Went to don pocha twice in one week!!!! Please make sure to reserve in advance!!!! The separate booths in the restaurant allows for an atmosphere where its more private and you can have fun conversations without having to talk over each other.
The first time i went there were five of us (all ladies) and we ordered:: one yukhye (raw beef tartare), two gyeranjjim ( steamed eggs), one budaejeongol (army stew: has kimchi, sausage, beans, ricecake, spam), two orders of hahngjeongsal (pork neck muscle), and one order of sam gyubsal. We went around six thirty and it was getting pretty packed. We got our drinks first, made our order quite late since we werent sure what to order. That was a mistake. Make sure to order asap and i recommend ordering all at once. We got our meat and budae jeongol pretty late so we were scarfing down side dishes cuz we were hungry. We get free refills of side dishes but these take awhile since its hard to get someone to come to your tables when you are in the rooms. The restaurant is hiring and they are in desperate need because there are only 2-3 servers with how busy the restaurant gets. My friend had come previously and recommended the steamed eggs but they came pretty burnt... they also came at different times so one side of the table had to wait quite a while... The yukhye was delicious!!!! Oh my goodness i was so surprised. The other korean restaurant the meat comes out frozen and so the sauce does kind of feel like its sliding on top of the meat. However, don pocha's yukhye the sauce were embedded into the meat! All of us had big open eyes because we really enjoyed it!!
We didnt get the combo since we knew exactly which part of the meat we like! We got the hahng jeong sal which has a more chewy texture! I love it~~ reminds me of makchang. And we got the samgyubsal thick version cuz we felt we are getting more of the moneys worth! For the bbq, don pocha offers lettuce for ssam and each individual gets three sauces ( salt, wasabi and ssamjang) , they also give sliced radishes to wrap, marinated pickles and green onion strings! You can ask for more green onion strings~ we basically had like one bowl per person! When you get the green onion strings make sure to really soak all of the green onion into the sauce at the bottom of the bowl! The size of the green onion will shrink when drenched in the sauce but its so good with the meat! You will also get less of that fresh green onion breath! Highly recommend the manual labor of the green onion because this goes sooooo well with the meat and just a hint of salt. We were raving with the meat!!! Make sure you go with someone who cooks the meat real well because its self-bbq! We were so full and satisfied!!! I couldnt breathe because i was so full!
We loveddddddddd the meat and said we should come back.. just didnt know itd be so soon! Hahaha
Second time, we were so ready!! We ordered everything at once! Drinks included! This time six of us met! Four ladies and two guys! We ordered two makkeollis, two big beers one soju bottle (to make somek which is soju and beer mixed), two gyeranjjims, one chilsung cider (korean sprite), one diet pepsi, five orders of hahngjeongsal, three orders of samgyubsal thick, one kimchijjigae and one dwenjangjjigae. We asked for the gyeranjjim to not be burnt since it was burnt last time. Although the initial order took some time to put in, everything started coming out fairly smooth in a good amount of time! The gyeranjjims were delicious this time around! We were sooo happy! The kimchi jjigae and dwenjangjjigae were both delicious! Each were filled with meat and came in stone bowls so the heat is held! Went amazing with rice! As mentioned before the hahngjeongsal and samgyubsal are delicious and sook good!!! I sent a picture of my dinner to my friends in korea and they said that it just looks like a restaurant in korea! So if you love bbq and are willing to try korean restaurant~ i recommend Don pocha!!
We also got the dessert, the macarons are the size of a grapefruit~ the macaron comes in many different flavors. I liked the macaron but i could also kind of taste the artificial flavors... like ice cream from a ice cream truck.. same with the ice cream from the ho dduk.. but i really liked the ho dduk hahaha
Ill be back~~ read more