진복국보리굴비 — Restaurant in Seongnam-si

Right outside of the Lotte Department store in Bundang, we went here on a recommendation - a very pleasant surprise.

I forgot to take a picture of the bokguk (bok soup, which is puffer fish soup), but the broth had great, clean flavor, one of the better tasting bok broth I can remember. The meat on the fish was tender and flavorful as well. Not a bad choice for KRW13,000, but the portion was relatively small.

We also had the bori gulbi, which is croaker semi-dried in barley and grilled. I wouldn’t say it was one of the best I’ve had, but it was good for KRW19,000. This is one of my favorite dishes, and it’s perfect companion to a bowl of rice.

The best part of the experience, however, were the side dishes. In particular, the ggaokdoogi (radish cubes fermented in red pepper dressing, a Korean tradition) was OUT OF THIS WORLD. We must of have like 5 refills, which was given to us without hesitation by the server.

We also shared the seafood scallion pancake, haemoolpahjeon, another Korean favorite. It was of a decent size, generous amount of ingredients, and well seasoned.

The restaurant staff were very friendly, and the premise and table were very clean. The only incident was when the server dropped a small plate of soy sauce seasoning, which splattered on some of us. It was an honest mistake, and we didn’t make a big deal out of it (we could have asked for a dry cleaning bill) because, most of the time, the server will get in trouble and his/her pay will get deducted, which would have been terrible given their wages.

The only gripe I had with this place was the old man behind the counter, whom I believe was the owner. We had already paid and was walking out, but then he chased us down outside saying that he forgot to charge us for an extra bowl of rice we had ordered, a KRW1,000 charge. He was very rude about it and made it sound like we left without paying on purpose - that wasn’t the case. I told him it was rude and given we didn’t complain about the spilled soy sauce, he should relax. The dry cleaning bill would have been well over KRW20,000, but we paid for the KRW1,000 bowl of rice anyway.

I’m giving 4-Stars for the food and staff. If I could, I’d give a minus 5-Stars...

수내역 진복국 보리굴비 다녀왔습니다. 사람이 정말 많더군요. 복국, 복불고기, 보리굴비가 메인메뉴인듯 한데 복국과 복불고기 주문해서 먹어봤습니다. (보리굴비는... 전라도에 있을때 먹어본 맛이 너무 강렬해서 그외 지역에서는 단 한번도 맛에 만족해 본 적이 없습니다. 그래서 서울, 경기도에서는 안먹습니다. 같은 이유로 과메기도 서울, 경기도에서는 안먹죠^^)

그냥저냥 맛이... 없진 않습니다. 다만, 전반적으로 복 양이 부족하게 느껴집니다. 국이나 불고기 모두. 복어 크기가 작은걸까요? 암튼 평소 잘가던 곳에 비해 확실히 양이 적습니다. 그리고 복국에 도대체 우동면은 왜 넣는거죠? 🤔 우동면보다 미나리 양을...

특진복국 보리굴비 주문. 가게 내부 깨끗하고 직원들도 깔끔하고 친절합니다.

맛은 무난한편인데 간은 좀 있는 편이라 복국에 딸려나온 간장양념(?)을 안 해도 먹을만 하고 보리굴비도 다른 반찬을 같이 먹지 않아도 적당합니다. 밑반찬들중에선 깍두기가 맛있습니다.

단지 특인데 특같지 않게 양이 많지 않습니다. 화장실은 내부에 있지 않고 가게 밖에 있는데 가게...