You can buy for any one of those locations. 50% off $30 value! Nice deal!

Click here to purchase the coupon!

If you are not familiar with this restaurant please visit my Honey Pig BBQ Restaurant Review!

Enjoy!

My options I could think fast in Columbia, MD for a quick meal was Chipotle, Cosi, Pei Wei, Noodles & Company...etc.

I was near Pei Wei so I checked out their website since I've only been there once years ago.

So, Pei Wei was created by PF Chang people and seem to have Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese...
And to my surprise they had 'Limited Time Only' (is that for real...?) Korean BBQ. Hmm...'Korean"??
I gotta go check that out and review that dish. LOL.

I know people just name our Korean BBQ to whatever sauce they invent. Just hoped that this one is not another new creation afar from the original Korean BBQ.
I saw from the menu that Korean BBQ can be order in Chicken, shrimp, beef or vegetable...and...really???
Never knew that! ha ha but that's an idea!
I had to compare the sauce and see if they could call it "Korean" so I ordered beef, which was priced around $8-9. As soon as I got it, the smell itself...was...oh no...Chinese Takeout...sigh...

So as a Korean, I categorize this as American Chinese Take Out...
Don't get me wrong. It's good and very very sweet. It tasted like Hunan Beef to me. One credit for using scallions and carrots. LOL. But it's all about the sauce...and it's Asian but sorry, it's not Korean.

They seemed to use sauces that's not Korean. I think they used oyster sauce which is NOT Korean...

I didn't know but I guess this salad was supposed to be topped on the rice?

Korean BBQ sauce is soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic, just to be clear!!!

I think I also tasted some ginger...but we don't usually use it for beef. We use garlic, garlic, and some more garlic ha ha...some use ginger for pork to get rid of the smell but my mom uses wine if we have to, since ginger could overcome other flavors if used recklessly!

If you have to use ginger use as little as possible and should do the trick, not enough to taste it against other flavors.

My mom always says, flavors have to have a perfect balance to get together and create wonderful taste, not go against each other. And  that balance creates whether the food tastes good or not, not what ingredients you use.

Back at Pei Wei, while I was waiting for my order, another customer also ordered Korean BBQ ...they weren't Koreans nor Asians and they will think that what they just ate KOREAN BBQ!!!!!! Can you feel my frustration yet?

Another taste buds being manipulated that there's not much difference in Asian cuisine...Chinese..Japanese...Korean..etc all the same. Sigh...

I can't say I can tell the difference of other Asian foods like a pro, but at least I can tell you what's Korean and not. And this wasn't Korean.

Hopefully, one by one, people get to distinguish and appreciate different flavors of Asian country cuisines. That's why I started the blog after all.

And I'm sure I would like other dishes here as long as it doesn't say "Korean." And it satisfied my hunger so all is well for now.

ebay items related in Asian Cuisine

PF Changs $20 Gift Card - Free Shipping! US $19.00

2x PF CHANGS - Free Appetizer Coupon - $18 Value With Free Shipping! US $6.50

P.F. Changs Celebrate The Year of the Dragon Discount Game (in Sealed Envelope) US $1.99

Pei Wei Asian Diner is located in:
Dobbin Center
6478 Dobbin Center Way Suite A
Columbia, MD  21045
(410) 423-2550

I haven't had Samgyupsal for the longest time... so
we headed to Honey Pig. Samgyupsal(direct translation meaning Three layered meat) is like bacon but fresh not smoked. Oooooo~

We ordered 2 servings of Samgyupsal and each of us ordered cold noodle soup, Nangmyun. I ordered Mul Nangmyun and June ordered spicy Bibim Nangmyun.

Love these sides that comes with Samgyupsal! If you eat onions, kimchi, sprouts with the bbq...Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Oh and don't forget to eat it with your salad and dipping sauces.

They also gave us green onion Kimchi called PaKimchi as well for bbq. (I love that Kimchi so we asked little more on the side to eat). And love their steamed eggs and DoenJangJjigae (bean paste stew) too.

My Mulnangmyun was good too. I ate it with BBQ. Some eat afterwards but I just enjoyed it together. Put some vinegar and mustard and very nice and cold.

June's spicy Bibim Nangmyun. It's actually sweet and spicy. June couldn't wait for me and just started to mix the sauce.

I had to stop her for a minute and take the picture. Guess  June was as excited as I was about our Christmas Lunch..Yes it was lunch;;;;. We were starving so we became real quiet after taking these pictures and started to dig in.

