Kogi Bulgogi, Eastwood City - Too hot for my bowl

My first visit to Kogi Bulgogi was a feast. It was a get-together with relatives from the US, who also wanted to watch Rachel Alejandro's show that night. Our long table outside Kogi Bulgogi was on the balcony overlooking the stage. It was perfect. Almost.

That was when I had just quit on the fruit detox C and I tried for three days. We ate nothing but fruits, which was supposed to flush out all the toxins from our bodies by resetting the digestive system and absorbing only natural, unprocessed food and liquids. I didn't last long. I quit after barely 48 hours because my stomach was already going berserk. I guess that was the purging starting to take place, but I didn't have the balls to go on.

Little by little I ate meat and rice. I would eat more on each meal, trying not to shock my system. But shock my system I did at Kogi Bulgogi. When I arrived at the restaurant, our long table was already full of dishes already and we even ordered some more. Who was I to resist? I'm only human, after all. I had sushi rolls, ebi tempura, pork, fish and whatnots. I got myself a hot bowl of jjampong, too.

In Kogi Bulgogi, you can choose just how much kick your noodle soup has. I chose Level 5 hotness, which was the middle of the spectrum, and what greeted me was a fiery red noodle soup that was fiery hot. My tongue almost couldn't take it. As for my stomach, it was at its weakest, so even before I got halfway through what seemed like a mile-wide bowl, I already felt really sick, nauseous and painfully suffocated. As soon as I calmed down, my father brought me home.

Not that I wanted C to experience the same, but I did want him to try that bowl of fiery hot jjampong. We chose Level 5 again, but the Level 5 that the server placed on our table wasn't the same Level 5 that attacked me on my first visit. Perhaps they gave previously me a Level 10 by mistake?

When I took a cautious sip of the soup, I knew for sure that this was way less spicy than my first bowl. This Level 5 didn't even cut it for me, and so it did much much less for C. That's why he asked for chili powder. I don't know how happy he really was with that chili powder, but I would want us to go back and order another bowl of jjampong. Level 10.

Aside from the jjampong, we ordered Tuk Bulgogi, which took us several minutes to decide on. I was seriously considering a rice topping and the lettuce rice wraps. But it turned out to be a soupy day. Maybe next time.

You can either have the Tuk Bulgogi cooked in the kitchen, cooked on your table or cooked by you on your table. We asked them to cook it on our table just so we can watch. It's much cooler that way. After waiting several minutes, our sukiyaki was done! Oh, wait. I mean, bulgogi. Right. It tasted so much like sukiyaki, and C and I love sukiyaki so we loved this bowl. But we wanted to eat something more Korean than Japanese. I don't care if the two cuisines have many similarities.

The best thing about eating at Korean restaurants is the selection of free appetizers. While waiting for our orders, six small plates were served. There was kimchi, togue, okra, fish or squid balls, dilis and caramelized sweet potato. I like kimchi a lot. I always have a grocery-bought bottle of it at home. But even if I enjoyed the mongo sprouts, dilis and caramelized camote, I still prefer the appetizers, especially the omeletlike one, served at Cho Sun in Shangri-La Mall. Too bad it has closed.

Kogi Bulgogi is located on the 2nd Floor of the New Eastwood Mall.