So after our long drive and gift exchange we went out for some serious bbq. Sun Young's brother and sister deliberated over where we should go for the entire hour+ car ride over. "Can he use chopsticks? Is he so tired he doesn't even care? Does he want to go to Burger King?" So we ended up at a place outside of Seoul that specialized in traditional korean bbq.
The restaurant reminded me of small town American bbq joints. It was bordered on all sides by stacks of fire wood, and most of the restaurant was outdoors. When we walked in they rang a large bell to announce our arrival. The bbq itself was like an open air version of the American style I am familiar with. There was a stack of wood to one side that was slowly smoldering, and on the other the meat being prepared for the customer. All this was uncovered, however, making the smoke flavor much more subtle. Each table had a circular metal centerpiece to cook the pieces of meat that were to come.
Along the servers came, first with many banchan, then with coals and a grill top to fit over the metal circle and finally bbq'd pork belly and neck.
The banchan, or sidedishes, were as follows: lettuce and very large leaves of what looked like shiso, raw peppers with chili paste, soy bean powder (for dipping meat into), mustard sauce for the same, raw garlic and onions, kimchi, and enormous rounds of pickled diakon.
So we sat grilling our meat and nibbling on our banchan. Once the meat was good and caramelized (everyone was quite attentive towards the meat) I was shown to take little bits of this and that and put it in a leaf or diakon round and stuff it in my face. Of course there were certain things that I was not to put with other things but did so unknowingly to the amusement of my dining partners.
It was all quite delicious and somewhat surreal to be eating at a place that reminded me of a hole in the wall in bumb**ck Texas. I was definitely the only white boy there, and definitely stared at by everyone.
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