1092 El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA

After my piggy lunch and ice cream last Sunday, I waddled down to the South Bay for all you can eat Korean BBQ. This was actually a long awaited event planned by KC months ago and rescheduled many times. It was so worth the wait!

It’s huge and cavernous with rows and rows of gleaming copper vents over each table to suck out the smoke generated by cooking fatty spicy meats over the gas grills.

The buffet is in the back with vat after vat filled with raw meats and seafood to cook on the grills as well as a huge assortment of korean pickles and salads. They have a separate section of fresh fruit and desserts and another one for hot dishes like fried noodles, meatballs, fried rice, which we were instructed to avoid as they are unnecessary fillers.

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We scored and got to sit at the table with KC who hand picked the best stuff and cooked it for us. We just sat there and gobbled up the meat as she took it off the grill and set it on a plate.

Mr. K found that he could slow cook the garlic in the corner of the grill which made him very happy

There were thin slices of pork belly that looked just like bacon but were neither smoked nor salted, but rich and meaty

On the table were plates stacked with fresh lettuce leaves, sliced garlic and jalapeno peppers, which were refilled whenever they got low. Mostly we took a piece of lettuce in our hands, then put in meat with some garlic, peppers and whatever you like. I liked to put in garlic and kimchee for a nice fiery blast of flavor.

… fold the lettuce around it and bite in

The shrimp I just peeled and ate

An unusual and addictive treat were small crabs that had been marinated in a sweet garlicky chili sauce and eaten raw. You put the body in your mouth, legs facing outwards and suck the meat out… very addictive and very messy!

We were winding down and KC came back from the buffet with bowls of noodles in a clear broth with thin slices of cucumber and daikon floating on top. She added extra vinegar from the condiment tray and handed them to us encouraging us to further gluttony. The noodles were cool and had an unusual chewiness that seemed to stimulate my appetite.

Painfully stuffed, we got up to give the next set of hungry people our table and walked around the Korean market next door where we purchased some spicy instant noodles and bean paste.

The facilities alone make this a superior dining experience, even Mr. K was impressed. The temperature in the dining room was positively chilly which is amazing considering how many tables are cranking out heat from the gas grills and the massive airvents over each table keep the smoke down to a minimum. The selection at the buffet is superb and the best thing is you can pick what you want, cook it how you like it, they have every possible condiment known and then you can leave the mess for them to clean up.

Tagged as: all you can eat korean bbq, buffet, korean bbq