Visit Seoul and you'll soon realise that the menus of Korean restaurants in Hong Kong feature only a small fraction of what Korean cuisine has to offer. If you're in the market for a wide range of Korean dishes, chances are you won't find it all in one restaurant. Unlike Korean restaurants in Hong Kong, where it's a one-stop shop for your main types of Korean food, in Korea there are many restaurants that specialise in only a few dishes.
Ask any Seoulite who knows anything about the best places to eat, and Bamboo House will be at the top of the list. This is the place to eat top-quality Korean beef. Bamboo House is most famous for its non-marinated beef. We suggest you try the non-marinated deungshim (sirloin) steak, which you can dip in salt or the house special sauce. The steaks are thick, marbled and so flavourful and tender they melt in your mouth.
The service at Bamboo House is impeccable. Each table is assigned its own server, so don't worry about over-cooking your meat. Sit back, relax, enjoy the meal and, at some point, browse the Bamboo House wall of fame that features the many international celebrities, from Mariah Carey to Jackie Chan, and business tycoons who have dined here.
Even for meat restaurant aficionados, the place to go to for the thinly sliced marinated beef known as bulgogi is Sariwon, the legendary restaurant that has been around for more than 30 years. Sariwon started as a labour of love - a wife experimenting with an alternative bulgogi recipe based on fruit juices and other natural sugars to cook for her diabetic husband. When you go to Sariwon, try its deungshim bulgogi, which is bulgogi from top sirloin beef.
For excellent kalbi (barbequed short ribs), go to Samwon Garden, which is owned by the parents of famous professional golfer Grace Park. The restaurant is nestled in a green garden with its own waterfall, which can seem a bit touristy but is better than peering out onto the busy street.
Be warned: the service here is efficient. If you can eat at the pace in which they serve you, you will easily complete your meal in less than an hour. After several courses of barbequed kalbi wrapped with lettuce and Korean bean paste, finish your meal with a refreshing bowl of naeng myun, cold buckwheat noodles in soup, a classic North Korean dish that is loved in South Korea. Sam Won Garden serves some of the best naeng myun in Seoul.