gelan korean restaurant: a learning experience

my hunny is on overtime work and i'm scouting for a new place to eat. near their office are two korean restaurants. we visited the Korean Palace restaurant. Checked it out and it's more of a chinese than korean. across the building is gelan korean restaurant. we tried that one.

inside, the ambiance is clean and clear. tables are in wood. walls are in white. low tables are available on the other side. my hunny's boss recommended the place so we chose this one.

we ordered dolsot bibimbap. this is a mix of vegetables, pork, mushrooms, red spicy sauce and korean sticky rice on a stone pot.

the appetizers are refillable. that is, you can get and consume all you want even if you just ordered a basic meal.

taking our first bite is a learning experience. i like korean food's totally complex flavor and preparation. however, this is a restaurant where you will clearly distinguish totally awesome korean delicacies to awfully bad korean servings.

during the course of finishing the bibimbap, i get the feeling that i'm in a formal wedding celebration where i am forced to eat what is served in front of me. ho hum.

kimchi is poorly prepared. you'll get a mash of veggies in indistict red sauce. taste is not good. even though they insist that it is refillable, i did not dare go get another serving. i've seen kimchi in neatly cut chinese cabbages in a roll-like shape. not just a mix of veggies hidden in thick red sauce.

dolsot bibimbap is served in a stone pot. but this one is a fake. rice is not cooked on a HOT stone pot. instead, they just placed the electric-rice-cooker-cooked-rice in a room temperature stone pot. hmm... i think they haven't understood it yet that some of the great stuff in a bibimbap is the sauce-drenched rice that got stuck toasted-crisp on the hot stone pot.

my recommendation: walk 2 blocks away and try Dong Won Korean Restaurant instead. price is the same but quality is far better than this one. sorry gelan.

gelan korean restaurant

kalayaan avenue near corner of makati avenue

makati city