Bulgogi Garden

Went here today for lunch. Great value for money! Kalayaan ave has lots of Korean places but this is my new favorite. I ordered a Shundooboo, it was great but I would have wanted my egg runny. It was fully cooked. Other than that this place is highly recommended.

Unlike the others who had bad experience, mine turned out just fine. I'm not particular with how the restaurant looks like. I'm more with the quality of food. The crew were all accommodating and the manager himself was the one who assisted me. My requests were delivered. And the food? Really good.

The spacious restaurant and its parking lot, and the bright and happy facade were the ones that caught my attention and made me visit this place.

Bulgogi Garden's interior is neat and gives the feel of a usual higher-end Korean restaurant... minimalist interior, tables with grill, overhanging exhaust tube system, freezer with popular brands of Korean ice cream, the works. The menu offers the same general and popular Korean dishes, from bulgogi (hence, the name), spicy soup, grilled meat with fresh greens, among others.

Typical of Korean restaurants, banchan/appetizers are served while the main orders are being prepared and cooked. Although somewhat disappointing since they only serve 5 types of side dishes (most Korean restaurants have at least 7 types), the kimchi merits recognition; it is really good, with just the right fermented taste and crispiness of the napa cabbage. They also use orange-flavored vinaigrette in the side green salad, something different for something of its kind.

The den jang jjee gae (soy bean paste stew) is a recommended dish for solo orders. For a reasonable price of Php 250, the serving is large, with delicious strips of pork belly (and its abundant, flavorful fat), strong soy bean taste, generous amount of chili, and a cup of perfectly cooked rice.

I've been looking for authentic bulgogi in the Diliman area, so I figured I'd try the place that has Bulgogi in its name. The outside of the restaurant is pretty garish, but the upside of this is that you can't miss it.

The first floor is designed for Korean barbecue. It's very spacious, with high ceilings and wide aisles in between the tables. I really liked the ambience because it seems like a clean, comfortable, casual place to hang out with friends. The second floor seems to be for private functions, and there's an open-air beer garden on the roof deck where they host live bands on Fridays. Parking is adequate (much better than most places in Metro Manila), and there's a friendly, helpful guard.

I was just there to order take out, so I ordered their dduk bae gi bulgogi, bibimbap, and haemul pajeon (sort of like a dense seafood and veggie pancake). It took a while, but the wait wasn't too long, considering that they cook each order pretty much from scratch. The food arrived piping hot, all wrapped in appropriate containers. There was even a separate bag filled with banchan (side dishes), which I really appreciated. Not all Korean restaurants provide banchan with takeout.

The food was good! The pajeon tastes best while it's still hot. The batter becomes gummy once it cools down, but it's nothing that five minutes in the toaster oven won't fix. The seafood in the pajeon tasted fresh, though the squid was already starting to turn purple. Maybe not the freshest squid ever, but it tasted fine. It comes with a delicious spicy soy sauce that goes perfectly with the oily, carby pajeon.

The bibimbap was about average. Better than some, but still a little bland. If I were to order it again, I'd probably set aside about half a cup of the rice before mixing everything.

The bulgogi was lovely! It was by far the best thing we ordered. The taste was light, fresh, and refined. The sweetness was perfectly balanced, which I liked. I've tasted a lot of too-sweet bulgogi in the past, and that's always a letdown. There was about equal the amount of beef to the amount of noodle, and they used fresh enoki mushrooms. It seemed pretty authentic to me.

The banchan was about average. There was stir-fried Korean bean sprouts (larger, less bitter versions of the local togue), sautéed sayote, small candied fried saba, and some very flavorful spicy kimchi.

All in all, I'm happy with the food and the service, and I'm definitely going back for more of their bulgogi. The pajeon was better than I expected it to be, and the bibimbap wasn't bad, but I probably won't be ordering those two for a while. I'm looking forward to trying the other items on their menu. If you're looking for good bulgogi in the Kalayaan area, this is the place to go.

When they opened, (like 2 or 3 years ago?) I fell in love with bulgogi garden since the food is served hot hot (unlike other korean buffet restaurant), they have exhaust and high ceiling which means good ventilation, and the variation of food is great. They have plenty of appetizers and the cute tissues!!!

Sad thing about it is that it changed over time. No longer appetizers and the japchae we ate was bad.