Korean Beef Restaurant

Beef is expensive in Korea.

For example, when my friend and I went to a large supermarket to buy some ground beef to make hamburgers (see earlier post)), we had two choices:

     *Korean beef, $20 for one package
     *Australian beef, $13 for one package

Since we wanted to buy two packages we went with the Australian beef.

In the U.S. a similar package of ground beef might be $4-5.

All this is to say that, usually, eating at a Korean beef restaurant is a special thing.  Most grilled meat restaurants here involve cooking pork, since it is quite a bit cheaper.

Thus, I was surprised when my friends took me to a beef place that was not expensive.  For the four of us the total was about $75--quite reasonable.  And we ate a lot of meat.

Have a look:

For those of you not familiar with my past pics of grilled meat restaurants, the meat is cooked at the table over a charcoal grill (the smoke is drawn upwards into an exhaust tube), cut into bite-sized portions (using tongs and scissors), and wrapped in lettuce or sesame leaves before eating.  Side dishes--such as kimchi, greens, and Asian radish--are almost always part of the meal.  At the end of the dinner, soup and rice are eaten (though I am usually too full  to partake).