15

February
2009

Honey Pig

category: restaurants
by Yun,

Most of my recent blogs were focused on travelling. So now it’s better for me to start writing a blog about restaurants and food again. ^_^

I arranged my flight to Fiji (last December) so that I could have a several-hour stopover at Los Angeles. During the LA stopover, I sneaked out of the LAX airport and went for a dinner at one of my all-time favorite restaurants: Honey Pig. Its specialization is in Korean barbeque and its location is in Koreatown in downtown LA.

It turned out that a total of eight people joined us for the dinner. The only barbeque table that could accommodate that many people at that time was located on the outside of the restaurant. It was winter and very cold outside. First, I thought that they would provide us a heater while eating outside. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any. Yeah… even it was still too cold to be outside for a barbeque. However, we had no choice since I had to rush to catch my next flight that would depart in two or three hours. So better to hurry and no complaining. I felt that it was not a good idea to share one barbeque pan with too many people. I could hardly savor the food to my fullest satisfaction. Once the raw meat was properly cooked, all of us fought to grap the meat to fill our plates and then we guarded our food like a pirate’s treasure. No morsel left our plates for others. Hahaha… So funny. Realizing the insufficient amount of food, we ordered more meats and waited for the next batch before eating again. By the time our next order arrived, I had lost my appetite. I’m not the type of person who can stop eating and wait for some time and then eat again. From that dinner experience, I now realize that the ambiance heavily influences the enjoyment of food. I prefer to dine in a warm, relaxing, and festive atmosphere. Dinner in such a cold weather exposure and with inadequate food order is certainly depressing, no matter how good the food is. Well, I learned my lessons. After that dinner, I became even more determined to come back to Honey Pig again after my Fiji trip, but only with four people MAX. ^_^

We had a layover at LA again subsequent to our Fiji vacation. This time the layover at LA was for several days, so we had plenty of time. Woohoo! We returned to Honey Pig again, and we ordered three large main courses for only three of us. Hahaha… Yeah, we were craving Honey Pig’s barbeque so much.

Honey Pig uses a big arch-shaped inverted pan for customers to make barbeque, which is very cool and special. The grill pan includes an outlet at the bottom surface for grease and oil from the meat to flow out to a pot mounted below the table. Similarly to any other Korean barbeque, at first the meal is started with banchan, but in Honey Pig, you will get a lot more selections that include complimentary octopus, complimentary pancake, traditional sesame oil and salt dip, soy bean and chilli paste, raw garlic, cold kimchi soup, radish sheets, rice paper, lettuce, green onion salad, kimchi, bean sprouts, and more. The kimchi and bean sprouts are placed onto the grill pan to warm while waiting for the main dishes to arrive. Their best seller is the special pork bellies (samgyeopsal), which tastes heavenly. Their beef thin slice (chadolgui) is also equally good. One of the most essential considerations in choosing a Korean barbeque is quality of the meat. Honey Pig’s meat quality is so superb that you can taste all the delicious juices and the nice texture of the meats when grilling them even with no seasonings at all. One unique thing about Honey Pig is the rice paper sheets used to wrap the meat together with the lettuce and some dipping sauce, and you will get an amazing bite.

In one of my earlier blogs, I told a story about Cho Sun Ok, my favorite Korean barbeque house in Chicago that serves chadolgui as well. Cho Sun Ok is pretty good for the Midwestern area, but I personally think that Honey Pig is much better. One reason is because the inverted grill used in Honey Pig is quite efficient so a minute or two is all we need to cook the meat until it finally becomes very crispy. The heat of the grill is adjustable by turning the knob next to the grill table.

Also remember to save some room for the fried rice served at the end of the meal. The waiter will place a mound of spiced rice on the grill pan and add roasted seaweed, then proceed to make fried rice mixed with leftover bean sprouts and kimchi. I like to flatten the fried  rice so that the rice becomes crispy on the pan surface. Yum yum!

The dinner meal that I had at Honey Pig was very savory. Ahhh, too bad there is no Korean barbeque at Columbus that is as good as Honey Pig. Talking about Honey Pig makes me drool and want to go back to LA right now! I wish I had Doraemon’s “Anywhere Door” that could take me to Honey Pig instantly. Hihihi…

 


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6 Comments so far

  1. veny | 15 February 2009, 21:41

    wuahhh g baru nyarap ketan ama tempe kering jadi ngiler liat Korean BBQ slurrrppp !
    good shot Yun !
    tapi beansprout nya koq ceking2 yah Yun ? he22
    itu daun apa Yun ? (gmbr paling bwh)
    ga mkn Bibimbap ?

    Masa beansproutnya ceking2 ven? gue rasa malah beansprout sini jauh lbh gede2 karena kl yg di korean rest gitu pakenya bukan dari kacang ijo tp dari kedele, jadi bijinya di ujung itu kuning2 kedele….
    gambar plg bawah itu fried ricenya yg dah dicampur ama seaweed dan daun selada (kalo ga salah)
    ini rest bbq sih, kayanya orang kesini jarang pesen bibimbap deh… kan masing2 rest ada specializationnya sendiri2 jadi rugi kalo dah sampe sini pesen bibimbap *menurut gue* hahaha

  2. arman | 15 February 2009, 21:43

    hmm menarik juga ya yun….
    next time kalo ke LA kontek2 lagi ya yun, ajak gua makan yang enak2.. hahaha

    iya kemarin elo jg lagi sibuk sih man jadi kita ga sempet ketemuan deh, maybe next time ya

  3. yusy | 15 February 2009, 22:28

    duh beneran buat orang ngiler….*drool*

    this is much better than kawon :-)

  4. Paulo | 16 February 2009, 00:30

    Dinner in such a cold weather exposure and with inadequate food order is certainly depressing, no matter how good the food is.

    cant agree more!

    I got a follower hore….especially for inadequate food order, agree pol? hihi

  5. Im3th | 16 February 2009, 20:43

    Yun..lapeeeerrrr hihihi.
    Ayo Yun, buka cabang honey pig di columbus ala chef Yunike.

    met ntar kalo gue yg buka ga ada yg dateng lho… lha ngomong korea aja ga bisa kok mo buka rest korea hihihi

  6. veny | 17 February 2009, 10:52

    Iya YUn tuh tauge kliatan pjng2 tapi kurus , yg di JKT yg beli di sp market gemuk n pnjg kae di Spore pny . he22
    apa udah kena panas jadi menciut ??
    Iya juga sih krn specialized BBQ jadi ga ada menu Bibimbap yah , g penasaran aja krn g kagak doyan n mrasa ga enak Bibimbap . soalnya g sering liat pelem korea mrk suka mkn nasi diaduk2 di waskom gede itu , g cobain koq kagak enak yah ! hi hi ..
    kalo BBQ ember kwalitas daging musti superb , biar ga pake bumbu apa2 udah kerasa gurih daging nya .

    oo iya mungkin tauge sg batangnya lbh gendut tp pendek, yg ini panjang tp lbh kurus haha *ga penting yah*
    kalo menu bibimbap di rest BBQ mestinya si tetep ada… tp kebetulan kita ga ada yg pesen.. cobain lagi deh di tempat yg laen, siapa tau yg dulu emang pas ga enak aja jd kamu ga suka… banyak si yg suka bibimbap soalnya