Today, I was craving gam Ja tang, a spicy pork backbone soup from one of my favorite restaurants, Kang’s Kitchen (formerly Nadri Chicken). We drove out there for lunch and ordered several dishes: stone bibimbap, gam Ja tang, beef rib kalguksoo, and bulgogi beef.
I started with the stone bibimbap. The rice was soft and moist, and the toppings-spinach, carrots, beans, sprouts, radish, and ground beef topped with an egg yolk-were delightful. Mixing it with hot pepper sauce (or hot pepper paste) was a great combination.
Next, I tried the gam Ja tang. The flavor was familiar, but I was disappointed with the portion size and the lack of backbone in my order this time.
Then came the beef rib kalguksoo. The noodles were nicely chewy, and the beef flavor in the soup was strong and pungent. Personally, I found it a bit too gamey because the beef ribs weren’t cooked with many spices in the broth. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the broth was well-seasoned, though the meat was a bit too gamey for my taste.
Finally, there was the bulgogi beef, though I didn’t really get a good bite of it as the kids had eaten most of it. I managed to taste some bits at the end. The bulgogi beef was tasty, but the portion size seemed small with very little beef, and there were more vegetables than beef. The flavor was good, but the beef was slightly dry and could have used more seasoning.
Overall, while the flavors of the dishes were still good, I was disappointed with the portion sizes. I'm unsure if I would recommend going there again, but if you’re okay with smaller portions, I would still suggest giving it a try because the flavors are quite enjoyable. Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoy your meal!