We have been holding off on this one, not sure whether it was a Korean restaurant or not. The characters on the sign outside are Chinese (yes, I know, prior to the introduction of the Hangul alphbet, Koreans used Chinese characters), and we'd been unable to get a solid translation on the first two characters (bao cheng). So, we've been trying the other spots first. This weekend we decided to give it a go, and mounted the stairway and got ourselves buzzed in.
Found Korean characters inside, and waiter confirmed that the name was Boseong, the name of a province in South Korea which for half a millennium has been famous for its green teas. (Oh, and "bao cheng", the Chinese characters turns out to be the Chinese name for the same province.)
Turns out to be another Korean barbecue joint! (Makes sense, it used to be one called Mido that closed up about a year and a half ago.)
No questions asked, we'd barely even doffed our jackets and sat before a grate was placed over the barbecue pit and a whopping plate of what had to be two kilos of beef, half coated in gochujang and the other half not, hit the table. We noticed that the grate wasn't getting hot, and started to flag down a waiter to see about turning on the gas, when one approached from the kitchen carrying a bucket of fiery, burning wood coals with a pair of tongs. That got lowered into the pit - this is the first one we've encountered that didn't just use a gas burner, and adds a nice smokiness to the grilled meats. It also explains the huge extraction pipes.
In short order, a small array of what turned out to be excellent ban chan also joined the beef, and we got going. First off, was simply noting the high quality of everything. The kimchi and other nibbles were spicy, well balanced, and fresh - we even liked the tripe! The smoked fish, at pretty much every place we've been, has been more or less dried out, this was soft, fresh, and perfectly flaky.
Little mini mandu were tasty, but a little gummy. Slightly improved by tossing them on the grill, but not among my favorite dumplings to date.
Same for the scallion pancake, lacking in scallions for the most part, and a little doughy. Come to think of it, we probably could have tossed it on the grill too.
On the other hand, excellent, fresh oysters with lemon and spicy chili sauce. We never did get our bowl of soup that other tables were getting at the end, but neither of us was hungry enough to eat them anyway. After the food finishes, they bring over a pot of chilled tea of some sort - tasted like some kind of nut infused sweet liquid, something like chestnut. It was a nice way to finish. And, it all comes in at the same 300 pesos/person that the other grill spots in the 'hood charge. We left, very happy campers. read more