Mr. Kimbob --- a good alternative to authentic Korean food!

At last, maybe, just maybe, I can take a Mr. Kimbob hiatus? Haha.

I and Melbina have finally finished trying all 14 dishes of Mr. Kimbob, and as promised, I am going to post about it here, even if I have already posted twice about this in my other blog! 

If you are a Korean food lover, who, once in a while crave for kimchi & kimbab like me, or for the famed bulgogi, or just for the yummy spiciness Korean food can grant your taste buds, Mr. Kimbob is just right for you!  

Situated in SM Makati FoodCourt, it is quite accessible especially if you work just around the area.  The affordability and hefty servings of each dish can really surprise you on your first time.  

See? Plenty of rice and chicken curry!

Considering that some of their target market may not be that fond of spicy food, their dishes don’t have that overwhelming spiciness that some authentic Korean resto food have.  So, even more non-Koreans flock there curiously to experience an inexpensive version of Korean food minus the overwhelming spiciness. It’s fine with me that they only cater 14 kinds of Korean dishes because when craving time comes, what they offer is enough to gratify my starved self.  

On one visit, we saw a Korean family pig out, and they seemed to be really enjoying and kept going back to the counter for more! That only proves that this Korean fast food is approved and patronized by Koreans themselves. 

Here are some of the testimonials on their message board:

 
I'm sure a Korean kid wrote this!

 

Don’t expect that the cool ate’s at the counter will give you the refillable side dishes or appetizers that authentic Korean restaurants serve before the main course.  They have this instead.

kimchi, steamed cabbage, bean sprouts

This only comes with Dakgogi & Bulgogi Bibimbab

They don’t serve bottomless hot/cold tea and they don’t grill/fry in the middle of your table either.  They are a fast food, and yes they serve your food ready and fast!!

Very friendly crew!! :)

OK, let me stop blabbing and show more snapshots!!
The 14 dishes:

Bibimpap is rice topped with sautéd vegetables, sunny side-up egg & pepper paste and is mixed before eating.  They serve two kinds.

Dakgogi Bibimbab

 
– the tasty and very tender chicken meat made me consider this my favorite

Bulgogi Bibimbab

 

- this yummy beef mixed with rice and veggies can make you crave for it more

Tteog bogki

 
– cylinder-shaped chewy rice cakes with sweet and spicy sauce

Mind you, their sauce is really tasteful!!!  This is a snack food usually bought from street food vendors in Korea.  I love their version of this because the other rice cakes I have tried were a bit firm to chew, but this was tender and chewy! The sauce is so yummy, no fish cakes though.

Kimchi Bokumbab

 

- this kimchi fried rice is sweet and spicy, sweeter than I want it to be

I want my kimchi rice with a really strong kimchi taste!  So, this is just so-so for me.

 Japchae

 

- not too oily noodles, fewer ingredients though! 

These noodles are stir-fried with sesame oil with various veggies and garnished with sesame seeds.

Kimbab

-  rice rolls wrapped in seaweed laver, the first favorite Korean food of my life!

Pork Dubbab

 

- served with bean sprouts as side dish, this is like our pork adobo

Galbi

 

- short braised short ribs that comes with the vegetable and kimchi appetizer

Shabu Shabu

- not like th usual Japanese shabu shabu, this one is a sweet and spicy soup with thin cellophane noodles, some veggies, egg and sliced pork meat and doesn't come with rice

This has to be stirred thoroughly to allocate the spiciness, otherwise, it will be too spicy when you're almost done eating this as the spice settles at the bottom of the pot.

Bulgogi Dubbab

- pan-fried marinated beef mixed with veggies and rice

Katsudon

- their version of Katsudon, a thick slab of deep-fried pork topped with veggies

so sulit!!

Ramen

 
- the usual spicy noodles, with egg and few veggies..

Anyone can buy Korean noodles like Shin Ramen, Jjampong & Kimchi Ramen at supermarkets, so you can experience this pleasure at home too, for a less expensive pleasure!

Curry Rice

- chicken, carrots, potatoes in curry

I was really surprised of this heftier serving!  This is not too spicy, but their curry has a distinct taste that is not present in the curry dishes I have tasted in our country.

And the last, and for me the less appealing is:

Donkatsu

- the taste is fine, but hey where are the veggies?!! :(

And the price tag:

 

 

very affordable!!!!!
 

delicious? YES!

i love Korean food coz it is healthy, a lot of vegetables plus less grease!

the husband relaxing after the meal! so simot hehe.

Yes to hiatus?  NO. haha!

If you want your food spicier, you can ask them for additional pepper paste! :) 

They do sell kimchi too! 

I just wish they have my all-time favorite kimchi soup with lotsa tofu. :(

Mr Kimbob has branched out in SM Megamall Food  Court  and the last time I saw it, they have more dishes to choose from.

This was posted in my previous food blog on January 31, 2011.  

Since I am consolidating all entries here, I am exporting the posts one by one. 

WHAT'S COOKIN': Kimchi Fried Rice & JapChae for the Birthday!

I’ve been into cooking recently.  My husband is good at cooking (he even used to bake!!) and he has influenced me to enjoy the wonders of the kitchen.  It’s such an achievement every time a recipe is cooked successfully, especially if it’s a new one you are trying. Aside from the fact that I need to learn how to cook because I already am a wife, I am cooking because it’s fun to learn, it feels great when people appreciate and praise what you have cooked, and just the fact that you know how is such an ego booster!!  We love food thus we experiment in cooking and we like exploring places with good food too (hello Milky & Sunny, you're next!!).

I love Korean food and my husband has also been influenced! He didn’t use to like kimchi but has learned to like it in time.  He has also become accustomed to eating Korean food and his tolerance to spicy food has increased. ;)

A friend has mentioned in Facebook once that her daughter cooks a mean kimchi fried rice, and so I was reminded about the existence of this food, then I wondered why it never occurred to me to cook kimchi fried rice after all these years!!  Unbelievable.  So I noted.

Remembering my mental notes, I and Melbina headed to Haneul Mart the day before his birthday to buy kimchi and other ingredients for the food I’d be cooking the next day.  I cooked bokeum pap (kimchi fried rice) and japchae (stir-fried noodles with veggies).  These are just two of our favorite Korean food.

 kimchi fried rice

 stir-fried noodles with veggies

 

Both dishes were successful!!  I loved the kimchi rice, it was the best one I have cooked... the japchae was good too although I wished I had put more veggies.  It was my first time cooking japchae, so lesson learned. 

I will be writing about how to cook kimchi rice and japchae in my next post!

Cheers for our New Journal!!

I had been ignoring my previous blogs for quite a while. When I checked them again, all the photos were gone.  I forgot that those photos were linked to Picasa and weeks ago I was trying to organize my Picasa albums and deleted them.  Hassle.  Thus, I decided to just scrap them and create a new blog instead where I can combine topics about our passion for travel, cooking, food, etc. and the random stuff that gives us little joys everyday.  This time I want to create shorter but well-thought posts that will chronicle what I want documented about our lives.  

 I’m biting the bullet.  Goodluck. :) Yehey we're up!!