Unlimited Korean BBQ at Samgyupsalamat in Malate, Manila

After more than a year of not seeing each other, my college roommate and I finally got to go ona date again. Aika is one of the few people in college I regularly see. Well, she’s also a high school friend but it’s really in college that we bonded.

We agreed to meet in Taft one Saturday in July, and she said she wanted Korean. It more than surprised that she suggested it, but I was more than glad to say yes. After all, when do I say no to Korean food? There are many affordable Korean restaurants in Manila, but I picked Samgyupsalamat because I wanted to try it for the longest time. Partly because I am like the witty name, and you know how corny I am.

Samgyupsalamat is located at Leon Guinto Street so Aika and I walked to the restaurant from the LRT Taft station. We almost missed it but good thing they have a sign out front. We were lucky to arrive early. The place was quiteempty when we got there, but at past 12, the restaurant started filling up and there was even a line outside. It was definitely a good sign!

We only looked at the Samgyupsalamant menu for like a second when we decided to go for the eat-all-you-can Korean BBQ because we were famished anyway. And it was worth it.

Being the irresponsible blogger that I am, I completely forgot to take photos of the interiors. Aika and I were too excited to eat and to catch up that pretty much everything else was forgotten. Good thing I still remembered to take photos of the food, or else this blog post wouldn’t be possible.

We decided to go for the unlimited pork BBQ, priced at 430 PHP per person, instead of the unlimited pork and beef BBQ at PHP 530. They prices increased because it’s different from the ones I found online. For our order, we were allowed to choose from 8 kinds of pork cuts and seasoning such as galbi and samgyupsal. After ordering, they immediately laid out on our table all sorts of side dishes, most variations of kimchi. Aika doesn’t eat kimchi so it was basically all for me.

They also served us free sundubu jjige (spicy tofu stew), and any Korean restaurant that offers free jjige is a star in my book.

We were shocked when they placed a towering plate of daepae samgyupsal on our table. There were just two of us and it really looked like good for four. And it was just the first of many plates that day.

Aika just recently got back from Korea, but she claimed not to have tried authentic Korean food when she was there. It was my pleasure to show her how to wrap the meat in lettuce and mix it with other side dishes.

Samgyupsal is often referred as the Korean bacon, and I never really understood why till this day. The meat was cut so thinly that it rolled up like bacon when we started grilling it. It was yummy, and dipped in my favorite gochujang, we had no trouble finishing our first plate.

Our second plate of meat was buljib samgyupsal, and it was my favorite. It was only dressed in salt and herb pepper, but there was something about the meat that made it so soft and juicy.

Aika and I took turns cutting the meat. Look at the delicious goodness! I swear I can it here again just to try this again. I think there’s a Samgyupsalamat branch in Makati, so maybe I’ll try that next time. Anyhoo, if you’re eating here soon, I definitely recommend buljib samgyupsal.

We ordered two more plates after buljib samgyupsal. One was moksal, which was neck bone steak peppered in salt and pepper, and the other was moksal galbi, also a neck bone steak but seasoned with a sweet sauce. These two were pretty great, too. Moksal galbi was probably the tastiest one among the kinds we tried that day.

The ones we didn’t get to try were the spicy kinds such as the kimchi samgyupsal and gochujang sampgyupsal. I actually wanted to try ’em because I love spicy food, but we were too full by then. After all, we ended up eating four plates of meat! That’s quite a lot already, and we our side dishes refilled repeatedly. Our order also came with rice, but we both had only a bowl each. After all, the general rule when eating at buffets or eat-all-you-can restaurants is to not eat too much rice. Am I right or am I right?

Honestly, writing this blog post is extremely difficult for me, because just looking at these photos make me hungry and crave for more Korean food. Good thing I’m gonna eat Korean barbecue again this week. I’m crossing all my fingers that my plan will push through.

The main reason I want to go back to South Korea is to try all the food. Recently, my favorite blog is My Korean Eats, and I’ll just spend all my days in Korea trying out his recommendations. Follow him on Facebook and you’ll find yourself spending all your time scrolling through all the food photos. Like me. Everyday.

But for now, trying all the Korean restaurants in the metro will do for me. So I’m happy I get to cross out another one on my list, and a good one at that, too!

SAMGYUPSALAMAT

Address: 911 Kapitan Tikong Corner Leon Guinto Street, Malate, Manila
Contact No.: 0906 569 2367
Opening Hours: 11 AM – 5AM
Budget: PHP 200 – PHP 500 per person
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Samgyupsalamat/