Korean Pork belly *RESTAURANT CLOSED*

*RESTAURANT CLOSED*

Korean Pork belly also known as "sam gyeop sal" is a popular dish that is cooked on a grill. It's commonly eaten for dinner and people usually eat it with some soju on the side. 

The word "sam gyep sal" translates into 3 layered flesh.  I always call it the Korean bacon and since it produces a lot of oil from the fat, it's always eaten with variety of vegetables such as lettuce, pepper, radish, green onion salad and etc.

In Vancouver there are many places where you can eat sam gyeop sal, but the most inexpensive way to eat sam gyeop sal is at home.  It's not complicated at all and you can purchase sam gyeop sal in Korean stores such as H-mart!  You can also purchase the side dishes at H-mart as well.  My friends and I often go to a place on Denman called "Westender Korea Restaurant" when we crave for sam gyeop sal. 

You are expected to cook your own meat which is normal for Korean BBQ places.  I think a lot of people avoid going to Korean BBQ places because of this but... THAT'S WHAT KOREANS DO!  It's definitely not a big deal  and we usually have a designated person that cooks meat.  One thing I dislike about Korean BBQ places is how the smell lingers in your hair and clothing.  So if you are going to a Korean BBQ place, don't wear any clothing you fancy!! (i.e. expensive peacoat?)

The grill

I liked to take one piece of meat and smear it on the grill so there will be some oil on grill when I put other pieces of meat. (It might be just me that does this)

Pork belly with vegetables

"Ban-chan" side dishes including kimchi, pickled radish, pickled bean sprouts and salad.  The brownish red chunk

Gyu- Kaku

These photos are actually from long time ago but I wanted to post it because of my crazy meat cravings at the moment at 1:35 AM.  (torture!!)

My friends and I went to Gyu-kaku in December before exams started.  I was excited that it was DYI grill restaurant just like the ones in Korea except with Japanese twist.  There were Korean food available at the restaurant but they weren't very good in my opinion.  Gyu-kaku is a franchise with locations in California, New York, Hawaii, Illinois, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Vancouver.

Please visit

http://www.gyu-kaku.com/menu/cn_vn/vn_alacarte.pdf

to check out Vancouver Gyu-kaku's menu

Tofu with Kimchi

The kimchi looked like kimchi but didn't taste like one and it was too salty.  The tofu was soft and yummy though.

Gook bap (literally means soup+ rice in Korean)