Korean Barbecue Tour!! 🥩 DINO BEEF RIBS + Standing Barrel BBQ in Seoul!

Today, I'm taking you on an ultimate Korean beef barbecue tour. Korean barbecue is easily the most famous of all Korean food throughout the world. It's a truly magical meat-eating experience. They do it all in front of you. Oh, you can see how that just wobbles. But there's many different types of Korean barbecue. Oh, it's so flavorful. I just love this concept. I love this style. We're going to eat some different types. We're going to eat some of the best barbecues in the city, and I'm going to share it all with you coming up right now in this video. So we are beginning this barbecue tour at a place. It's called Joseon-ok, and it is one of the oldest Korean barbecue restaurants in Seoul. That means one of the oldest in the world. And so we're in one of the classic parts of town. Lots and lots of kind of mechanic stores and hardware stores in this area from the main road. We walk down this alley here, and I think it's just up ahead down this alley. Oh, I love it already. This place, it dates back to 1937. Again, it's one of the oldest Korean barbecues in Seoul, and they specialize in what is one of the most popular forms, meats of Korean barbecue called galbi, which is the Korean short rib. They are one of the places that has completely popularized it around the world. So it's only right that we would start a Korean barbecue tour right here at one of the original barbecue restaurants. All right, here we go. One of the things that you'll notice immediately is that at a lot of Korean barbecue restaurants, you know, you cook it yourself at the table, but here you don't. They cook it in the back. This is the old school way where the chef is cooking everybody's meal, grilling everybody's meat, and then it's delivered to you at your table, grilled perfectly to their liking the way they've always done it. And it's really an honor. They have a window here to the grill where you can see the chef, the master at the grill. They grill it so precisely. Then they keep tossing on like this cup of the sauce. And from what also what I was reading, that sauce, their recipe has not changed in over 80 years. Oh, I love that. That flick of the wrist with that sauce onto the galbi. Oh, what a move. It is always fun to cook barbecue at your table in front of you. But at the same time, they know the best way to cook it. Oh, I'm so excited to try this. It's kind of actually refreshing to have them cook it the perfect way for you. So you just get a plate all ready to go, all ready to dig in with all the different banchan, the colorful banchan, all the different side dishes. And they also have a number of famous dishes that we're going to try as well. Oh, and including an extremely icy cold beer. So cheers to begin the Korean barbecue tour. Okay, can't wait to try it. Try a piece first. Oh, the flavor keeps on coming as you keep on chewing. It's not like melt in your mouth tender. It has some muscle, some texture to it. But I think that way in the muscle fiber, it's just able to absorb all of that flavor. And again, one of their signature moves is, it takes literally an entire cup of the juice, meat broth, brine, the sauce, and just splashes it onto the grill. It's juicy, it's saucy. And there you can taste a little bit of a sweetness, the sugar in there, which caramelizes onto the meat. Oh, it's so flavorful. I'll taste with a bite of kimchi. Oh yeah. Oh man, I love kimchi. The crispness, the little bit of spice, the lactic acid, that one's nice and fermented. Age. Oh yeah, move into some of that salad. I think I'll grab a whole bone this time. Oh, you can see how juicy it is. I'll dip it into the bean paste. I think it's a type of Korean bean paste. Oh, you can see how that just wobbles. Oh yes. Also something that you'll notice that's a little different from this Korean barbecue, is that typically you'd be served some whole lettuce leaves at a lot of Korean places that I've been to. And then you kind of do a wrap. This one is more self-service, like in your mouth you mix everything, because the salad is already mixed with that sauce. There's garlic, there's all the bean paste, there's all those condiments. But you kind of just can bite and mix it all together in your mouth without making a full wrap. So, can't wait to try this bone. Oh wow, okay. As you get closer to the bone, it gets fattier, even more flavor. I'm gonna chase with a garlic. Oh wow. And it is grilled perfectly. So you see it's pink on the inside. Juicy, moist, fatty. Just the juices come out. Really, really tasty. Really light, but really crisp. Maybe just tossed with a little bit of sesame oil. And we have another dish