Going Korean nyone?

Korean dishes are indeed becoming quite popular nowadays. Recently, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa invited The Freeman to experience its all-new Korean buffet.

Korean dishes are characterized by a wide variety of meat and fish dishes, alongside wild greens and vegetables. With its notable spiciness and high nutritional value, it is not impossible that people from all over the world are lured by Korean cuisine.

Also, it is quite observable that there are a lot of Korean tourists now coming to our country. According to Plantation Bay’s General Manager, Mr. Efren Belarmino, the resort has drawn in a good number of Korean guests. Because of this, the hotel management, headed by President Mr. Manny Gonzales, decided to offer a Korean buffet for the growing Korean guests.

Amid the beautiful man-made lagoon of crystal clear waters in what they call the Peninsula Beach was where the Korean buffet was set. The powdery white sand and the tropical, magical ambience made the place romantic.   

Like most of the people I was with, it was my first time to eat Korean food. We got to eat in a traditional Korean manner: raw pork belly, beef top blade, shrimps, fresh lettuce, green leaves, with thin slices of garlic, samjang sauce (mixture of gochujang and dwenjang), seasonings and a charcoal grill were placed at the center of the table and we—oh yes, WE!—did all the mixing and cooking. It somehow awakened the little chefs in all of us and we definitely enjoyed it!

As if the Korean grill was not enough, a Korean buffet was set with a delicious array of hot dishes, salads and appetizers. We tried their luscious Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jim), Sweet and Sour Pork (Tansayuk), Spicy Chicken Casserole (Tak Tori Tang), Salted Squid in Spicy Sauce (Ojing eo Bukkeum), Mixed Beef and Vegetable in Korean Vermicelli (Jap Chi) with either Kimchi fried rice or just plain rice.

And we surely did not miss the wide variety of salads and appetizers which included Eggplant Salad (Kaji Muchim), Pan-fried Zucchini (Hubak Jon), Marinated radish in Korean Chili Sauce (Kak Togi), Fishcake Salad (Oding Muchim), Pan-fried Tofu in Korean Sweet Chili Sauce (Dubo Tigim), Seafood Pancake (Hae Mul Pajun), Egg Roll with vegetable (Kiran Mari), Fried Sweet Potato (Matang), Cucumber Kimchi (Uy Subagi Kimchi), Salted Squid (Ojung eo Chada), Pickled Cabbage (Kimchi), and Garlic Pickle (Manil). Although the preparation of Korean dishes is generally very labor-intensive, the food is impressively superb. Kudos to the resort’s Executive Sous Chef Dario Roxas.

With such mouth-watering dishes plus the terrific ambience of the resort and the guaranteed great service of the staff, the price of P850++ is truly value for money. Korean dishes are quite different from our own Filipino dishes but with such great food and the warm hospitable service of the staff in Plantation Bay—the experience has been remarkably unforgettable and we had so much fun!