Do It Yourself BBQ

Friday  learned that the much anticipated market was not to happen.  D: It has been postponed until October because rain was predicted. Rain that has not appeared for months.  Naturally, to our consternation, it appeared that evening.  

Well, being an expert at observing and bitching about rain it didn’t seem too impressive. I guess when it rains I’m used to experiencing ridiculous wind and icy water. Sure, it rained but it’s warm and there was no wind whatsoever (and I think it’s actually gotten hotter!! WTH?)  It is also not the best effort Incheon has to offer. No, it should actually get worse from here on out.

Admittedly, this is not a terrible thing, it’s technically been a drought. We explored the science and it involves a pressure barrier but I certainly cannot explain it well. In short – ‘No rain here, we could do with some.’ I understand that North Korea has officially declared a drought but that is a whole different story.

Naturally, a teeny-tiny bit of rain is the long-awaited monsoon so at the door of my apartment complex…..

I know, right! Actually it was kind of fun to use in a ‘wheeee! New toy!’ sense.

Nevertheless, it was Friday so we all (those who could) went out for dinner. Bornga for traditional Korean barbecue and it was awesome. Also, reasonably priced, ending up at about 8’000W each between the four of us.

 

So Stephanie and Whitney introduced Karen and I to the wonders of ‘do it yourself’ barbecue. I’ve heard of similar concepts but I’d never actually been to one.

At this point I must admit that I apologised for my obnoxious photo-taking. I’ve become that sort of person who constantly whips out my camera.

There is a built in section of the table into which they place a pot of hot coals and then the servers place a grill on top before pulling down the heater to warm it up. What we are given then is a platter and tongs (we had what was essentially beef bacon) and ‘we’ cook it. Well, it was really Whitney who cooked this time but I’m doing it next time!!

As you can see we are laden down with side dishes. I mean, look at that tray of salad!! It’s all included in the price but hot damn!! When they say salad they clearly take it seriously!! That tray of edibles was at my elbow (Yes I did eat a good bit of it, it was delicious.) They also gave little dishes of salad drenched in sauce- also delicious and things we could not really identify but were delicious anyway. :D

I should note that our order was the platter of bacon-beef and two bottles of beer. The rest of this simply came as standard.

On a side note – in restaurants beer doesn’t come in those small bottles or poured into glasses. They give large bottles and small chilled glasses which you should be able to see. The metal ones are for water. Obviously, the idea is that you pour for everyone else before pouring for yourself. I actually like this better, the small glasses are easier to handle.

Also, I’m gradually getting the hand of Korean style chopsticks.

Everyone also gets a bowl of tasty soup – I think it’s kimchi flavour – which is lovely but I can admittedly not handle the kick of the spice. I think it’s the chilis I’m not prepared for.

We only had one platter and the servers did not try to take the tongs away from Whitney (they did turn it down when they came to change the grill top which is done at several intervals) so it was a grand success. Apparently they have been known to take the tongs away from the foreigners and do the cooking themselves not trusting them to avoid food poisoning.  

This place is somewhat famous for their sauce which I put on everything. I didn’t quite believe the girls when they said it was good but yes it is. The ingredients are secret it seems because they wouldn’t tell Bora.  I’m all for stealing a bottle but ECC teachers go here so frequently that they’d know where to hunt us down.

It’s not the kind of place you can go on your own though. Definitely an eat-out with everyone kind of place. We’re going again – naturally.  Dad would love this place, even more than the chicken place!! XD