here that they're famous for, which is called taeku-tang. And it's a beef soup. Oh, I love that beautiful red color. Look at these huge leeks. I almost thought it was pasta. They're leeks. And then big chunks of really tender beef. Oh, look at the wobble on that piece of beef. Oh, that's incredible. Oh man, tastes like some of the beef trimmings, which have just been simmered down until ultra tender, melt in your mouth, fatty, beefy. And then stewed down with those leeks, giving it a sweetness. Like, that's really, really tasty. Okay, and then another dish they're famous for is this soybean soup with tofu, with mushrooms. Okay. Also really good. You taste the complexity of the fermented soybeans, tofu in there, mushrooms. Really, really good. So much flavor. Oh, I love Korean rice. So maybe dip into the bean paste, onto the rice. With the rice, to pair together with the saltiness of the bean paste, the richness of the meat, it all goes together. I'm loving the simplicity of everything. Just the laid-backness. What a spot. And it's still family-run. They're extremely friendly. I mean, this is a preservation of Korean barbecue heritage. But we have a lot more Korean barbecue to keep on eating. We are continuing with this Korean barbecue tour at a restaurant. It's kind of a modern Korean barbecue restaurant that specializes, and I've seen some of the photos, in these gigantic dino-sized ribs. Cooked in a very special way. Welcome to Mongtan. This place is extremely popular. Long waiting list to get in. The instant banchan. Oh, and there it is. This is part of their grilling system, is the iron griddle. So in order to make their special ribs, pork ribs, what they do is they have the huge ribs. They bring them over into this grill cabinet. And then he just kind of grills them really quickly over a really hot charcoal fire. Then the trick here is using hay. So he gets a bundle of hay in his palm. He lights that on fire. And then he puts the ribs into the hay. Watching them as they go up in a flame, and just like burst into flame with that fat and that oil. But just like keeping really controlled, just for a few seconds. Just to embed it with that smokiness of that burnt hay. And then flips them over. So they're just barely, I think, singed on the outside. They're not really cooked on the inside yet. Then they go on to some serving trays. And then that's gonna go to your table. But already just infused with the aroma of that smoke. That smells incredible. And that's gonna go to our table to then grill it, table side. So before the meat comes, he's putting on the pieces of leek and garlic. Okay, here come the ribs. Yes. Oh, oh, it's so long. It's a huge rib. It takes up the entire griddle. Oh, he sliced it off the bone. Ying, do we need a shot of it? Oh, strips it off the bone. That is so much meat. And you have that entire strip. Oh, look at the marble. Look at the fat mixed within that muscle. And it really does have a different aroma with that infusion of the hay smoke in it. Oh, that smells unbelievable. Oh, okay. Soybean paste. Salt. Fish egg sauce. And wasabi. And so you can choose any of these sauces for dipping? First, just meat. No sauce. Okay, oh, kamsahamnida. Oh man, this is a truly magical meat eating experience. They do it all in front of you on this massive iron hot griddle. The aromas, that beef is just, you can see the quality. Oh, and he's stacking it up onto the rib. Once it starts to sizzle, it sizzles in its own fat. Oh man. Oh, he's stacking it onto the rib. Oh, what a display. Oh wow. He said to eat it as is, no sauce, first bite. Oh, oh wow. It is so tender and spongy and so fatty. Oh man, that texture is incredible. The flavor keeps on coming. The smokiness. Wow, that's good. Oh man. Second bite, he said to dip into the soy sauce. And get a little dab of wasabi as well. So wasabi and soy sauce for the next bite of rib. Oh man, the fattiness, muscular. It is so flavorful. With that wasabi, it's really mild. Just gives it this little bit of a sweetness, actually. And saltiness from the soy sauce. Man, that's tasty. Incredible. And then after you take the beef, one of the famous things to eat here is the onion kimchi. As that rib, that beef is so rich and so fatty, that onion just completely cleanses your palate. Like washes down that greasiness. Okay, I'm going in for another piece. Oh man, huge, just straight up pieces of rib steak. Okay, for the next bite, I'll try on the bean sauce. And look at the way they cook it. They serve it to you, I'd say medium rare, preserving as much of that juicy fattiness as possible. Yeah, so fatty, so rich. You need some rice to go with this. I love it with that bean paste. Because the