Today was a great day in that I had the opportunity to indulge, albeit not at the same time, in my two latest obessions: pu erh tea and Korean BBQ.
Pu erh is a slightly odd tasting drink - sort of earthy and damp - so it's a bit of a surprise to find myself addicted to it. To some extent, it's probably laughter therapy - even after multiple cups of tea, saying the name to myself phonetically still makes me chuckle... Yep, not very mature.
For the Korean BBQ fix, we tried Mi Ga in Causeway Bay. The restaurant is a stark contrast to my last experience of Korean BBQ at a very 'local' restaurant in Kowloon (the name of which escapes me). Mi Ga is modern, clean and well-lit with light wood furnishings. You should note at this point, when I say my 'last experience', what I really mean is my 'last and only experience' so I hold my hands up to not being anything of an expert in Korean food or the delights on kimchi.
The first obvious difference was that Mi Ga's dishes, 
especially the cold assortment to go with the BBQ, weren't spicy unlike those at the original place. From research it seems that this might be something to do with a north/south divide: the northern Koreans apparently use less salt and less red chili. Equally, it seems that kimchi can be made of, and seasoned with, just about anything going so frankly, it might be nothing to do with the north/south divide... I'm normally somewhat pathetic when it comes to 'spicy' food but I did prefer the spicier level at the original restaurant. Having said that, the food at Mi Ga was tasty, especially when the optional chili was added.
We had an assorted sea food BBQ which was good although the fact that the waiters dealt with the BBQ did mean that the boys weren't able to indulge their inner caveman instincts.
For me, Korean BBQ is as much entertainment as it is about the food and so I prefer BBQs where you are left to your own devices. Better on the food front was the refreshing leek salad (one of the few veggie dishes on the menu) and the vegetable hot stone pot with rice which, with the added chili, was excellent - delightfully crunchy in consistency. Even the boys were full after all that so we probably didn't do the beef noodle hot pot justice and unfortunately it suffered in comparison to the rice stone pot, lacking the strong flavours (and probably the high fat content too!).
So I had a good meal but I didn't have any meat. One of my friends, V., went on a separate occasion and had some of the meat BBQ options. While she concurred about the leek salad and vegetable hot stone pot, she wasn't convinced by the spicy chicken she ordered. To some extent I think this probably highlights the flaw in Korean BBQs - they tend to be cheap meals which is fine but the dishes are often cuts of meat with only a marinade, if any sauce at all. As such, it would be better if the cost was more and the quality of meat higher. Still, fun once in a while...
Mi Ga Korean Restaurant
9/F Goldmark
502 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay
Tel: 2576 2078
The menu is pretty extensive and although they don't offer Korean BBQ, they do have most other options from the usual suspects such as hot stone pot to the frankly weird such as the deep-fried Korean ginseng. To be honest though, I'd skip the ginseng option. Curiosity got the better of me and I ordered it. I can see why ginseng never took off as a culinary item. It has this really ugly bitter after-taste that the honey dip it came with couldn't remove.
(although it was a little too fatty for my liking) and the traditional Korean hot stone pot. It was only after I'd emptied the contents of the bowl of chili sauce into the hot stone pot that I realised that it tasted suspiciously like ketchup. I'm sure it wasn't but it really wasn't as spicy as I'd have liked. Having said that, at least it was flavoursome. The spicy chicken and poached egg hot stone pot was neither spicy nor flavoursome. Most disappointing.
