Parks BBQ: Los Angeles, CA

If you've heard anything about the Korean food scene in Los Angeles, chances are you've heard of Park's BBQ. Located in an unassuming shopping center, the restaurant opened in 2003 and has since become a must try spot for anyone visiting the city.

When you enter the restaurant, you're greeted with the "Wall of Fame", i.e. a wall of photos of different celebrities (like David Chang and K-pop stars) who've dined at the restaurant. It was actually kind of cute to see how proud the restaurant is of their visits and gave the place a sort of old school vibe as it echoed the types of celebrity photo displays you see in other restaurants around the city.

Now, one thing that Korean restaurants here in London need to seriously work on are their banchan or side dishes. These are little complimentary dishes that come out before your meal. My friend Mica and I both bemoaned the fact that in London not only do you usually have to pay for them, they're usually pretty sad with minuscule amounts of random ingredients.

Needless to say, this was not the case at Park's BBQ! I can honestly say I have never seen such a wide variety of side dishes nor have I ever been served so many at once! We had everything from tteokbokki (bright red spicy rice cakes at in the forefront of the photo above) and kimchi to stewed meat with boiled potatoes. There was also a salad of greens mixed with crumbled tofu (upper right corner of the photo below) and crispy seaweed. This was such a delicious start to the meal that we knew we were in for an amazing evening!

As you can see from the photo below... our table was completely overflowing with food! And this was all despite the fact that we'd only ordered two main meals between us. Generosity is definitely the name of the game at Park's BBQ!

First up, we had hot stone bibimbap topped with raw beef and an egg yolk. This was tasty but we were surprised to find lettuce underneath the toppings. When we've had bibimbap in the past, lettuce wasn't included and I have to say... I'm not sure I'm convinced it belongs there. For us, it was just a bit jarring to have the cold lettuce mixed in with the hot ingredients. So next time, I might ask for them to hold off on the lettuce.

However, the real star of the show was the Park's galbi - marinated short rib. I had seen so many youtube videos and restaurant reviews raving about this cut that we knew we had to order it. Made with a sweet and savory house marinade, we were seriously impressed with how much flavour they were able to add to the tender beef.

Now this is a portrait of a very, very happy Matt! And I couldn't agree more - this was hands down one of the best Korean meals we've ever had. I'm so glad we had a chance to try it although I'm also now really sad that we don't live closer so that we could go back again... and again... and again!