After our frozen adventure with liquid nitrogen (which you can read about here), we felt the urge for something salty or savory that would fill us up. Since we were in the neighborhood, we immediately thought about Woorijib and their unlimited samgyeopsal promo. Unfortunately, our unlimited pork fantasy was almost smashed to bits when we went to the restaurant's 'known location' in Kalayaan Avenue. Apparently, it wasn't there anymore!
Luckily, we asked the guard on duty for that building if the restaurant closed out (which seemed apparent to us at that time). He told us that they simply moved a few blocks away in Matalino Street and that they changed their name to Woori-Gohyang. (Tears of joy... our pork fantasy is saved! Happiness!)
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| Photo taken from Google Maps |
In hindsight, the new place is somewhat better. In a sense that they have more parking space, brighter/wider dining space, and a veranda where you can eat 'al fresco'. The downside, however, is that the place is now almost hard to find. Which probably explains why they have fewer 'new' customers that come in.
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| Brighter/Wider dining space (sorry, I didn't get a shot of the al fresco part. It was raining a little.) |
The place offers Unlimited Samgyeopsal + All-You-Can-Eat Buffet for only Php299/person (roughly US$6-7). If you want to step it up little, you can also opt to get Bottomless Iced Tea for an additional Php49 (roughly US$1). Of course, we got both... we were hungry AND thirsty!
The buffet consisted of mostly Korean side dishes like the traditional kimchi, kimchi pancakes, bulgogi (grilled marinated beef), japchae (stir fried sweet potato noodles), kimbap (Korean sushi rolls), ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes), spicy potato balls, eggplants, bean sprouts, spinach, tofu, soups, salads, rice and a lot more which frankly I don't have names for. Honestly, you'd have to be really hungry to eat all of these in one seating (unless of course, you'd just get a spoon for each dish... but seriously, right?).
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So let's talk about what we came here for... Samgyeopsal. It's basically uncured pork belly slices similar to bacon but a little thicker. They're served to you raw and you get to cook it in these circular griddles similar to a Japanese teppanyaki. If you know how good bacon tastes like, then you'll have an idea what these baby can do for your taste buds. ;)
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| Hungry and ready! |
BTW, you can either eat the meat straight off the griddle or you can do the suggested method:
(1) Dip the cooked meat into some sesame oil (with salt and black pepper if you like)
(2) lay it in the middle of a lettuce leaf
(3) add some soybean paste
(4) add other stuff like sprouts or any side dish of your fancy
(5) make it into a lettuce leaf ball by folding the sides over (lettuce wraps!)
(6) enjoy the awesomeness!
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Oh, and for those who are health conscious, the oil from the meat is actually channeled out of the griddle and drained into a bowl right beside it. After cooking just 1 batch of meat (about 7 or 8 pieces), you can see just how much oil has been drained. (makes you feel a little less guilty about eating a lot) ;)
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| Away with the oil! |
Now some of the bad things, there were times that we felt like we were just left alone by the staff here. We literally had to stand up and look for them whenever we needed something (like utensils, water, refill of iced tea, etc). Another thing is that the place doesn't have any exhaust fans/vents for all the cooking. You're clothes will really smell like grilled meat when you go out. Also, because of the lack of exhaust, the temperature in the place tends to be on the warm-hot side. Sure, they've allocated stand fans for each table but then again, it could've been simpler.
Overall, we've seen Korean buffets that are much more posh than this place. Even serving a bit more food than what this place offers. But if you're looking for an authentic, more 'traditional home cooked style' of Korean food (and when you're somewhat in a budget), this is definitely the place to go. A place worth coming back to over and over again. We give it 3 out of 5 stars...
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| Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5 |
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| The last bite... |
Woori-Gohyang
2nd Floor, Matalino Street
Quezon City, Philippines
Phone: (+63 2) 926-7685
Hours: Mon-Sun Eat-all-you-can from 11:30AM - 10:00PM
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Woorijib
(Date of Visit: July 29, 2013)
