East for Eastwood, that is. About a month ago, I found myself with some friends trying out the new Korean restaurant in Eastwood City Libis, Quezon City – Kogi Bulgogi.
Kogi Bulgogi Appetizers
They are conveniently located at the second floor of the new Eastwood Mall. Because of our large group, we had to dine alfresco. From the outside, the interior looks simple but stylish and cozy.
Now, the food. We started with the traditional Korean complimentary appetizers consisting of potato slices, crispy dilis, string beans, vegetables, and of course – Kimchi.
We had the pan fried Korean Tofu Steak and California Roll for appetizers. The fresh crabsticks, mango, cucumber strips and rice rolled in fish roe packs the California rolls.
Tofu Steak
California Roll
Japchae Noodles
Japchae Noodles (stir fried vermicelli) with beef and mixed vegetables came next. Japchae noodles never fail me as I love the soft noodles made flavorful with the spices.
The main dishes came in droves with Chicken Kalbi, Bulgogi, and Kimchi Rice served at the same time. There was an instant rush of desire to indulge but we had to restrain ourselves and take some photos first (blogger’s nature).
Chicken Kalbi is a set of grilled spicy chicken thighs accompanied by three sauce variants (which I cannot remember anymore 🙂 ) while Bulgogi is marinated beef with mushrooms. The owner also mentioned that the beef they use are all imported US Prime.
Chicken Kalbi
Bulgogi
The stir-fried Kimchi Rice came with pickled cabbage, white radish, and cucumber flavored with garlic, green onion and chili pepper.
Dulsot Bibimbap
The highlight of the dinner for me would be the Dulsot Bibimbap (Beef with raw egg). Bibimbap is steamed rice with beef, seasoned vegetables, and egg served in a heated stone pot.
The dish is served with ingredients neatly placed separately within the bowl. The traditional prepration is to stir-mix all the ingredients inside the bowl and pour the raw egg while it is smoking hot. This will lightly coook the egg which mixes well with all the ingredients (top photo).
After dinner, as the usual me, I was already anticipating dessert. However, my seatmate Rowena enlightened me that traditional Korean cuisines are not actually fond of the usual sweet desserts we Filipinos are used to. They are usually limited to simple servings of mixed fruits. With this, I managed my expectation and realized that this is the reason their menu is not fond of desserts.
Kogi Bulgogi Eastwood City
Expect the possibility of some changes in their menu as they were only about a month in operations when we dined in (which makes two months as of this writing). The serving sizes are also good for two to three persons only. We failed in this area as there were five of us in the table. It’s good that there were a number of dishes.