Ssyal - Chicago Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

I have been craving beef ribs and unable to find them for twelve years and Ssyal's Gal-bi Tang completely satisfied my craving while also being the best soup I have ever had in my entire life. You have dethroned my mom's chicken soup and my bff's lamb stew. The broth is rich and gentle with just enough aromatics, and a couple of spoons of it is perfection with the last grains of rice out of the container. If you like pho, you'll like this, altho this is a completely different experience from pho. The little egg ribbon noodles were a fun and tasty addition!

The kimchi is obviously homemade with layers of complex flavor and textures from sweet pungent and cabbagey to spicy to umami, soft to crisp-tender to crunchy. I would kiss someone after eating this kimchi assuming they had also eaten the kimchi.

And they sent banchan which was equally delicious. Garlicky cucumber pickles and garlicky steamed chilled broccoli and some kind of sweet sea vegetable. The banchan stand out was the spicy pickled (radish? turnip?), Which has pungent mustard-like spice and mild chili spice as well as a delicate sweetness and great crunch. There was plenty of sauce left from the radish-or-turnips so I dipped my meat in it and that was sensational.

The meat had a great balance of fat to lean and a great chew. A note to my fellow WhitePeople™: the ribs were delightfully chewy, not fall off the bone tender. Chewy is a common, desirable, and intentional texture found in many East Asian cuisines. Embrace the chew. The meat remained juicy throughout the meal and really absorbed the green onion and ginger flavors in the broth, in addition to tasting very beefy without being gamey.

The potato(?)diakon(?)/starchy vegetable planks surprised me but they were flavor sponges for the delicious broth and they also held their shape and bite without becoming soggy. the Don't forget the noodles at the end!

An aside; I am extremely picky about onions and both the scallions and white onions in the soup were delicious, tender, and had all the aspects of cooked onions that I love and none of the aspects of undercooked onions I dislike

I also enjoyed the extra long chopsticks that you don't have to break yourself as well as the soup packaging which was very secure.

I would share pictures it I ate all the food before I thought to take them and the only thing that remains is half a container of kimchi and a thing of rice for kimchi fried rice breakfast tomorrow.

Delivery via GrubHub was faster than GrubHub's estimate. Food arrived intact and steaming hot but not mouth-blisteringly hot.

Seriously guys tell whoever's mom/grandmother/auntie/etc who is responsible for these recipes that she is a treasure and that I am honored to have eaten her soup.

Overall A+ will visit the dining room with friends in the future AND order...

Overall this is a really nice traditional Korean restaurant in Chicago. One of the more authentic, family-run places. The interior’s also pretty nice. We came on a Tuesday night and got the Haemul Pajeon (seafood pancake), Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), and Yukgaejang (spicy beef soup).

Haemul Pajeon: Hands down the best item. The pancake itself is huge when you first see it but it’s a lot thinner - and crispier - than other ones I’ve had before. This dish was really well-seasoned and we gobbled it up before we even got our other dishes.

Samgyetang: This was my first time having samgyetang so I’m not sure how it compares to other places. It came with a side of salt and green onions that you can add yourself and some purple rice. The chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice and a jujube and there’s a big piece of ginseng in the soup. I thought it tasted kind of bland initially but as I ate more, I started to really like it. The broth has a deep and rich chicken taste, perfect for a cold Chicago evening.

Yukgaejang: A bit too spicy for me but perfect for the BF. Beef was nice and tender and the soup also comes with glass noodles and veggies. Comes with a side of rice.

Banchan (side dishes) was a bit disappointing. There were around 6 pickled vegetable dishes but I thought they all had similar taste. Was hoping for more variation like gamjajorim or something. We were pretty stuffed after the meal and had enough leftover to pack for our lunch the next day. Total came out to just under $60 after tax and tips.

Service was good. They were a bit slow to take our order but during the meal the lady came several times asking us if we wanted refills on the banchan and tea. The tea is also...

Price - Expensive. 3/5

Japchae - Sweet. Nice portion. Could've sworn it was supposed to come with meat. Good dish, but not knock your socks off good. 4/5

Chicken Galbi - Spicy, but not overwhelming. Moist. Tons of chicken. Shareable. Somewhat sweet towards the end. 4/5

Cucumbers - Amazing 5/5

Slaw - Meh. Pretty bland 2/5

Ssyal is an authentic Korean restaurant that is welcome in the Chicagoland Area. It is highly rated, but I wasn't that impressed. The restaurant itself is small albeit not cramped like in yuppie areas. When I was there it was lifeless (a symptom of this relatively new COVID era) with me being the only person there aside from what I later discovered to be an employee eating at the table next to me. I believe they even asked for my vaccination card in-order for me to dine in. The presentation of the food is ok & for the most part the dishes are good except for the slaw. The bathroom is nice although there is an odd bench in there for some reason (is someone else supposed to wait there watching you while you do your business or what? Plus it's made out of pleather so no doubt it's soaked in whatever fluids have come out of people's bodies.) The apparent michelin recommendation comes with a price as some menu items will set you back.

It's worth nothing that if your order liquor, they will give you the entire bottle or at least that's what they did for me. This makes sense because the prices are pretty much the same if not a little less than the retail bottle. At least now I have a bottle of Soju in my cellar.

3.5...