Hi guys!
We went LA last 4th of July weekend and went so many great spots to eat!
The first stop is Mapo Galmagi, AKA, Magal!
I met Kevin the Instagramer @FoodwithKevin at KCON NY and he is local here and he’s nice enough to volunteer showing us around LA!
Magal serves lots of side dishes for a Korean bbq restaurant. Kimchi, pickled cabbage & jalapeno, macaroni salad, pickled radish, Korean potato salad, cilantro salad.. lots of salad because Korean bbq is amazing with different types of fresh veggies! cucumber kimchi, romain lettuce salad with house made black sesame dressing, green onion salad we call pachae and finally stir fried fish cake.
Of course, gotta have some soju when you are eating Korean BBQ! It’s a must! Always ask ice cold soju, colder is better. In Korea, we never pour shots for ourselves, you have to pour for someone else and they have to pour for you. Using 2 hands to pour and receive the shots, to be polite. When you become good friends, like Jacob and I or you guys agreed to using only one hand to be casual then you can go ahead and have fun!
Usually the waiters and the servers will come to your table to help you cook your meat on the table, but if you like to do by yourself then go ahead and tell your server. It’s not rude or anything, it’s just your preference!
Prime Boneless Short Ribs $37.99
🌟Beef Skirt Meat $28.99
Marinated Prime Short Ribs $32.99
🌟Pork Skirt Meat $24.99
Every Korean bbq restaurant has different style dipping sauces. In Magal, they have salt with sesame oil dipping sauce which is Jacobs favorite and sweet and sour soy dipping sauce with onion and chili, this is my favorite.
Around the grill, there is steamed eggs and corn cheese. They cook by the heat from the grill and when they look like its ready, then you can just start dig in! You are the boss and the rule of the table when you are eating Korean bbq.
When you are done with the meat, Magal has something special menu for you to finish the meal heavenly. So make sure you have still some room for this menu… It’s volcano fried rice!!!
It’s minimum 2 order per table. First your sever will bring a wok look a like pan with spicy pork looking sauce with lots of onions. When it starts simmering then the server will add rice and start performance the art of volcano fried rice!
Flatten rice on the pan will create delicious crispy bites! Ummmm~!
After few minutes, they will add some gim, korean seasoned and roasted seaweed and gather the rice together like a mountain. Then there is the magma of the volcano!!! Wait, its lava, since it’s outside already… hahaha I guess it doesn’t matter.
This dish is definitely Instagram worthy, so don’t forget to take some pictures!!
They scramble the eggs so it will evenly cook, to me, it really looks the bomb…!!
When the eggs are settle, you can start eat! Since it’s volcano fired rice, gotta it when it’s piping hot! lol
We also ordered wagyu beef sushi. Same thing as sushi but thinly sliced beef instead of fish. It’s $8 for 8 pieces. They bring it out to table and torch front of you and drizzle some A1 sauce. The performance was nice but I won’t order it again.. lol!
After having a food baby from Korean BBQ we needed some sweet bites! Korean shaved ice, Bingsoo!
The place Kevin wanted to take us was already closed, because it was late Sunday night so we went his second choice, Anko!
We ordered black sesame bingsoo and strawberry bingsoo. We thought the bowl was part of ice, because it is perfect round looking but it’s bowl, so don’t eat it!
Black sesame bingo has, of course, lots of grind black sesame seeds all around, sweet red bean paste, chapssaltteok- similar thing as mochi, and some pine nuts. the black sesame seeds will get between your teeth so don’t order this if you are dating with someone.
Instead order this strawberry one! The ice is a bit pink color, so cute and fresh strawberry syrup is all over just dripping down.. Of course it has some fresh strawberry slices and served with condensed milk. So pour condensed milk as much as you like and be quick about taking pictures, because you don’t want them to melt too quick!
What makes Korean shaved ice so special is the texture of the ice. It’s like snow, I mean, literally snow. It’s ridiculous. It feels like you are eating fresh snow from Alps.
After the meal, Kevin took us to the public art, Urban Lights. It was so beautiful, we took so many pictures. If you want to visit there, just google urban light in LA, it will pop up!
It was beautiful first night of LA, special thanks to Kevin!
Magal BBQ AKA Mapo Galmaegi
https://www.yelp.com/biz/magal-bbq-los-angeles
3460 W 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Tel. 213) 383-1909
ANKO (Shaved Ice)
https://www.yelp.com/biz/anko-los-angeles
400 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90020
Tel. 213) 568-3657
Urban Light
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036