We were very full (we finished it all....!)but we couldn't skip the free Korean style sweet coffee on our way out. They have a machine near the door. Just push the button and small coffee cup will come out....wait little bit till coffee's done and Enjoy~

I usually drink black coffee for the caffeine boost but after eating spicy Korean food, sweet coffee is the best way to wrap up the meal. And did I mention it's FREE? ... Mmmm good~

I also have a picture of other Entree called Bulnak Chulpan-Stir Fry BBQ of Bulgogi + Octopus in Spicy sauce.

I didn't eat it the same day...FYI..this one I ate with a friend. Thanks for the food, San!

On the menu, all the Chulpan menus (not the BBQ but one grill flipped the other way like the picture), when you are almost done with your food ( you gotta leave some to fry with rice), ask your server to stir fry rice with it. Then they'll bring a bowl of rice with lots of veggies and sauce and fry with your leftover entree. That's my favorite part of this menu.

I love eating Chulpan menu for that extra stir fried rice...(I forgot to take a pic of this...will add later when I get to go again).

Anyhow back to Christmas....And that's where I spent my Christmas Lunch...afterwards...I had major food coma for hours...I found Honey Pig 10% off coupon. The link shows lunch specials too...it expires this week so Enjoy!

Honey Pig Korean B-B-Q
10045 Baltimore National Pike
Rt. 40 West behind Double T Diner
Ellicott City, MD 21042
Ph: 410-696-2426

Korean BBQ Grills on ebay:

Aluminum Thai Lao Korean-Style Barbecue BBQ Grill Topper 35cm 14" US $56.01

Stove Top Non Stick Indoor Korean BBQ Barbeque Grill US $14.95

Aluminum Thai Lao Korean-Style Barbecue BBQ Grill Topper 12" US $38.77

Stove Top Non Stick Indoor Korean BBQ Barbeque Grill US $24.95

Korean Japanese Style BBQ Grill Steak Hot Pan + Stove Set US $69.99

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STOVE TOP INDOOR KOREAN BBQ GRILL, NON-STICK ,GRILL EVERYDAY US $16.95

Aluminum Korean Thai Lao Indoor Table Topper BBQ Barbeque Grill Pan Stove 12" US $29.00

Aluminum Korean Thai Lao Barbeque Grill Pan Stove, BBQ Grilled Pan US $1.99

Aluminum Thai Lao Korean Charcoal Barbecue BBQ Grill 35cm 14" US $145.42

Korean BBQ Barbeque Grill Char Broiler Propane NEW US $359.00

HEAVY DUTY BBQ LINER 50x40cm for BBQ plate,great 4 korean bbq & teppanyaki grill US $26.88

Korean BBQ Barbeque Grill Char Broiler Propane NEW US $359.00

Stove Top Non Stick Indoor Korean BBQ Barbeque Grill US $16.95

Koreans like non-marinated ones better usually because you need to bbq with better quality meat for those kinds, even restaurants...so usually non-marinated beef are more expensive than anything else! Exception will be pork since pork...is cheaper...

Marinated ones may have more strong (and sweet)flavor, but they can go by without using good quality meat. Marinated BBQ include Jaeyookbokkeum (spicy pork), Galbi/Kalbi (marinated ribs), Bulgogi...etc.
Also when you get non-marinated ones, you'll be able to enjoy the real flavor of the fresh meat itself. Non-marinated ones include Samgyupsal (pork belly strips), Chadolbagi (very thin beef brisket), Seng Galbi (non-marinated ribs) and Seng Galbi is the most expensive of all.

It's your choice and if you decide to get mix of everything, start with non marinated ones and then BBQ marinated ones later.

Marinated ones tend to burn the grill faster and would require you to change the grill too often. Also because if you eat marinated ones first then you won't be able to enjoy the full flavor of the fresh meat due to sauce taste lingering in your mouth. So keep that in mind!

Kalbi Sauce on ebay:

KOREA FOOD/BULGOGI BEEF MARINADE/BBQ KALBI SAUCE 225ml / FREE SHIPPING US $9.95

KOREA FOOD / KALBI BEEF MARINADE / BBQ BULGOGI SAUCE 230ml / FREE SHIPPING US $9.95

six(6) Hawaiian Pride HAWAIIAN BBQ sauce kalbi Halm's US $17.50

Wong Gal Bi Korean BBQ Restaurant has been through rough times and lots of changes. But I'm not sure how many changes were there for the management.