bean paste has this incredible, well-rounded flavor. A saltiness, a fermented complexity to it. And then also a sweetness from those beans as well. The next banchan looks like a frozen kimchi. Almost icicle. Wow, that's such a contrast, yeah. Straight up ice, cold, a little bit sweet. And you taste that pepper paste. That is, it almost tastes like beef bacon, because of the way that smoke just singes the fat. Has that like sharp smokiness, but then griddle fried to actually cook it. And that smokiness doesn't really cook it, it just gives it that flavor. Man, extremely rich, heavy. Full of flavor. And now it's time for the pork, the pork neck. They only have two meats on their menu, the ribs and the pork neck. And so the pork neck is ready. He just totally browns it on the edges. Crispy, that is so fatty as well. And then there's another specific sauce for the pork. Oh man, this pork looks incredible actually. Oh wow, that is extremely fatty. Melts in your mouth, and then crispy on the edges. Wow, so rich. Both meats are just packed full of richness, like the richest meats you can imagine. What do you like more, the beef or the pork? Definitely the beef here. Yeah, pork is like so fat, super rich. I like it especially with a little bit of the combination with the soy sauce and the wasabi. And then definitely chasing with the onion. The onion kimchi is the way to go. Those ribs were really good. I mean definitely extremely rich and fatty, but really high quality. To continue with this barbecue tour, we're kind of in the back streets of Seoul within an industrial area. Lots of mechanic shops around here, lots of warehouses and import export shops. This is the type of area in Seoul where you can find basically anything you're looking for, from clothes to plumbing. Okay, thank you. We are at the next place. They have a huge parking lot, but luckily we've got here, I think just at the perfect time when the lunch rush is settling down. We're in the middle of the afternoon. The restaurant is right back here, and we're here to eat a certain type of barbecue that's extremely popular, that has a lot of history connected to it. Welcome to Ureok. That's the name of the restaurant, and it's a classic. It's a legendary restaurant that dates back to 1946, and the main grilled Korean barbecue that they serve here is called bulgogi, which they are just legendary for. This is one of the places in Seoul to get bulgogi, and they also have some of the buckwheat noodles, the naengmyeon as well, which is the combination to eat with it. Copper grill down below. Beautiful, shining. As they're about to deliver the bulgogi, just a little bit of history, but bul means fire, gogi means meat, so it's actually fire meat, and this method of cooking has been in Korea for hundreds, thousands of years. It has a history. It's been called by different names, and I mean, one of the main signature facts about the meat is that it's sliced thin, it's marinated before it's grilled, so there's no doubt, when you're doing a Korean barbecue tour, bulgogi is an absolute must, and it's gonna be totally different from any other barbecue style. Oh, here comes the banchan already. Fire is started on the bottom, then she pours just some water around the trough. Here it is, the marinated bulgogi beef. You can see it's really thin slices, maybe sirloin or brisket, which is thin slices, marinated. Usually, it's quite on the sweet side. We'll have to test this out and see, but I love the grill shape. It's a dome shape with little holes with the burner on the bottom so that all the heat rises, and then the juices are gonna spill to the sides into the water. So she grills it up for you table side, kind of like keeps scooping it onto the top, putting it on the top, letting the juices of the bulgogi drain down into the broth, into the trough below until it kind of caramelizes and crispifies. You can, I mean, you can actually hear it hissing, caramelizing from that sweet marinade, and now she turns off the fire. She says it's ready to eat. That smells so good, along with all the toppings, along with all the sides, and then also, again, the carb of choice that you eat along with this is naengmyeon, again, the buckwheat noodles in cold broth. So the method of eating this bulgogi, grab a lettuce into your palm, garlic, dip it into the fermented bean paste, into your lettuce, then bulgogi. Oh yeah. Oh man, it's so tender. And just the caramelized sweetness contrasted by the pungency of the garlic and the really sharply salty bean paste, all that together in your mouth. It's so tasty. Wow, that's good. I'm going in for another one. Garlic. Oh man, the bean paste is incredible here. The bulgogi. Oh, this