Paid a visit to Daorae with sis-thur.
Daorae is a Korean BBQ restaurant, located in Sri Hartamas. I don't really know whether Koreans are known for their hospitality, but the staff at Daorae were one hospitable bunch.
Daorae occupies the first and second floor of a shoplot (groundfloor is a Korean grocery) and when we first ascended the staircase, the troupe of waiters and the owner himself started greeting us in Korean.
The main dining area, and i regret not taking a picture, is pretty interesting. Wooden floors, wooden panels, hollowed out spaces in the floor. In a sense, you eat sitting on the floor, with your legs inside the hollowed out area.
Taken during my last visit there, my purple socks. Ha!
Once you have placed your order, the waiters will bring a whole bunch of lettuce and two types of sauce to the table. Lettuce was grotesque, not because they were not fresh, but i don't like ruffley lettuce. They tend to carry a bitter taste. Apparently we were supposed to wrap up the BBQ meats with the lettuce but... urgh.
This one is pretty good. Tastes a bit like sambal mixed with fermented bean paste. Spicy. The other sauce is just a simple sesame honey.
I like the type of tea they serve. It has a hint of smoky rice to it, which is refreshing. Unlimited refills. I sat right next to the cabinet where they kept the tea in jugs and nearly knocked it over.
Sour and spicy soup. *wince*. There were chopped chili pieces inside the soup man! And i had them mistaken as soggy spring onions... The sourness and spiciness served their purpose though, which was to appetize. Super sour spicy soup.
Ha! reminds me of the time where me and sis were imitating Chef Wan with a lisp. Thuper thour thpithy thoup. Nyahahaha! Damn fun! Take that, Thef Wan!
Sis and Thur looking incredibly blur! That's what i like about candid shots. :D I think you can see how the "hollowed space in the floor" looks like. Couldn't find any other words to describe it. XD
After the soup, the waiters placed an assortment of side dishes before us.
10 petri dishes of side dishes. From left to right:
First row: Some sorta pickled garlicky thingy (pungent!), spinach
Second row: Sliced mushrooms, sliced and pickled capsicum
Third row: Kimchi-ish pickled cucumber, mini omelettes, jellyfish
Fourth row: Kimchi, beansprouts, freaky magenta salad
Pickled garlicky thingy was just grotesque. I chucked a cube of it into my mouth and instantly regretted. The spinach was pretty soft and delicious.
Second row was good, mushrooms were juicy and capsicums slightly crisp. Kimchi pickled cucumber actually tasted fine, salty but not too spicy. Mini omelettes were fantastic, but jellyfish not quite so as they were too hard and chewy.
I didn't touch the kimchi on the fourth row. Beansprouts were ok. The freaky salad was a freaky shade of magenta. Geez. I was expecting some alien taste but it was exactly like coleslaw. What a relief huh.
The winner side dish? Mini omelettes. Oh yeah baby. Very well seasoned. I kept snapping up these little babies. You see. The thing about Daorae and (i suppose) other Korean BBQs, the appetizers and soup are complimentary. Once you gobble up an appetizer dish, it will be quickly replenished! So! The mini omelettes kept coming, for at least 3 refills, and after that they must have ran out. Either that, or 3 is the limit.
An exhaust pipe is installed from the ceiling above each table to draw out the emitted smoke. When the BBQ grill is in use, the exhaust pipe is drawn down from the ceiling with the nozzle pointed at the grill. ;)
Garlic!
The presence of the garlic remains a mystery to me. Why is the garlic there!!? Is it supposed to infuse the beef with a divine garlicky aroma? If so, why is it isolated instead of being grilled together with the beef? Anyhow i doubt that's the reason as i did not detect the merest taste of garlic.
I suppose it's optional and people who want a garlicky beef should chuck the garlic in themselves? But i received no prompts to include the garlic as it was whisked away once the beef was completely grilled. @_@ Confusing. I must ask the waiters next time.
Sigh. Beef. Marvellous beef. :D Remarkably juicy and tender, but lacked flavour so it had to be dipped into one of the two condiments.
The pork was also delicious, slightly crispy and had a bit of sweetish taste to it. Went very well with the honey sesame sauce.
Rice came in a cool iron bowl. 福
Kimchi fried rice. This one was pretty good, but mum can make better. ;)
Complimentary Korean pancake. Reminds me of the Taiwanese 葱油饼 mum used to make. Tastes quite Ok. After that, they served us three slices of watermelon.
The total damage came up to be slightly more than 100 bucks for 3, which is reasonable given their attentive service and amount of complimentary dishes. Definitely worth revisiting.
