the best korean restaurant

Originally uploaded by Liz Henry.

Why didn’t I take a picture of the food? The buckwheat-tasting tea, the ten little dishes of different stuff, like garlic sprouts and the chewy salty tiny whole fish, and the mysterious white jello-y stuff with hot sauce, the perfectly hot, crispy, and tender mung bean pancakes, the various pickled veggies with chili.

Then I had dol sot bap, which is like bibimbap but without beef — it is a huge stone bowl of sizzling rice, seaweed, veggies, sprouts, kim chee, and an extremely fresh raw egg on top. It cooks as soon as you stir it into the pot, which was still too hot to be eating from when I was done with it. The best parts are the egg and the crispy rice that sticks to the bottom of the pot. YUM.

At this place they always bring some kind of extra food we didn’t order, sometimes a spicy tofu soup, but this time another stone pot with soft egg custard and green onions on top. My dining partner was dubious but then after a taste she busted into the custard, which was a bit like a cross between flan and a souffle. I’ve also had good chap chae here. Everything has been delicious… if you are adventurous you can get scary things here like raw crab with caviar and “house special sauce”, garlic tripe, or skate wings with cold noodles.

Oh and at the end you get a dixie cup full of lychee juice for dessert.

I think this is my favorite restaurant in San Francisco right now! It’s at 18th and Balboa, warm and extremely bbq-smelling as you come in out of the drizzly San Francisco summer fog.