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My favorite Korean BBQ restaurant is Buga. I crave it quite a bit and can eat there all the time. No joke. I've even been known to choose it above my favorite "special occasions" restaurant (The Oceanaire). A few things have changed since Kirk's (mmm-yoso!!!) first review back in 2005 (here) and my first visit to Buga. (Read Kirk's other posts here and here.)
The panchan, although still the best around, has become somewhat "standardized" and less seafood ones (haven't been served any seafood panchan in a long time). I sure do miss those tiny anchovies.
The top 2 dishes are the rice paper and daikon radishes used for wrapping the meat, yum! And a couple of other panchan dishes on that day.
Buga's price has always been a bit higher than other K-BBQ places but the meat quality, IMHO, is also still the best around. We always get 2 orders of galbi (need 2 orders or more of meat selection for grilling with maybe a couple of exceptions).
Service has not changed, still smiling faces, friendly servers, and sometimes still hurried when the restaurant is full.
One of the items that comes with the meal is Gyeran Jjim (steamed egg). I forgot to take a picture of it while it was still "poofy" but here it is after it deflated (kind of souffle-like). Sorry the picture was a bit blurry. The Blackberry isn't known for its photo quality. I love this stuff. My mom and grandmother used to make this for me for breakfast on weekends when I was a kid. I used to like to add just a tad of soy sauce on top but I like to eat Buga's as is. Even the Mister has gotten into it lately.
Every so often when we're really really hungry, we also order the Daeji Bulgogi (Spicy Marinated Pork) along with the galbi. I usually take some of this home, which makes for a great leftover! Next time we order it, I'll add a picture.
Although a little pricier than other Korean BBQ places, I still think Buga is the best Korean BBQ place in town. Certainly worth splurging for.
Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117
Open daily 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
4 comments:
nice! i love the rice and radish wraps. you can never have enough of these...meat looks good. maybe they're not serving any seafood banchan bc of the economy? this place seems like it's pretty popular though.
Hey Sawyer! Your review of Bohn Ga reminds me a bit of Buga. We just realized on this visit we could order lettuce for the meat, doh! We might try that next time.
It could very well be they are cutting back a bit to cut cost. The meat has always been good when we've been there. I just love the galbi!
Thought about you yesterday while I was whipping up a new batch of brownies, hehe.
I don't think you need 2 orders of the same meat for grilling... just 2 or more orders of meat. We often just get bulgogi and rib eye, or bulgogi and chicken. I think the only meat you need 2 orders of is the old fashioned (or something) bulgogi, which is different from the standard bulgogi.
Hey Leanne! Thanks for the info! I'll have to ask our favorite waitress the next time and get to the bottom of this. We were told something different on 2 occassions when we tried to add single orders of other meats (in addition to the 2x galbi).
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