Today's Koggi dinner had all the cooked side dishes I fancied.
Now, I am not the sort who is preferential to a certain dish whilst abstaining of others.
But I am the sort who loves it whenever cultural elements of a meal come into play, and today at Koggi here in Suntec City, there were a few.
The one cooked dish they didn't have today was japchae- which, I normally like and definitely will go for- but there were the others, which, of course I helped myself to.
Now, you might not think much of these three dishes that you see here, but trust me, there's nothing better to have your meal of charcoal-grilled meats be accompanied by dishes to the likes of macaroni salad, tteokbokki and bean curd skins swimming in a sauce of gochujang, and, kimchi.
I've always loved tteokbokki, honestly, but have never known how to prepare it, nor have I had the chance to buy the instant kind.
This one here, however, throws me and my mind straight into how the Koreans make it, and I love it pretty much.
The chew of the tteokbokki makes it one of the most fun things to eat, never mind that it fills you up if you eat too much, but the sauce is what opens up the appetite and make you want to order more meat.
This time our meats were of the usual kind that we like.
I can never remember the actual name, but if I'm not wrong, there was the Beef Thin Sliced, there was the Marinated Bulgogi, and probably one portion of the Sliced Pork Belly.
Of course, us being us we didn't just only order one plate of each.
It would been a less fun K-BBQ otherwise.
Of the Beef Thin Sliced I think we had at least four, if not five.
The Bulgogi I think we had perhaps two.
And then the Pork Belly we had one.
It is always a special time coming here for K-BBQ, especially when I get to have it with kimchi. If you're surprised as to why that means so much, it's simply because I've only recently discovered that kimchi, when rolled up with the meat, adds a bit of juice, makes for great complementary sour- sweet- savory flavor, and serves as a good digestive even as the meal rolls along.
That, by the way, isn't the only digestive we have to tackle the value-for-money buffet of a K-BBQ meal.
There is, too, the Greek style yogurt that we bring into the place as a sort of dip, where which we add in some miso, garlic powder, and on occasion, gochujang (from the counter).
It's heavily effective.
What's funny is that I don't actually go for any of the other kimchi that they have available at the counter, although I have had some of the radish, and I think I did try the cucumber a while ago before.
It doesn't matter.
I only like the cabbage kimchi, and glad I am to keep it that way.
I guess one can say we've all got our own favorites.
So if it is the japchae and the macaroni salad (which I do sprinkle on a bit of salt to taste) that I adore, for my friend, it is the chicken nuggets, all of which he heats up on the grill and eats slowly, taking his time.