Seoul Barbecue Korean Restaurant, Libis: Gettin' Jiggy with Budae Jjigae

I was not aware of the existence of Seoul Barbecue Korean Restaurant along Libis in Quezon City until recently when my cousin suggested to have a dinner there one night. Being managed by Korean, it is said that Seoul Barbecue offers authentic Korean dishes. I can't really say no to Korean food these days so I thought why not.

It was a cold rainy Friday night and we were starving - a hot and hearty stew needed to happen.

Located just right in front of Eastwood, an area where restaurants are aplenty, Seoul Barbecue wasn't really something I usually notice when visiting Libis for some dining engagements. But that night, we were a bunch of hungry kids with a delicious mission - Korean food.

We were initially thinking of going to a Korean buffet restaurant in Eastwood but when we saw an empty slot for parking in front of Seoul Barbecue before we chuck a u-turn, we knew we were destined to dine there.

If you are a long time blog reader, you are probably familiar with my cousins Joan and Anjo. They have already made several appearance in some of my blog posts such as here, here, and here. And those were way way back so I am pretty elated that we were able to once again catch up despite the crazy schedules we all have.

We used to meet up on a regular basis before diving head first on our chosen careers. Life happens, our meet ups become less frequent. While it is sad that I see them less, I couldn't be more proud that Joan is now a Training Manager while Anjo is equally successful in I.T. Web Development field (and he's getting hitched soon! yey!)

So there are a lot of things that the three of us needed to update each other with. And just like the old days, we need to do it while feasting on some good food. Seoul Barbecue did not disappoint in providing us that.

Seoul Barbecue's menu is pretty impressive with variety of Korean dishes any Korean food-lover would be tempted to order.

First thing on the table was of course, the banchan. It comes in unlimited servings just like the way they do in other Korean restaurants. Everything was palatable - enough to tide us over while waiting for our main dish.

Joan loves Samgyeopsal (Php600) so we decided to go for it. A single serving was not enough to feed three that is why we decided to have two servings of it.

It comes with the usual serving of lettuce, ssamjang, and gireumjang. When eating Samgyeopsal, I am usually the one who can finish servings after servings of lettuce since I love my veggies. This time though, my cousins beat me into it. Health conscious, these kids are.

In hindsight, we should have just went for an order of Cha Dol Begi instead since the pork were thick cut anyway. That is not to say that the pork wasn't any good, I am just thinking of possible variation albeit too late.

As per usual, companions will do the cooking while I man the camera. Speaking of which, these two, are the only fellow millennials I know who aren't crazy about taking photos of food. But knowing the stuff I do, they never frown upon me being all trigger happy in between bites and conversations. They are used to it.

So now, about the Budae Jjigae - one of the Korean dishes I love with all my heart and soul and gut.

Budae Jjigae is essentially a Korean stew dish also known as Army Base Stew. The name alone implies that it is meant to feed an army or group of people so it is rarely available if not at all, as a single serving dish.

History dictates that Budae Jjigae was invented just right after the Korean war. Food was hard to come by at that time so Koreans relied on U.S. surplus food they were provided. With strokes of creativity, they were able to come up with such a great dish that people are still enjoying to this day.

Given that interesting history, it is safe to say that Budae Jjigae is a marriage between American and Korean goodies. It is basically comprised of Spam, beans, hot dogs, cheese, tofu, rice cake, kimchi, garlic, gochujang, mushroom, and veggies.

A Korean friend told me that these days, ingredients of Budae Jjigae can vary depending on the cook. But the basic ingredients are the ones I just mentioned.

I will try to talk more about its history, ingredients, and the likes when I share here on the blog my own recipe for Budae Jjigae soon.

Seoul Barbecue's version of Budae Jjigae (Php800) was one of the best I have had. It is spicy and savory and downright flavorful. The ingredients are plenty that even if we were already full, there were still a hefty leftover.

Also, there were plenty of thinly sliced beef incorporated on the dish, and I love beef so it made me a happy camper.

The serving of Budae Jjigae was good enough to feed four to five persons. It was a good call that we waited for it to be served first before deciding if we should order more food. Otherwise, we will end up with lots of doggie bags because with the hefty serving portion of our stew, it is impossible to eat anything else.

it was tempting to have some Soju to accompany our feast but Joan still has work at the office to attend to while Anjo will still drive our merry way back to Antipolo so we decided against it. We settled for Melon shake which I don't really care much about.

Our bill was only less than Php2,000 and we were so happy, full, and satisfied. I understand that Koreans believe in fighting heat with heat, but if I do that in a tropical country like ours, I would probably die. So there was no regret that that night, we fought the cold rainy night with delicious and hot Budae Jjigae, all thanks to Seoul Barbecue Korean Restaurant.