Somehow we only ate one barbecue meal in Seoul. But it was a good one. Woo Lae Oak has been around since 1946 and is one of the most celebrated restaurants in the city. It’s not the cheapest barbecue place—they use only Korean beef—but it’s also far from the most expensive. What they’re perhaps most famous for isn’t even grilled beef. The origins of the family that owns the restaurant are in North Korea and they are especially known for their Pyongyang-style naengmyeon and some people go there exclusively to eat their naengmyeon. We were there principally for the meat. Of course, it’s a mistake to end any Korean barbecue meal without chilled naengmyeon and so we ate across both sides of their menu, so to speak. Here’s a quick look at the meal.
The restaurant does not take reservations. If you don’t want to wait a very long time your best bet is to show up at least 30 minutes before they open. This is what we did on a Saturday morning. If you have a Korean phone number you enter it into a kiosk by the door and get texted a number. After they open they start calling the numbers out. You go in when your number is called, show the proof and head to your table. If you don’t have a Korean phone number (most tourists buy data-only plans) you’ll have to wait till the doors open and go in and talk to a staff member. Well, we had a Korean number and so went about things in the expected manner. Even though we’d arrived 30 minutes before opening, we had #42. The good news is the restaurant is rather large, spread over two floors and we were comfortably placed in the first seating. By the time we left a little over an hour later, the crowd waiting, inside and out, was even larger.
We were seated at a large table upstairs. Given the number of people waiting, we’d assumed we’d have to share it with another group of two or four but that didn’t happen. A quick perusal of the menu and we were off. We started with an order each of the sirloin (150 gms for 62,000 won), the galbi (180 gms for 53,000 won) and bulgogi (100 gms for 37,000 won). After going through these pretty quickly we added on another order of the sirloin and thinly sliced beef heart (160 gms for 35,000 won). The sirloin was outstanding (hence the second order) but all the rest were very good too. If I had to skip one it would be the bulgogi. The meats came with the full range of accoutrements to eat it with.
To close one bowl of the mul naengmyeon and one bowl of the bibim naengmyeon. The broth in the mul naengmyeon is not the bright/acidic, clear flavour associated with South Korean naengmyeon, which is what most people are familiar with; instead it’s altogether meatier. I have to say I prefer the brighter style but this was very good as well, as was the bibim naengmyeon. The noodles in both were great (not the afterthought that they often are in many Korean restaurants in the US).
For a look at the restaurant and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down for thoughts on service, for price and to see what’s coming next.
Service was very friendly. The meat was grilled and cut up for us and our server(s) checked in often to make sure we didn’t need anything else. Price? With a large beer and two soft drinks and tax the total was 295,000 won or roughly $215. You can pay far more in Los Angeles. In fact, the last time we had barbecue in Koreatown, we paid quite a bit more. You won’t be surprised to hear that we liked this meal better. Indeed, after this trip we are big fans of Korean beef (also eaten at Mingles and at the other fine dining meals I haven’t reported on yet). Not quite as fatty or tender as wagyu but more so than American beef. Really, it’s the Goldilocks beef. But it’s expensive.
Okay, my next restaurant report will be from the Twin Cities, and it’ll be on recent dinner at Alma. That’ll be on Tuesday. Later next week I’ll have my last report from Delhi and at least one more Seoul report.