Yesterday, I went to Gen Korean BBQ for the first time in months!  Apparently, the last time I went was in January, wow!  You may have seen this picture on my Instagram feed, which I hope whet your appetite.  Let’s take a little tour of one of my favorite dining experiences!

The interior of the restaurant looks just like a nightclub, even in the middle of the day!  You might be wondering what the deal is with all of those metal tubes.  They’re range hoods for each individual table and cooktop.

Still, you will definitely have to throw your attire into the wash as soon as you get home.  And ladies, tie back your hair, or else you’ll have Eau de Korean BBQ haunting you for the rest of the day!

As soon as you sit down, you have your choice of wonderful little vegetables laid out in front of you.  Marinated bean sprouts, kimchee, pickled cabbage, mashed potatoes (Korean-Style), cucumbers, etc.  It always seems to be different, but delicious every time!  I try not to fill up on too much of the veggies, only because I know that the main event is coming up…

The meat!  Yes, we do have veggies as well, but the meat is the star of the grill.  So how does it work?  You have your choice of around 40 types of meat, some with different marinades and you order what you would like.  The meat comes raw and you throw it on to the grill.  There is unlimited ordering for 2 hours, but you will get charged for leftovers.

The best part is that you get to cook your meat however you would like, without the pesky prep work beforehand and the clean-up afterwards!  I love my spicy chicken blackened, but the grill must be tough to clean afterwards…  Sorry!

Here is my favorite way to eat the meat.  First of all, they give you a huge pile of dressed salad greens, sauces, salt and pepper, LARGE pickled radishes (you can see them in the first picture), and rice paper.  I tend to skip the rice paper, the salt, and the pepper…

And I made a Korean “taco” with the pickled radish, some spicy sauce, and a bit of salad greens.  It’s delish!  I’m surprised that I waited a whole two seconds to take a picture of this before I gobbled it up!

At the end, there is a bowl of those lovely Milkita candies that I love!  Remember when I found them in the Korean market?  Yep, you usually eat so much that a tiny piece of candy is all that anybody would want for dessert!  I almost always end up skipping dinner that day!

If you are in the mood for dessert, I would suggest either Tasti D-Lite across the street (the only one in California!) or Cream Pan around the corner.  This time, we opted for the latter so we would have lovely pastries to take home!

Anyways, this is one of the reasons why I love Korean food so much and pickle my own radishes regularly.  Yum!  🙂

13741 Newport Avenue
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 505-1800
genkoreanbbq.com