Big Mama Korean Food

I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when I first heard of the Korean restaurant, Big Mama. Of course, this is just me having strange flashbacks as the restaurant is completely unrelated to the Martin Lawrence movie and fat suits for that matter. Upon reading what they had to offer, more than just an eyebrow was raised and we decided to check out Big Mama’s signature, Dakgalbi (Spicy Grilled Chicken) for lunch.

I know people who get excited ever an amazing array of ban chan and while what was offered didn’t supersede our expectations quanity-wise, they matched up taste-wise. Really enjoyed the japchae, marinated watercress and crunchy lotus root.

Since it was just the two of us, we ordered an additional Haemul Pajeon. Thin-ish and not overtly generous with the seafood, this seafood and spring onion pancake wasn’t the best rendition out there but it provided some relief from the spice and sauce.

Dakgalbi is traditionally a popular South Korean dish among students who need hearty grub on a low budget – sounds like my kind of thing.

Technically, the Dakgalbi is more of a stir-fry. Marinated chicken thigh chunks marinated, cabbage, green onions, sweet potatoes and squishy rice cakes are first assembled in a large cast iron pan.

A handsome drizzle of gochujang (chili pepper paste) is added for good measure.

Following that, one gets to unleash his or her inner child’s masak-masak skills by mixing it all, leaving no cabbage or chicken chunk unturned. This is teppanyaki revved up like, 10 times.

It’s incredibly good. So good, it’s incredible!

And you know what’s the best part? When you are almost done, you can throw in a bowl of rice and –drum roll please- create an amazing mosh pit of kimchi fried rice. This practically combines the best parts of fried rice and paella as the rice delivers a layer of socarrat if you are patient enough.

So full but can’t stop eating...

We did the dishwasher a favor by scrapping it as clean as our bellies allowed.