bulgogi – Jellybeans in the City

Unli Korean BBQ at YumEaTeh!, Marikina

Korean barbecue fans, you definitely have something new to be happy about.

Marikina, already home to a vibrant and varied food scene, now has another place that offers all the meats, seafood and side dishes you can eat at super affordable prices.

Located at the Wood Park Food Hub along E. Santos Street, YumEaTeh! has been serving up exciting Korean barbecue packages (named after Japanese icons, of all things!) to Marikina denizens since it began operations early this year.

As explained by the co-owners, Eric Tan and JM Alcantara, “YumEaTeh” has the same sound as the Japanese word for “stop.” They conceptualized their offers to be so filling that diners will eat their fill until they just want to stop.

Well, let’s take a look at its much-vaunted unli meal sets, shall we?

All of these already come with soup, plain rice, chao fan (Chinese fried rice), an assortment of banchan (side dishes) like tahong (steamed mussels), lettuce, quail egg bombs, potato salad, cheesy corn, apple slaw and kimchi, not to mention an array of sauces for the meats that include cheese, gravy, chili oil, wasabi mayo, gochujang (Korean red chili paste), ponzu (Japanese sauce) and honey mustard as well as Aice ice cream treats to cap the meal.

Ninja (Php198) gives you four delicious pork flavors such as salt and pepper barbecue, gochujang marinated pork slices, tonkatsu and sisig.

With Sempai (regularly priced at Php299 | available to YumEaTeh! Loyalty Card Holders for Php249), you can enjoy four different meat flavors that include the pork flavors included in Ninja, as well as chicken, which include salt and pepper, teriyaki and yangyeom (sweet, sour and spicy); squid, which include salt and pepper and yangyeom: and beef, which include salt and pepper, bulgogi and sukiyaki.

Hokage (Php399), on the other hand, gives you twelve different meat flavors that include the pork, beef, chicken and squid flavors included in Sempai, as well as five-spiced boiled crab, salt and pepper shrimp and ginger garlic mussels.

Lastly, with Hokage Supreme (Php499), you can enjoy twelve different meat flavors that include the pork, beef, chicken and squid, crab, shrimp and mussels flavors included in Hokage as well as deep-fried and butter garlic crab, butter garlic shrimp and tempura, hotpots of laksa, tantanmen and tomyum/sinigang, deep-fried squid and chicken poppers. This set also comes with a free liter of iced tea for every four people.

All these sets are guaranteed to satisfy your K-BBQ cravings!

Celebrating your birthday soon? Take advantage of YumEaTeh!’s Bigger, Better Birthday Promo which give you discounts on your Sempai (Php249) and Hokage Supreme (Php499) meals within ten days of your birthday depending on the number of companions you bring to YumEaTeh!:

One full paying adult: 20%
Two full paying adults: 30%
Three full paying adults: 50%
Four full paying adults: 80%
Five full paying adults: FREE

Thank you to Hungry Byaheros for extending the invitation, and to Eric Tan, JM Alcantara and the staff of YumEaTeh! for having us.

YumEatEh! Is located at The Wood Park, E. Santos Street, Concepcion Uno, Marikina City, open Sundays to Thursdays from 11.30am to 11pm and Fridays to Saturdays from 11.30am to 11.30pm. For inquiries, call +63 966 4664907.

Disclosure: Together with my fellow foodies, I was invited to join a foodie meetup held here. Food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Unli Korean BBQ Buffet at Saram, Sikatuna Village

Let’s face it: the Pinoys’ love affair with all things Korean will not be going away anytime soon. (And, truth be told: do we want it to?).

Case in point: the proliferation of restaurants offering unli Korean barbecues all over the metro.

One such eatery is Saram Korean BBQ Grill Buffet. Located along V. Luna Extension in Quezon City, it provides unlimited meats for grilling as well as a wide array of banchan (small side dishes) that you can munch on while cooking or can add to the lettuce wrap along with your grilled meats for added flavor and texture.

Here’s what you can expect to enjoy at Saram:

Plain Meats
Samgyeopsal – thinly sliced pork belly
Woosamgyup – thinly sliced beef

Flavored Meats (available in regular and spicy variants):
>Dwaeji Galbi – marinated pork ribs
Bulgogi – thinly sliced marinated beef
Dakgalbi – marinated chicken pieces

Banchan:
Kimchi – fermented vegetables; no self-respecting Korean resto will find itself lacking this dish
Namul – steamed, marinated or stir-fried vegetables usually seasoned with minced garlic, sesame oil, vinegar, chopped green onions or dried chili peppers; my favorite among these are the Sigeumchi Namul (spinach) and the Kongnamul (bean sprouts)
Gyeran-jjim – mixed and season eggs steamed in a hot pot; already great by itself but do try adding a bit to your meat lettuce wrap. I’m sure you’ll love it!
Pajeon – thin and slightly soicy pan-fried pancakes flavored with scallions
Japchae – Korean glass noodles sauteed in a slightly sweet garlic sauce along with chopped vegetables

(You can get all the banchan you want from the buffet table, while the meats will be served at your table upon request.)

Well here’s some great news: Saram has an ongoing Christmas promo which allows diners to enjoy unli grilled meats and banchan at very affordable buffet rates.

Check out the options available:

Set A: unlimited plain meats at Php249/head for lunch and Php299/head for dinner

Set B: unlimited plain and flavored meats at Php299/head for lunch and Php349/head for dinner

Set C: unlimited all-beef meats; add Php100 to the lunch or dinner rate

You can also get a Pork/Beef Ramen at Php220 or a Seafood Ramen at Php249. Both are good for two people.

So if you find yourself in Sikatuna Village and want to satisfy your Korean food cravings, head on to Saram.

Saram Korean BBQ Grill Buffet is located at 109 V. Luna Extension, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City (beside Mercury Drug), open daily from 11am to 3pm and 5.30pm to 10pm. For inquiries, call +63 2 7443817 or +63 917 8852185.

Happy Korean Lunch at Neul Bolm, Tagaytay

Ever since the extended family discovered the wonders of Korean cuisine that Tagaytay has to offer several years ago, a sojourn here is hardly complete without a meal at a Korean restaurant.

One such eatery is Neul Bolm Korean Restaurant which has moved to a new location since our last visit. (Incidentally, it is tagged on Zomato as “Permanently Closed” but as confirmed by the wait staff and this review, it is still very much in operation.)

The new location is just as spacious as their previous one with a cleaner and more modern aesthetic. It has long wooden tables with built-in grills for the Korean barbecue; two tables side-by-side was able to comfortably accommodate our party of ten.

We ordered Ssambap, meats to be grilled right on our tabletop and served with green leafy vegetables, a few slices of garlic, sesame oil and some ssamjang or red bean paste sauce. These include:

Cha Dul Begi (Php500), thinly spiced beef and Samgyubsal (Php400), grilled pork belly.

Jeyuk Bukum (Php400), spicy stir-fried pork with vegetables

These were accompanied by generous and refillable servings of banchan, side dishes such as sliced fish cakes, rolled omelettes, kimchi and more. Many of these have some acid or vinegar elements which help cut through the richness of the grilled meats.

We also ordered Kimchi Jeon (Php280), a kimchi and seafood pancake with egg; Budea Jjigye (Php970 for a Large serving), a soup of kimchi, ham, sausage, pork and veggies; Bulgogi Junggol (Php650), tender slices of savory-sweet marinated beef served in sauce; Dolsot Bibimbab (Php280), rice and vegetables mixed with a spicy paste and served in a heated clay pot; and Steamed Egg.