Having some Congbul this time

I obviously haven’t had my fill of Korean the past few months. And as hubby and I promised ourselves that we would check out Congbul, we went to Shabu and Congbul again—this time with the girls. We ordered Pork and Squid Congbul, while the girls had Seafood noodle soup. I gather from my research that Cong is for kong-na-mul, which is Korean for soy bean sprout and Bul is for bul-go-gi, which refers to their traditional marinated meat dish.

The dish came with kimchi, salad, pickled chili, seaweed soup, rice, and steamed egg. The steamed egg was light and had an interesting creamy, airy texture—a bit like custard but not quite. The girls, who love seaweed, staked their claim on our seaweed soup.

Our server then came out with a rectangular pan which was placed on our table grill. It was piled with bean sprouts, thinly sliced rolled pork, squid, rice cake, sliced greens and a big dollop of sweet, spicy sauce. Wooden servers were given to mix the ingredients altogether. We made sure we gave the dish a good mix to get the sauce well into everything. The girls enjoyed seeing the food cooked on our table. (My tip, though, is to wear dark clothing as they do not provide bibs or aprons for the possible splattering of the sauce. I made the mistake of wearing a white shirt to this lunch!) Anyway, we let the sprouts and meat cook for about 5-10 minutes while we enjoyed the side dishes. Then, we lowered the fire and scooped some of the delightful Congbul onto our bowls.

It was sweet, spicy and delicious! The bean sprouts had a bit of crunch and the rice cake, pork and squid provided chewiness for good balance. The dish was cooked just right, compliments to the chefs! Haha! DD#1, who is developing a taste for spicy food, enjoyed the rice cakes covered with the spicy sauce. DD#2, meanwhile, just happily ate her Seafood noodle soup. Our order of Congbul cost under $20 and was sufficient for two. When we go back to Shabu and Congbul, we will definitely have this again. Suffice it to say, Korean cuisine will now be a staple in our family.