We had a
very tasty lunch at Kim's last Saturday. 10 of us who'd never been there before met to try some of the pork belly (and other) treats . . .
Fried dumplings...tasty dumplings of the fried variety. The menu also offers "broiled" dumplings, which we did not try.
Panchan...clockwise from bottom left:
sprouts, cabbage kim chee, fishcake, broccoli, cuttlefish, dried anchovies...a nice assortment of tastes here. I think I liked the fishcake the best, with the cuddlefish a close second.
Cuttlefish...this was a deep umami hit with a nice accent of spice.
Dried Anchovies...my son loved these and even after I told him that it was dried anchovies, he kept snarfing the salty, crunchy and chewy little buggers down.
Spicy Pork...forgive the lousy focus on this shot. I was too busy salivating to hold the camera steady. This was a tender and flavorful dish with a fair amount of heat.
Bulgogi...great flavor, very moist but I personally missed the charred aspect of this dish just a bit. Still, I think that overall, this was one of the favored dishes at the table.
Cellophane Noodles and Beef...this one was ordered at the other end of the table and I'm not exactly sure what it was, except that it was really delicious.
Pork Belly on the specially-designed grill...we ordered 2 preparations of pork belly: red wine and bean paste. I'm not sure which one this was but obviously the belly used here is immaculately fresh.
A closer look at the fresh belly as it begins cooking
Spicy Garnish for wraps...Along with the ultra-thin discs of radish pictured above, this mixture of lettuce, scallions and hot sauce was a perfect accompaniment for the various meats we were served -- especially the piping hot slices of belly that were being cooked at the table. Using the radish as a shell, this mixture was a great topping for the meats packed within.
Cooked slices of pork belly
All in all, it was a delicious lunch. The dishes we tried were all tasty and prepared to order. I loved the helpful, friendly instruction, too. Our waitress did a very nice job of explaining how to eat what we were served and how best to construct our wraps.
I'll admit that I kind of missed the more assertive flavor of meats cooked over live coals (that one experiences at other Korean spots) but previous experiences with pork belly cooked over live coals have been less than optimal, anyway. It tends to flame up and burn up before it becomes tender, so while the flavor is more intense, it's not very palatable. Here, using the solid-surfaced cooking grill and butane gas, the pork doesn't develop quite the same intense flavor, but it's plenty tender by the time it's ready to come off the cook surface -- a worthwhile trade-off.
I really enjoyed this meal and plan to return to Kim's soon. I feel like we just scratched the surface as far as exploring their menu. And with half our party being kids 10 and under, our attention was not quite as focused on the food as it might have otherwise been. Still, fresh ingredients, tasty preparations and great service made it a very positive experience. The very next evening I was with a group who was considering going to Kim's. I would have been more than happy to have done so, even though that plan was 86'd because they would have been closed by the time we could have arrived there.
=R=
Last edited by
ronnie_suburban on January 16th, 2008, 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Same planet, different world