I met Korean BBQ today.  I think we are in love.  Unfortunately, I think I met the best Korean BBQ place in Itaewon (or so most review sites say) so it’s either all down hill from here or I need to be gracious to all others?  Maple Leaf in Itaewon drew me in on the exterior and design of the restaurant alone.  The outside is covered in green glass bottles with large windows that open up to reveal birch trees, copper smoke stacks and concrete tables.

When you sit down to eat, you choose the cut of meat you want, the amount of rice you can handle and then you wait.  First they bring a small open pit with hot charcoals and set it in front of you.  Then they bring kimchi, poppy seed salad, garlic, bean paste, mushroom slices, and tofu in tiny dishes to share and or grill.  The meat is set atop the grill and a copper smoke stack lowered to hover above and keep the room smoke free.  You can choose to take the meat off when it is cooked to your desired preference but you can also throw things on if you want!  We added garlic, mushrooms and pineapple!

Since this is a new culture for us to experience…not all of us are amazing with chopsticks yet. But I love his resourcefulness!  😉

In case you are unfamiliar with Korean BBQ, after the meat is cooked, most people [read:the only people I have ever seen eat it.  so basically my american friends who also might not know what they are doing]  wrap it up in a lettuce leaf, add the bean paste or kimchi or mushroom or tofu or garlic or any combo of the few and then eat it like a taco.  it was DELICIOUS.

All in all, the food was amazing (we learned we needed to order twice what we thought we would want) and cooking it ourselves (verses letting the staff cook it for you) was our favorite! I have a “tender palette” so I also learned that “red stuff” means spicy and tofu is confusing.  I thought you only eat tofu if you are a vegetarian/vegan/hippie as an alternative to meat but I really broke the rules and liked putting it on TOP of my meat. Confusing right? Did you just shiver in your Birkenstocks, people who choose tofu instead of meat?

Side note, I added chopsticks to my shopping list.

And of course, a couple shots of the sights in Itaewon!  I love this new place we call home!