is like a red cabbage, purple cabbage, plus maybe fine green onions or radish kimchi. Okay, and then I'm gonna chase it with the big green chili as well. Oh, that's huge. Okay. Wow, there's a lot going on. That is incredible. The juices, the meat juices, the vegetable juices, the pickle juices, the kimchi juices, they're all just liquefying in your mouth. Man, that bulgogi is so good. This is a totally new perspective on bulgogi here. The soup on the bottom has just collected all of the broth from the grilling meat, the trock. Oh, wow. That's meaty, that's the fat, the drippings, rich, so good. Okay, I'm gonna try the broth first of the naengmyeon, the cold soup. Oh man, that's like the same meat juice. You could just tell the bones have been, beef bones have just been boiled down and it's almost gravy, yet clear, yet so powerfully beefy. Oh man, that's meaty tasting. And typically you would season then with one swirl of vinegar and one swirl of the sauce, which is gyoza. Stir that around, you can see how the broth immediately turns a little murky. Oh yeah, that adds a nice sourness to it and a nice like horseradish, like a kind of a tingle in your mouth as well. And then typically you also, wow, look at the size of these scissors, huge scissors. Typically give the noodles a cut down the center, otherwise they can be a little bit on the chewy side. Oh wow, I love the chewiness, the texture, the buckwheat, the cold refreshing temperature. Okay, and then also we got the slices of beef, plus there's some of the pickled cabbage, kimchi in here as well I think. I love that acidity, it's just so refreshing, so clean tasting. And that combination, it works so well together too because you've got the saltiness of the naengmyeon, the refreshing coldness and then you've got the hot, sweet bulgogi, which just melts in your mouth with all of the vegetables and the garlic. What a combination, what a meal. Okay, another move that you can do is take some of the bulgogi, the meat, oh you can see that it's so, it's cut so thin and it's so tender that it just kind of almost crumbles. Drop it into your noodles and then eat it all together with the noodles. Another outstanding combination, the balance of flavor, the smokiness, the meatiness, the acidity, the sweetness, it's like all the flavors on your mouth all at once, especially if you taste that with kimchi. Oh that kimchi is totally different from other kimchis that I've had. That's kind of this garlicky, fresh kimchi that's not really fermented, it's more of like a napa cabbage salad almost, it tastes like the really fresh, crisp, watery-ness of it. And what I was going to say is now you have all the flavors you could possibly want in your mouth all at one time. Oh man, everything here is so good, really high quality as well. You taste the quality, you taste the freshness of everything, just the care in what they do here. Oh wow. That was really, really good. Thoroughly enjoyed it. And also, I mean, this restaurant is just a preservation of traditional Korean food heritage, especially famous for their bulgogi. That was so good. Now we're on our way to one more place for barbecue today. Place I was really looking forward to, it's the Standing Barrel Barbecue, really old school style, with a place with a lot of history and heritage. We are in Myeongdong. Now Myeongdong is one of the most popular walking, shopping districts in all of Seoul. Always busy, crowded. And we are going to a place which specializes, again, in Korean short ribs barbecue, but something totally different. It's a heritage restaurant. I can't wait to try it. This place is so cool. Standing Barrel Barbecue. All the barbecues are within grills. There's no seats, so it's standing only. They grill, you grill your meat, I mean, they grill it for you and you grill yourself, just like any Korean barbecue. But this is really one of the, again, one of the original heritage Korean barbecue, especially famous for the galbi, which is the Korean short ribs. We got a barrel here, and they're about to light it up. We're about to get some more barbecue, some more beef barbecue. Okay, is that their short ribs? Yeah. That's mainly what everybody comes here to eat, the galbi? The only menu. Okay. Wow, huge iron griddle. Gonna be really hot. I just love this concept. I love this style. I mean, it straight up feels like a garage, although we're in the middle of Seoul in one of the busiest shopping districts. So old school. Heritage. And they're about to bring us the meat. Here it comes. Wow, there it is. There's their special galbi. Oh, and you can see it's marinated. Oh, that is beautiful. Oh man, that smells good. They're so meaty. These are some