I was tagged along by an Ate to her dinner date with another Ate and last night, the plan was Korean. We went to this place called 88 Spa, which is situated in the boundary of Calamba City and Los Banos, just before you pass by the "Welcome to Los Banos" arch.
We had two rounds of Sam Gyup Sal. The set came with several small plates containing one ingredient or recipe per plate. I give Koreans the credit for paying attention to details and for tricking my tummy into thinking that there are a lot food served on the table. Just by looking at them makes me feel full already.
So they served us with three different greens for which lettuce is the only one I recognized. They also have this fried thinly-sliced pork belly chopped to bite sizes. The other "ingredients" for the course were served in these little saucers. We had this one that's like the Pinoy's "piniritong talong" (fried eggplant), boiled string beans, fried tofu in egg, dried anchovies (my favorite in the bunch!), potato salad, and of course, kimchi. What is Korean dining without the kimchi, right? I am yet to learn how to like it though. The fermented odor and the funny taste doesn't excite my taste buds.
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| Sam Gyup Sal and my fresh buko shake |
They did not give us plates but two saucers with shrimp paste (similar to our "bagoong na alamang") and sesame oil. I've been to a few Korean restaurants but I still need to have someone teach me how to eat the Korean way. What do they do with the vegies and the ingredients in small saucers? Do you have to mix them all together and roll them inside the fresh greens like a burrito? Because that's what I instinctively did.
With Korean restaurants mushrooming everywhere and I've been to a couple of them, this is on top of the list in terms of ambiance but the food is just OK. Whenever I rate the food with price as the criterion, I always consider value for my money and you might find the food here a little pricey for the whole experience (our bill was PhP 700+). I am pleased though with the servers who are very prompt at the push of the button and I am saying this in a literal sense. For those who are a fan, you'll get the whole Korean feel of the place with live band (or karaoke) playing your favorite Korean songs. And yes, they pulled off a live Gangnam!
With Korean restaurants mushrooming everywhere and I've been to a couple of them, this is on top of the list in terms of ambiance but the food is just OK. Whenever I rate the food with price as the criterion, I always consider value for my money and you might find the food here a little pricey for the whole experience (our bill was PhP 700+). I am pleased though with the servers who are very prompt at the push of the button and I am saying this in a literal sense. For those who are a fan, you'll get the whole Korean feel of the place with live band (or karaoke) playing your favorite Korean songs. And yes, they pulled off a live Gangnam!
Three burps for 88 Spa.
1 comments:
May I suggest another Korean restaurant? I think you also ought to try Sariwon at the Bonifacio High Street! The price there is ~P700 per person BUT that's because I think my companions and I ordered too much food. I'm putting the link to my review of it below so you could have a look.
http://rochiecuevas.blogspot.com/2012/05/trying-out-sariwon-korean-barbecue.html
I've tried two more restaurants but I haven't posted my thought about them yet.
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