1.They tried charcoal BBQ but didn't work. I think they had a safety problem or something.
2. Then they started BBQ buffet (which wasn't really buffet) and this didn't work either. I didn't like it because they would bring a default meat combination which included meat I don't like and we had to ask the servers to bring more meat every time. I love to eat and I mean I can eat and my friends can eat too. After asking them more couple times servers started to pressure us to stop. What kind of buffet is that? So I stopped going there.
3.Then I heard they changed into different Korean BBQ buffet style AGAIN. (I'm not sure of the change in management though.). The good news was that it actually became a real buffet style with lower price of dinner around $12.99-$15.99 (?). However, I guess some people still didn't like it since they only had pork, chicken, and bulgogi and no GALBI. Korean BBQ is all about Galbi if you want to get your money worth for BBQ meat. I didn't mind that much though since it's cheaper than other Korean BBQ and pretty good Samgyupsal (like bacon.)
4.And I guess many people complained? They changed one more time! They added marinated Galbi, Ssang Galbi (not marinated/plain), and Joomooluk (marinated short steak) with increase in price to $17.99. I think it's still good price with what's all included since if you go to regular Korean Restaurant you need to spend more than $20 per person for BBQ. However, different restaurants have combo meal of their own. So you have to investigate some more and choose your favorite I guess. It's All-You-Can-Eat BBQ after all, which means it's more quantity than quality. If you are looking more of quality, I suggest that you go somewhere else.

So enough about their changes. I went there last weekend and liked it a lot. (I liked it since change number 3 LOL) Shall we look into it?

They now had more included complimentary food that servers brought out as well.

Servers bring this out for you. It's scallion strips and lettuce slices mixed with sweet and hot pepper paste (Restaurants have different dressings.) You can ask them for more! I think we (4 people) ate like 4-5 bowls of it. I always eat this with my meat instead of wrappping meat with lettuce since the salad already includes all of it.

Nice addition is this Steamed egg and Daenjang Jjigae (Bean paste stew). They go really nice with BBQ. Yummy. I'm not sure if this is unlimited too, but if you smile nicely enough your server might get you an extra one. Ha Ha.

And unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of Nangmyun (cold noodle soup.) When you are about done with your BBQ, they will ask you if you want your small Nangmyun (included!!) You can pick from two styles: Mulnangmyun (cold noodle soup) or Bibim Nangmyun (Spicy cold noodle-hot pepper paste sauce.) I always get Mulnangmyun since I love soup!

Now shall we go get some food?

The first station you'll see is the rice and noodle station. You can get some rice there, but my strategy? is to not eat rice. I don't really need it to eat BBQ. If you must, please eat rice. They have two different kinds. They also have Soojungwa (Dessert drink) there. On the left of this station are the plates.

I don't know what kind of station I would call this. It has different banchans. Far left is sliced radish salad. I always get this and eat it with scallion salad and meat together. Not scientifically proven but it seems to help me digest BBQ better and makes me eat more! White gelatin is Mook. I talked about it in my new year post. There are white ones and there are brown ones. You need pour sauce over it so look for it around the station (usually made of soy sauce and scallions etc.) And feel free to explore other stuff too.

I guess you can call this part a condiment station. Unlike other restaurants you need to get your own. The green basket is for the lettuce and smaller bowls for garlic, green peppers, and dipping sauce. Dipping sauce is made with bean paste and other vegetables mixed in. Oh but sesame oil dipping sauce is brought out by the server. Mine was little too salty so I asked for extra sesame oil.

Now to the main course! Yay! I labeled main meat for you.
On the far right are the unusual BBQ stuff. Gopchang is beef tripe. The other marinated meat there is pork marinated like Galbi. That's pretty good too. There's also spicy squid bulgogi. I'm not sure what the other one is but I saw this in a vietnamese pho too.

And on the other side are some more kinds of meat. Most of them are pretty good! When you get some Samgyupsal just be careful not to get too fatty ones. Not good for you.

There are sushi rolls there also. To me, they seem to be all very similar rolls. We ate these rolls instead of just plain rice.

Finally, some BBQ tips for you:
Start with plain, non marinated meat first. In that way your grill won't burn so easily that you don't have to ask your server to change it too often. But when you need to ask them right away! They will gladly change it for you. Also if you eat non marinated meat first you'll eat more! LOL.

