Suwon Galbi Ruined It for Me

I’m not sure if I should put the blame on Vivian, her chef dad (Andy), Chris, or the galbi itself – but I don’t think I can eat anymore food in Korea.

 

It started with Vivian passing along her dad’s tip that Suwon is famous for its wang-galbi (jumbo-sized beef ribs).  Now she’d done it … gone and challenged Chris to try a premium ingredient in Korean cuisine.  There’s no way he is going to pass that up or the food demons would haunt his stomach forever.  So after work, we went on a mission through the undisputed capital of beef ribs to find this regional delicacy.

 

We arrived at the industry-leading Kabojung with its multi-story dining complex occupying three connecting corners in town. 

 

One of the most popular restaurants in Suwon, Kabojung Galbi (Gabojeong Galbi) is #1 on Tripadvisor.

 

They ushered us in and we knew right away this was no ordinary restaurant.  We were sent up the elevator to our private room on the third floor, equipped with our own imonim (waitress) who would serve and cook our food for us.  Chris didn’t hesitate to place our order: a serving of traditional Korean marinated Suwon Galbi and one of the unmarinated American beef ribs (and two beers).

 

Arguably the most premium Korean cut of beef, wang galbi is a beef rib carved into a thin sheet around the bone.  

Immediately Chris started to panic when imonim served us the small cuts of raw rib meat, a serving of salad, and a cup of cold dongchimi radish soup, promptly shutting the door behind her - leaving us alone to wonder if we might starve.  It didn’t help his nerves when she returned empty handed to begin cooking the ribs for us.  Have patience, my son!  It wasn’t until after the first set of ribs were ready that she put an end to Chris’ escalating 10-minute crisis, finally returning with a cart of the most exquisite spread of banchan (sides) for just the two of us to devour.

 

 The wang galbi melted in our mouths.

Silly Chris, worrying like that.  In total we were served 14 side dishes.  

The food was so incredibly delicious that at one point I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.  No joke.

Kabojung definitely raised the bar on banchan.  Aside from the delectable rib meat, our favorites were the sauteed eggplant and the pumpkin pancake (hobakjeon).  The most interesting was the mini spiced crabs (yangnum gyejang) – how do you even eat those?   

  

Chris is no stranger to eating with chopsticks.  Yet tonight you’d second-guess his abilities.  Maybe his nerves were still rattled from the food stress earlier or he just hasn’t gotten used to the chopsticks here yet.  One thing that will strike you different in Korea is that they favor metal chopsticks over wood ones.  Can you imagine the reverberating clattering sound a metal chopstick might make if someone were to drop said metal chopstick on the tile floor of a quiet restaurant!  Yup ... and we couldn’t help but burst out laughing.  The door popped open and our imonim quietly and politely handed him a clean pair.  Door closes.  Then, not even a minute later … another shattering raucous.  “Chris, what the heck are you doing over there?!”  “They’re slippery,” Chris replies.  Door opens and another pair of metal chopsticks magically appear.  Now I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. 

 

I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to look at a pair of metal chopsticks again without bursting out laughing.

 

In case you’re wondering, no we didn’t finish it all.  Distracted by all the other delicious food, we hardly touched the steamed stingray (gaolijjm), spicy green salad, and noodles (japchae) dishes.

 

Look at all this good food going to waste! 

Another thing you might be wondering … the bill for the two tiny cuts of meat came to $108.  Here’s the menu: