Debasaki

I actually posted about this place nearly a year ago exactly, and didn’t really enjoy my experience perhaps as much as I could have – much to my brother’s chagrin.  Snorlax actually recommended it to me, and he was extremely flabbergasted how I could have not enjoyed it as much as he.  This was compounded by my food nemesis also loving it and repeatedly telling me the past few months how awesome this place is and how do I hate it.  Well, Snorlax finally made plans with BF to go here, and I was roped into going along for the ride.  Fine – hey, I didn’t have to pay at least… 

The customary cole slaw they give you as soon as you sit down – this time, it was drenched in the dressing, and as such, not that awesome.  I mean, normally it’s pretty good, but this was just meh. 

I do think their napkins are adorable. 

I ordered a green tea because my throat was bothering me (still sick).  The mug was interesting, but… tea bags?  Really?  Bleh.  The tea was alright, and I was about to comment that no one ever came by to ask if I wanted more hot water – but I just remembered that it’s service-by-request.  There’s a button you press that rings a bell if you need service.  Well, not that big of a deal (I don’t recall wanting more tea, really, anyway). 

The Debasaki salad, ordered at Snorlax’s request, was composed of mixed greens topped with slices of kiwi and grape tomato halves.  It was accompanied by what looked and tasted like a poppyseed dressing.

Pretty yummy, even though I don’t even really eat kiwi ever (having a pet with essentially the same name makes it weird to me to eat it; then again, my second dog is named Sandwich and I damn sure still eat sandwiches!).  I liked the way the slightly tart kiwis contrasted the sweet dressing, and the overall crunch. 

The main orders were half and half – Debasaki and sweet/spicy.  

Last time, of these two, I’d only had the Debasaki – and look at the portion difference, by the way – and found them OKAY.  This time they were still just okay, but

I loved the sweet and spicy.  Saucy, sticky, yummy, garlicky… so good.  Not very spicy – just the slightest kick of heat – these reminded me of the chicken I like at Woorijip but with bones.  I even took the leftovers home to munch on later 🙂

Pickled daikon to cool you off, and pickled jalapenos to make you think you were being cooled…

And the scary gyoza wings!  Look how huge this portion is compared to last time.  What the heck!  I think this was also a half portion, but Snorlax will likely speak up and say…

And score!  I got one filled with sweet corn, which was, as I expected, lovely.  The sweet corn really counters the spiciness of the wing nicely (I’m a spice-wuss, so these are fairly spicy for me). 

Snorlax also wanted the kimchi fried rice, saying it was really good.  I’m sure it is – but I knew it would be too spicy for both BF and I. 

Snorlax mixed the fried egg into the rice, and I tried some.  Yup, too spicy for me, too spicy for BF.  Ah well.  Snorlax had no problem eating it – and we boxed all of our leftover wings for later.  (That’s a lot of food for three people!) 

Yvo says: I had a markedly better experience this time than last time, and this definitely makes me feel more like I’d want to return sooner than later, and with big eaters… and order some pitchers of soju… heh. 
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