Let me just say that if you're in the Philippines, dining at Masil (in the Ortigas Home Depot) is the next best thing to actually eating in a South Korean barbecue joint. Everything from the presentation to the utensils, even the way someone cooked our food in front of us screamed authentic Korean barbecue.
Traditional South Korean cuisine starts off with several side dishes (banchan, they're called). Masil certainly didn't disappoint here.
We just couldn't resist taking a picture of the exhaust intake over our table. It just really made the place feel so authentic and transported us to Seoul again :).
Ah, the greens. They served a variety of salad greens to go with the meat. Lettuce, Taiwan pechay, Chinese cabbage and other vegetables I can't name. All of them were tasty and fresh. One of them tasted to me like wasabi paste, which was a nice surprise. Also in this picture are the complementary cloves of garlic and green chilis.
Here's how the food gets cooked. They have a barbecue pit outside the store where they heat the coals. They then bring it to your table and put a pan or grill cover on it (depending on what you order). Fancy, and also allows real grilling (not that LPG fueled method most other restaurants use).
On to the protein. First up was the Chadol Bagi. The thin beef slices cook quickly, but not so quick that you can't stop them from ending up burnt if you decide to chat before you eat it. The pan was slightly tilted so that the oil drips down to a trough under the table. the beef came out with just its natural beef taste, and combined with the greens it had a very simple but satisfying taste. You can add the red bean paste if you want more spice or the sesame oil dip if you want a woody flavor.
In this picture we see some of their Sam gyup sal. This is pretty much just liempo marinated in a very light sauce. After it was cooked (and chopped up) it tasted pretty much like plain pork. I kind of like plain pork though, just like Chesca likes plain beef. We also had their Bulgogi, it's just a sweetened version of the Chadol bagi. And let's not forget the free veggie refills, that's never bad. Especially with the nice greens they had.
The last item to arrive was the Pork Bone soup. This tasted exactly like the soup we had in Seoul. The soup was served piping hot in a stone bowl, filled with loads of tofu, meat and leeks (and of course a lot of chopped chili). It never lacked anything in the spice department, but it capped off our heavy meal quite nicely. I think the hot soup really helped our digestion :).
All of this food and it just cost us under 1000Php (more or less). We can certainly recommend this place for anyone who wants to experience real South Korean food in a real South Korean way. Look out Masil, we're coming back to you soon :).
Masil
Ortigas Home Depot,
Dona Julia Vargas Avenue,
Ortigas, Pasig City
