This, I think, is either my second, or third, time here at Koggi @ Suntec City.
I haven't kept count.
You don't need to keep count when there's something so appetizing and so good at such great a price.
Safe may I say that by this time we were fast becoming fans of this place, and always a delight it was to go in, settle down at the assigned table with my bag and my bottle, and go look at what banchan they had placed out for the day.
First things first however: kimchi.
Koggi here offers a variety of kimchi for the taking, by the way.
If I'm not wrong, there're at least four kinds, if not more.
There's the cabbage, there's the cubed radish, there's some onion-thingy, and there's the cucumber.
I always have kimchi whenever I come for KBBQ.
And although this afternoon I helped myself to some of the cubed radish, I always make sure to go for the cabbage.
It's not just for the Korean culture, but more for the fermentation that speeds up digestion and makes one feel way less full by the time the meal is over. I've since found out that the taste actually goes very well with the meat, and since then, I like to place a piece of kimchi cabbage inside a pork belly slice, roll it up, and eat both together same time.
The juice bursting out of the cabbage mixes so well with the meat as well, and may I say, is so, so good.
This afternoon here I got not just the kimchi, but also a plate of bright green lettuce.
They're very generous with the lettuces here, I have to say, and why should they not, when part of eating culture here at KBBQ is to place a piece of meat inside the lettuce, add a small piece of kimchi on top, wrap the entire thing up, dip it in whatever sesame oil or sauce you prefer, and eat it at one go.
I eat mine separate, however.
And whilst I like the lettuce, I try to limit.
The leaves have got too much fiber.
This afternoon, once these two plates got onto the table, off it was to the counter for the banchan.
There're several varieties of banchan that Koggi serves, and whilst they do switch around from time to time, generally, they stick to the favorites that everyone likes.
Kids, for example, are great fans of the Fries and the Chicken Nuggets. But they're also eager for the salad macaroni. Adults, on the other hand, tend to go straight for the japchae, the tteokbokki in gochujang sauce, the (other) banchan food- this one gets switched around every time- the soup, and the salad macaroni.
I myself love the tteobokki, the japchae and the salad macaroni, with the japchae taking first priority whenever I am there.
It isn't because I don't like the other foods as much; it's just that japchae is incredibly difficult to make on one's own- even if I tried- what with the variety of ingredients that stretch from black fungus to shredded carrots, to shredded cucumber, to strips of beancurd skin to other forms of vegetables all nicely cut up, washed, and deep fried.
Too complicated.
So, seeing that japchae was on the menu today, it became such that it were the only banchan I took, and set everything else aside.
Don't laugh at the fact that I took three portions.
I love them potato noodles.
They add that nice bit of carb to the meal.
No doubt, they might seem a little dry at the start, but there's nothing that cannot be solved with a spoonful of sesame oil nicely mixed in, and even a little hint of salt to bring out the flavor.
Looking at them pictures now I think I might have overdone a little on the sesame oil but I also don't really care.
Sesame oil may be one of the simplest, most basic oils in Chinese cooking but it literally enhances everything, gives the drier textures an oilier, smoother texture, and gently gives your food a bit of tang without making it overwhelmed.
I didn't take the sesame oil with the meats though.
There was no need to.
On the table this afternoon there were plates of beautifully rolled meats freshly brought out from the freezer.
It doesn't matter to me if the meats are frozen.
Once they go onto the grill they end up tasting just as good.
What's more astounding is that, based on these pictures now, I don't know if these be three different kinds of meat, or if they be just two.
See, I don't do the ordering at Koggi- my job is to get the chicken nuggets and the kimchi whilst my friend orders- and because I don't need to bother paying attention to the menu- not when I know everything he gets will be good- I've no idea really whether or not all of these is beef or pork or chicken.
My guess is that the top and bottom are the Beef Thin-Sliced Short Plate, but then again, they might well have been Thin-Sliced Pork Belly, and, well, I wouldn't know.
Hey, I just eat.
But the color here- dark red as it is- makes me think of beef, however, and that, I should say, would have formed much of what we ordered, especially since beef is one of our favorites when it comes to hotpots and BBQs anyway.
The middle plate, however, is one that I have to seriously look.
I think it's Soy Sauce Marinated Chicken Galbi.
Very likely that's what it is- it doesn't look like pork collar... does it?
Whichever it is, I know it was good, because after what must have been at least four, five plates of the nicely rolled up beef and this one plate- or so- of the chicken, I had gotten very, very full by.
But I'm not complaining.
Not when I complemented my meal with more than enough japchae I could fill, more than enough kimchi to wrap the meat in, and, if I'm not wrong, an extra bowl of soup that today its picture I decided not to take.