurants, but I must say this is the best Kim Chi I have ever had. Usually I would get them in tiny portions which I can hardly get the taste of, but this, oh my god, it is really good. Really! It’s for free, so you must as well wolf down a lot of it. The free warm hot cup of barely tea helps tame the hotness from the kim chi too.
Sul Long Tang Snowy white ox-bone soup with white rice and white noodles. Carefully chosen bone and meat are cooked together more than 12 hours in a giant cast-iron pot to remove the fat and oil. Add scallion, salt
Price: $6.95
So I had a taste, seeing how desperately hungry I was, and this is one of the blandest soup I have ever had. Yes you can taste how pure and hearty it is, but it lacked a whole lotta taste even though if you add a sheit load of scallion and salt! Tasteless, my god, tasteless. You can taste how healthy it is. But if you want to come here for grease and taste, avoid this one. I didn’t like it, I’d have it for an afternoon snack, but definitely not for dinner.
Ahh, here comes my bibimbap. Bibimbap korean style jambalaya of rice, assorted vegetables and ground beef. Add long hot pepper paste to your taste and mix them in your bowl. Price: $10.95
I was hoping that it would be in a stone bowl like how it was at Li Hua and Bonjoo, which I need to do a post on that. Ok, so there’s no stone bowl, shouldn’t be a big deal right? Well…after mixing it and without the pepper because I’m scared of it, I had a taste and it was pretty bland. I had to add salt, which didn’t helped much and it was still bland! My gosh, Li Hua was starting to look better and that restaurant is based in Chinatown!
At this time our pancakes came, Bin Dae Dduk 
korean style fried pancake made of ground mung beans, carrot, onion, scallion, bean sprouts and ground pork — Price: $8.95.
This unfortunately tastes bland as well, and I had better ones before. I had to put a lot of salt on this to make this tastes better. It wasn’t all bad and this seems to be the hottest plate since I see it being pumped out a lot from the kitchen. Usually the waiter would only serve two big pancakes, but seeing how nice he was, he gave us 4 and didn’t charge us extra which was very nice!
My legs were getting numb at this time and the check came to us when we were done. I actually liked the traditional experience, even though my fat legs were gone. Would I recommend this place? Sure. It’s relatively inexpensive, but the taste is really really lacking. If you don’t mind, sure come and eat bland. But I care and probably would never come back. There are so many restaurants in k-town that there’s bound to be one that’s not korean bbq and that it’s rich in flavor. I will definitely find it.
Health Inspection report by the NYS:
GMO RESTAURANT
43 WEST 32 STREET, MANHATTAN 10001
Current violation points: 8 -PASSED
Inspection Date: 04/12/2006
No violations that present a threat to the public health or relate directly to factors which lead to foodborne illness were recorded at the time of this inspection.
1.) Immersion basket not provided, used or of incorrect size. Incorrect manual technique. Test kit and thermometer not provided or used. Improper drying practices.
2.) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
3.) Garbage receptacles not provided or inadequate. Garbage storage area not properly constructed or maintained; grinder or compactor dirty.
Man, a clean restaurant equals to a bland restaurant? Hm… I am seeing a link….
Anyways, look forward to my review on korean dessert. Oh man….absolutely amazing.
