This month, my boss and I decided we would have Korean for lunch. Seeing as how I’d never had Korean food before, I didn’t know where to go so our plan was to drive down Harry Hines in Dallas and keep our eyes open for anything that looked remotely like Korean food.

You couldn’t get much more Korean than a restaurant called Korea House. When we saw it we knew we had found land so we pulled into the parking lot and walked inside.

The atmosphere was less Korean than we’d expected. While the visuals were all correct (Korean wait staff and hostess, oriental furniture, etc.), the sounds were a bit off since they had 80s bubblegum pop playing loud over the sound system. That didn’t stop us though.

After browsing the lunch specials we settled on the bulgogi with soft tofu stew. If you’re unfamiliar with bulgogi, basically it’s grilled beef. After doing some research on the Interweb, I’ve learned that “gogi” is the Korean equivalent to “meat” and “bul” is basically the type of meat, which, in this case, was beef.

After placing our order, they brought out an assortment of cold side dishes: sweet and spicy cucumbers, sweet and spicy broccoli, kimchee (spicy, vinegary cabbage), marinated mung beans, shredded radishes, smokey sliced tofu, and marinated boiled potatoes. The stew came out bubbling and the bulgogi came out sizzling and the rice, served in metal lidded containers was warm. It was probably one of the most exciting lunches I’ve had actually as there was so many different things to try.

The generous serving of soft tofu soup was really interesting. It was basically a fragrant, seafood broth with shrimp, mussels, and tofu. Just before serving, they crack an egg into the soup and place it under a broiler where they heat it until it boils rapidly and cooks the egg.

The bulgogi is shredded sirloin steak marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and green onion. It’s seared in a wok on high heat just before serving. Even the rice they served was awesome. Each grain was plump and sticky so it was easy to work the chopsticks on it.

The meal was great. While the seafood soup was too large for me to finish, I liked it. Others might be turned off by the mushy texture of the soft tofu and the egg in the soup, but it’s spicy, garlicy broth makes up for it. Out of the side dishes, the sweet and spicy cucumber was my favorite, then the radish, and then the tofu. The kimchee was a little weird for my tongue, but it was good to try. Out of the entire meal, the bulgogi and rice was my favorite. The sweetened tender meat was spiced with the perfect amount of garlic and green onion. Should I ever return, I think this would be my choice meal.