Son of a Chef

The old house. It’s a nice place to go. Typically I find myself looking for the balance of affordability and high quality. This is that.

We tend to order two cuts of Hanwoo beef when we are here: 살치살 (chuck flap tail) and 꽃등심 (ribeye). Then, we order a second round of whichever is higher quality that day.

When I lived in America, Korean barbecue was a blanket term that was hard for us to divide into categories. Any KBBQ in the US tended to be a treat. The flavors were usually strong and the whole thing was somewhat unfamiliar to us.

Now that I’ve been in Korea for a while, I’ve got my favorites. Furthermore, those favorites tend to divide into choices about maximizing price and quality. There’s a place a town over that’s absolutely top tier. It’s price punches a bit below market value but it’s quality punches above.

At the old house, the meat is good. It’s not 1++ quality but it’s certainly high quality. The price is fair and the service is consistent. Also, very importantly, they drop in a hot coal bucket to cook the meat. This means the meat’s great flavor can be savored.

Beyond the meat, the restaurant delivers well. I love a good steamed egg dish. Done right, it’s a near perfect compliment. It has light salty tones with a good volume that helps to cleanse the palette and set up new bites as you alternate between salts, sauces and ssam wraps.

The tofu jigae is good, too. It washes down well and pairs great with a little bowl of rice. The spice isn’t overwhelming and it’s safe for most modern tongues. The Korean palette has tended towards less spicy food in recent years, so this old house isn’t without new tricks.

Everything is delicious and the price is fair. I’m disappointed in myself that there doesn’t seem to be a photo of the beef ramen in my camera roll. It’s something they do quite well. Some bits of Hanwoo beef compliment a spiced up Shin ramen mixture. Bit of pepper join in too and the resulting flavor is excellent.

Actually, hats off to this old house. For the most part, they navigate the spicy-unspicy reality of 2023 quite well. As somebody who enjoys buldak, this place will rock your socks if you ask for it. The peppers that come with the ssam wraps are not to be trifled with. I eat them… but I also got a seed stuck in my tooth from one a few months back. It made me cry. It was awesome.

This is a place I’ll definitely be returning to again and again.