of the meatiest short ribs I've ever seen. I'm already loving the look of that marinade. Looks like garlic, lots of garlic, green chilies, sesame seeds. Oh man, that aroma. The meat is on it. Actually, those might not be green chilies. Maybe those are leeks, the marinade. Oh, she's snapping it off the bone now. Scissor cut ribs. That aroma is incredible. You can just see how juicy they're gonna be. So incredibly meaty. Oh, they're like flaps of meat that just come right off the bone. Those are beauties. Oh, that's so much meat. Absolutely love this concept. And I love how they only serve one thing. I mean, this is all. This is all you can order. I mean, they serve you with the sauce, with the garlic, with the green chilies. But even the kimchi is just a bag of kimchi. You get drinks. It's just basic, bare bones, all you need. Love this concept. There's garlic. There's leeks in there. Sesame oil, maybe. Ready to start eating. Grab a piece of the galbi. They said the sauce is their signature. That's what sets them apart. This might be the coolest Korean barbecue yet. Such a cool concept. Oh, wow. Oh, it's so tender. Oh, wow. Oh, Jinju has the right idea. You then take one of the green chilies. Dip it in the gochujang, maybe. Oh, man. It's the rich meat followed by the crispy, refreshing chili, that combination. And one more essential part of this meal experience. Cheers, men. That is spectacular. The meat itself is such good quality. Oh, that might be the best galbi yet. It's so meaty, so juicy, so tender. Oh, that is absolutely outstanding. Now, she said this is almost the same thing as the grilled one, just in a non-grilled form. So there's definitely a lot of leek, garlic, sesame seeds in here. I think it might be the sauce that's a little bit sweet, but she said it's sweet from fruit. Oh, wow. Okay, I'm gonna say that's the juiciest galbi I think I've ever had. It's so juicy. Yeah, that's good. That is so good. I think I prefer this one. The hot sauce? The hot sauce, yeah. Both good, both good. Yeah, that sauce might get maybe sesame seeds and maybe it has pear or something in it. Maybe shaved pear to give it that juicy body. Oh, man, that is unbelievable galbi. And I do wanna grab some of this garlic on this bite as well. Oh, that's a gigantic piece of garlic. And this concept is just so perfect. Huddled around a grill, enjoying meat together, perfect environment. I love how bare bones this place is. I mean, it's just straight up about the meat. They even serve rice in the Korean microwave boxes. Onto the rice. And to be quite honest, the Korean rice cooked in the microwave in these little, oh, it's hot, cooked in these little plastic tubs is actually cooked perfectly. Oh, I love it, I love it. This is one of the most unique. And you know, before coming here, I knew it was gonna be cool. I knew it was gonna be unique because of these barrels. What I didn't know is that it's some of the best galbi you'll ever have. Yeah, better with rice, better with rice. With rice, it's amazing, yeah. With rice, it goes on. These long green chilies dipped in gochujang. Okay, so when your grill gets crusty, they'll change it out for you. Put on a brand new grate. She kind of grilled half of it, then set half of the ribs aside. We downed half of it, and then she made the other half kind of in shifts. So here we go, round two. Melts in your mouth. Butter, butter beef ribs. We're grilling up some of that garlic now, and also grilling some of those green chilies, which they said, they recommended. Oh, right off the grill. I mean, it straight up feels like you're going to a friend's house for a backyard barbecue or a garage barbecue. That was unbelievably satisfying, and guaranteed your shirt will smell like barbecue, has just absorbed all of that smoke, and you'll be sweating from that barbecue and the fire, and it's so worth it. That was honestly one of the greatest galbi Korean barbecue short rib experiences I've ever had in my life. And I mean, what a barbecue tour it's been. I'll have all the information in the description box below, everywhere that we went. I want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video, and I also want to say a huge thank you to the Korea Tourism Organization for arranging my entire trip to South Korea on this Korean food trip, where we are going around the entire South Korean peninsula on an ultimate Korean road trip, so you're not going to want to miss any of the other videos in this food series. And I want to say a big thank you for watching. Again, please remember to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you, and if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos. Good night from Seoul.