Daorae is a Korean BBQ restaurant, located in Sri Hartamas. I don't really know whether Koreans are known for their hospitality, but the staff at Daorae were one hospitable bunch.Daorae occupies the first and second floor of a shoplot (groundfloor is a Korean grocery) and when we first ascended the staircase, the troupe of waiters and the owner himself started greeting us in Korean.
The main dining area, and i regret not taking a picture, is pretty interesting. Wooden floors, wooden panels, hollowed out spaces in the floor. In a sense, you eat sitting on the floor, with your legs inside the hollowed out area.
Taken during my last visit there, my purple socks. Ha!
Once you have placed your order, the waiters will bring a whole bunch of lettuce and two types of sauce to the table. Lettuce was grotesque, not because they were not fresh, but i don't like ruffley lettuce. They tend to carry a bitter taste. Apparently we were supposed to wrap up the BBQ meats with the lettuce but... urgh.
This one is pretty good. Tastes a bit like sambal mixed with fermented bean paste. Spicy. The other sauce is just a simple sesame honey.
I like the type of tea they serve. It has a hint of smoky rice to it, which is refreshing. Unlimited refills. I sat right next to the cabinet where they kept the tea in jugs and nearly knocked it over.
Sour and spicy soup. *wince*. There were chopped chili pieces inside the soup man! And i had them mistaken as soggy spring onions... The sourness and spiciness served their purpose though, which was to appetize. Super sour spicy soup.Ha! reminds me of the time where me and sis were imitating Chef Wan with a lisp. Thuper thour thpithy thoup. Nyahahaha! Damn fun! Take that, Thef Wan!
Sis and Thur looking incredibly blur! That's what i like about candid shots. :D I think you can see how the "hollowed space in the floor" looks like. Couldn't find any other words to describe it. XDAfter the soup, the waiters placed an assortment of side dishes before us.
10 petri dishes of side dishes. From left to right:First row: Some sorta pickled garlicky thingy (pungent!), spinach
Second row: Sliced mushrooms, sliced and pickled capsicum
Third row: Kimchi-ish pickled cucumber, mini omelettes, jellyfish
Fourth row: Kimchi, beansprouts, freaky magenta salad
Pickled garlicky thingy was just grotesque. I chucked a cube of it into my mouth and instantly regretted. The spinach was pretty soft and delicious.
Second row was good, mushrooms were juicy and capsicums slightly crisp. Kimchi pickled cucumber actually tasted fine, salty but not too spicy. Mini omelettes were fantastic, but jellyfish not quite so as they were too hard and chewy.
I didn't touch the kimchi on the fourth row. Beansprouts were ok. The freaky salad was a freaky shade of magenta. Geez. I was expecting some alien taste but it was exactly like coleslaw. What a relief huh.
The winner side dish? Mini omelettes. Oh yeah baby. Very well seasoned. I kept snapping up these little babies. You see. The thing about Daorae and (i suppose) other Korean BBQs, the appetizers and soup are complimentary. Once you gobble up an appetizer dish, it will be quickly replenished! So! The mini omelettes kept coming, for at least 3 refills, and after that they must have ran out. Either that, or 3 is the limit.
An exhaust pipe is installed from the ceiling above each table to draw out the emitted smoke. When the BBQ grill is in use, the exhaust pipe is drawn down from the ceiling with the nozzle pointed at the grill. ;)
Garlic!
The presence of the garlic remains a mystery to me. Why is the garlic there!!? Is it supposed to infuse the beef with a divine garlicky aroma? If so, why is it isolated instead of being grilled together with the beef? Anyhow i doubt that's the reason as i did not detect the merest taste of garlic.I suppose it's optional and people who want a garlicky beef should chuck the garlic in themselves? But i received no prompts to include the garlic as it was whisked away once the beef was completely grilled. @_@ Confusing. I must ask the waiters next time.
Sigh. Beef. Marvellous beef. :D Remarkably juicy and tender, but lacked flavour so it had to be dipped into one of the two condiments.
The pork was also delicious, slightly crispy and had a bit of sweetish taste to it. Went very well with the honey sesame sauce.
Rice came in a cool iron bowl. 福
Kimchi fried rice. This one was pretty good, but mum can make better. ;)
Complimentary Korean pancake. Reminds me of the Taiwanese 葱油饼 mum used to make. Tastes quite Ok. After that, they served us three slices of watermelon.The total damage came up to be slightly more than 100 bucks for 3, which is reasonable given their attentive service and amount of complimentary dishes. Definitely worth revisiting.
