I really wanted my aunt and uncle to be able to try samgyetang while they visited. My aunt loves healthy herby/rooty foods. She’s a bit infamous in our family for substituting things with vegetables, like lasagna noodles with eggplant. I also know she’s a big fan of ginseng. While trying to find a place to eat after the traditional market I saw a picture for samgyetang in the window of 목동 그릴.
We split the samgyetang and my aunt also tried the kimchi jjigae where she learned she wasn’t the biggest fan of cooked kimchi and the sour taste it has when you cook it.
I was surprised when our samgyetang arrived. I’ve never seen the soup stock of samgyetang be black. I’m not sure exactly what made it this color, maybe some herbs or something they used to cook with but it was pretty good. I’m also use to needing to use the salt they provide but it had what felt like the perfect amount for me.
It was a pretty good version of samgyetang, and my aunt and uncle loved the one albalone they got, they tried to cut it and slit it in half which was a little difficult and messy. A note about the restaurant is that there isn’t a bathroom in the restaurant, instead there is a single squatting toilet outside a ways. Which was a surprise to my aunt and uncle, though they’re kind of use to it at this point.