Which city in the world that has the highest Korean population beside the Korea itseld? the answer is, Los Angeles. It is no big surprise that Korean food are wildly known in the US, especially in Los Angeles, and especially the Korean bbq. I know Korean bbq is great, it is fun and delicious. But when my friends and cousins told me that one of the MUST eat restaurant in the City of is Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, a Korean bbq restaurant, I was feeling unsure. I mean, I travelled across the globe to eat Korean bbq? What the hell?!. But since I don’t want to sound like skeptical, I followed their recommendation, having no expectation what so ever, it’s just a Korean bbq.
Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong in Koreatown, Los Angeles was created by 678 USA, a Korea restaurant company in the states.The name Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong itself came from their partner, Kang Ho-dong, a famous Korean Comedian and wrestler. According to the website, the name “Baekjeong” comes from the Korean word for ‘butcher,’ to mean that we only serve premium cuts and offer a dining experience that emphasizes the most essential and unique qualities of Korean barbeque.
I came here 2 times during my visit. On my first visit, it was around 10pm when we got there, we put down our name and the waitress telling us to wait for our turn. Luckily for us the wait wasn’t so bad, around 3 tables ahead us, but apparently it was consider a short one for Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong. I love how lively, bright and loud the place is. Just like a Korean Bbq supposed to be, fun and a lot of energy. I remembered I sang on my seat (in my defense, they were playing the 90s hits).
We ordered their Lunch Box, which is really good and fun. The waitress will shake up the lunch box before serving it. They got sausages, kimchi, rice, and some red bean paste sauce, it’s very addicting for me who love Korean food a bit too much. For the meat, we ordered some pork neck and the samgyeopsal, pork belly, which is a mandatory for a real Korean Bbq meal. I didn’t manage to get a proper picture of any pork meat that night, but what I am sure remember is that, it is grilled perfectly that all those fats are slightly burnt to crisp.
For the beef, we ordered the marinated short ribs, thinly sliced beef brisket, and the boneless short ribs. My favorite is their thinly sliced beef brisket, as it was easy and somehow light, which goes perfectly well with their special sauce that taste somehow like Japanese ponzu sauce but spicier due to the sliced green chili and raw onion. Overall, all of their meats quality is great, the service is super quick, the banchan or side dishes are is pretty good.
My 2nd visit to Kang Ho Dong Baekjong is quite one crazy plan actually. We arrive here at 00:15am after an amazing dinner at Bazaar by Jose Andrez (review here) which followed by another amazing dessert at Afters in Pasadena (review here). I know what you guys must have been thinking right now, this girl really do live up to the name of her blog. So, anyway I was about to go back to Indonesia in 2 days, it was about to go big or go home.
Our dinner that night was amazing as well, I now believe that this place really do have some consistent high quality food and service. We don’t ordered any pork meat this time tho, but we did managed to finish up 2 portion of the thinly sliced beef brisket, 2 portion of marinated short rib, 1 boneless short rib, and a lunch box to share. It is another great Korean Bbq night, with great food and a nice cold soju bomb (soju and beer together are match made in heaven).
GIRL WITH DRAGON BELLY 