Wong Gal Bi Korean BBQ Restaurant is located:
1111 North Rolling Rd
Catonsville, MD 21228
(410) 788-5678

I hope this helps.
Enjoy!

So shall we look into this further?

INGREDIENTS
Following serves about 4 people:

1.3lb(1pack) thinly sliced eyeround bonless OR ribeye beef (If you can't find thinly sliced beef, just get a big chunk and slice them yourself. It doesn't have to be paper thin.)             

AND...
1tbsp sugar
1tbsp honey
1/4 cup soysauce
1/3 cup wine or pineapple juice (OR you can put both)
2tbsp sesame oil
1/5tbsp pepper
2tbsp garlic
1/2 onion
3 scallions
1.5oz carrot
(Optional) 1/2 Asian pear (ground or sliced)

Slice onion, scallions, and carrot.
Mix other ingredients in a bowl to make a marinade.

Mix the marinade and the beef first, then mix with vegetables.
Let it sit about 3hrs and you are ready to BBQ!
(***NOTE:If you don't have time, you can eat it right away. However, just keep in mind that the longer it is marinated, usually the better the taste.***)

WAIT!!!
Before the barbeque, there are some extra toppings you can add:

You can include sliced oyster mushrooms...

OR you can put some rice cakes...

OR Enokitake mushrooms..

OR sweet potatoes...OR bell peppers...

OR altogether!!! We used our portable gas range and a grill pan to BBQ our bulgogi. Serve them with rice, banchan like kimchi, and maybe some lettuce. If you are not sure what this is about, please refer to my Jongkak restaurant review.

***If you are just making it for yourself, you may wanna just cook it on the pan and serve over rice with pickled ginger. I love this way. Convenient and tasty too!

ENJOY!

Stove Top (indoor) BBQ Grill on eBay

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Portable Butane Gas Range on eBay

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NEW PORTABLE BUTANE GAS STOVE RANGE COOK TOP CAMPING US $29.99

Portable Butane Gas Camp Stove Camping Burner Range NEW US $45.49

Kimchi Recipes:
Traditional Whole Napa Cabbage Kimchi
Quick 'n Easy version Kimchi

Oh! And be aware that there is another restaurant right next to JongKak. I've never been to the other one, but Jongkak is the left one.

Jong Kak servers were very nice and they actually smiled at us! They constantly changed our grill whenever it got too burnt, kept on refilling our veggies and sidedishes. The food was great too. Galbi marinade wasn't too salty and just right for me. I think we ate three bowls of scallion salad, couple refills of banchan, and couple refills of pickled radish. And at the end the servers STILL smiled at us.
So overall, I recommend this place for a BBQ night. I wanna go back for more! Mmmmmmmmm...!

This time we wanted to do some Galbi BBQ. We ordered 2 servings of marinaded Galbi. The price was around $20s per serving. It may be little expensive, but you'll know that it is worth eating when you see that you get the following:

Yum, Yum, Yum!
I just love that steam-cooked eggs. I usually eat this dish as my appetizer. Good dish to start! So soft and good! Bean paste Jjigae was good too. I eat Jjigae with rice and meat. It's always nice to have somekind of soup.
I couldn't take picture of all the sidedishes. These are seasoned tofu, bean sprouts, spicy cucumber salad, Korean style seaweed salad, and Japchae (noodle with veggies). The greatest thing about Banchan is... the unlimited supply of banchan. You can always ask for more of what you like!

They also give you scallion salad, lettuce, pickled radish, green peppers, sliced fresh garlic, Ssamjang (sauce to put in your wrap). All of these are for you to wrap together to eat.

What I like to do with my wrap (Ssam) is to get a slice of pickled radish, a piece of Galbi, sauce, and scallion salad and wrap it up and EAT!
It was so good. I would definitely go back for more!

Jong Kak is located @18W. 20th St. Baltimore, MD 21218 (410)837.5231

Other Restaurant Reviews:
Allgreen Market Food Court-Poongnyun ,  MD
VietGoel/LightHouse Tofu House Korean Restaurant , MD

Other Recipes:
Bulgogi-Korean BBQ beef
Spicy Chicken Bulgogi
Korean style Pickl (Oiji)
Fresh Spicy Cucumber Salad
Fresh Tofu Salad
Stir Fried Eggplant
Mini Ground Turkey Pancake
Zucchini Jun

Kimchi Recipes:
Traditional Whole Napa Cabbage Kimchi
Quick 'n Easy version Kimchi