Another week, another Samgyeupsal feature. What's new, lol! Before quitting smoking I wonder why a lot of people felt so addicted to Samgyeupsal and Milk tea, which for some reason, accounts for mostly everyone's weight gain lately. But once I regained my optimum taste since quitting smoking, I've become addicted to both also and now I get the bandwagon! Fortunately for me and for all of us, we'll never run out of new Samgyeupsal places to try because they seem to have taken the city by storm.
This new discovery, again, comes from a targeted ad. Damn, advertisers are really getting their money's worth because I'm such an easy prey! While swiping through my Instagram stories, I saw one of their paid ads which mentioned UNLIMITED SALMON SASHIMI + UNLIMITED SAMGYEUPSAL. I mean, the sight of salmon sashimi and samgyeupsal together made me orgasm a little. I mean, isn't this what dreams are made of? I immediately followed their Facebook page and set to start my foodventure the next day.
THE PLACE
Geonbae is located along Scout Delgado which is just a stone's throw away from Tomas Morato. The place looked like a house-turned into a restaurant. It occupies just the second floor of the entire building it is situated in. If you're bringing a car, come early because there are only 2 slots for parking. You can park at the sidewalk but of course, park at your own risk. The place on the second floor is pretty spacious. First blush you'd think they only have a few tables, but once you walk in you can see the entire place. They even have one private room that can fit around 15-20 people I think. For when you want a private Samgyeup party with your friends!
One thing I really loved about the places is that they have charging ports for both Android and iOS users on every table! How cool is that? If you're worried about running out of battery because you keep posting all those food stories, then worry not, they got you covered.
THE FOOD
Okay, how do I even start? To begin, they have 2 types of all-you can eat packages. They have the P499 and P599 sets, and the primary difference is that the P599 set includes the unlimited sashimi and hanger steak! The P599 set also includes more premium cuts more than the P499. But if you see the P499 set, you wouldn't feel bad because they have over 55 korean and Japanese dishes to choose from. The more expensive set just gives you access to more premium meats but the P499 isn’t bad at all.
I was extremely overwhelmed with everything they had to offer because of course, I was paying P599 and I had to make sure I get my money’s worth. But the variety of choices didn’t help in that department because I practically wanted to try everything. From the hanger steak to the Ramyeun to the dumplings and tteokboki.
Okay now let’s talk favorites! I didn’t try the tuna sashimi
because I wanted to fill my belly with glorious salmon sashimi. It was hard,
okay! L
But I had to choose so y’all know salmon it is. In fairness to their salmon, I
was expecting really low quality salmon for that price but they delivered. The salmon
was actually good! Another favorite on my list would be the tempura! They didn’t
have the traditional tempura sauce, but that’s okay because the batter was the
bomb. The Korean wings tasted awesome as well. In the beginning I couldn’t
quite figure out of its good but it eventually hit the right taste bud.
Even if it sounds like it’s the most diverse all-you-can-eat kbbq, it also has a few downsides. One would be their serving portions; an order of salmon sashimi only has 3 tiny pieces so if you want to pack it in, make sure you get 5 orders per serving because that’s how I cut the ordering time in half. A trainee (we think) was also on duty during the time of our visit and he was pretty clueless whenever we’d ask for something, either it be food or for him to bus our table or replace the grill. During peak hours, the ordering also went a little chaotic. We started at 11 and around 12PM, the orders started arriving a bit late, some were doubled and we kept getting the same kind of meat lol. We ate everything anyway but I just wished they handled the influx of customers better because not all customers are patient.
Given everything, would I go back? Definitely! I haven’t tried a lot of things on their menu and I wish to try everything comprehensively because why not?? Plus, this is the only place that serves unli hanger steak with salmon sashimi so where else would I go? I hope they get more branches soon because it’s quite a pain going to QC every time I’m craving!
GEONBAE MOREAN KOREAN BAR AND GRILL
Budget : P1200 for 2 people
Open daily from 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Eton Centris Walk, Quezon Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City