If you ever are craving big, juicy slabs of meat korean style, I suggest checking this little gem out: Ten Raku, Koreatown LA, CA. This restaurant serves one of the best quality meats in the area! And while it is not AYCE (all-you-can-eat), it doesn’t have to be given its generous amount of meat. The one thing I love about scoping out a KBBQ restaurant is that I can look at the raw slabs of meat myself to determine the quality and freshness of the meat I’m about to eat. I also want to note that this restaurant doesn’t just ONLY serve KBBQ meat, but they also serve korean stews too! 🙂 But today we’ll be focusing on the meats..

And what better way to enjoy KBBQ than to add some soju love to the mix! 😉

Look at their spoon covers!! One-time use of these paper cover-ups.. I don’t know why I found this so amusing..

And here is their traditional Korean side dishes to start.. Rice paper, Spicy raw crab, Kimchi, Potato salad, Glass noodles, Pickled sides, Honey to dip the rice cake..

soybean paste stew – Look at the sizzling and boiling and steam coming out as they handed it to us! Super hot, lightly spiced for that after kick. Very flavorful and savory

Steamed eggs and so fluffy!! Soft, soft, fluffy and smooth eggs!

And here is our plate of meat! And this is not all of it! From left to right we got.. vegetables (mushrooms, pineapple, rice cake, pumpkin), kobe style premium boneless short ribs, premium boneless short ribs, prime outside skirt steak, premium rib eye, premium beef tongue, filet mignon

Starting out with premium kobe beef.. All of the meats here are premium and USDA prime grade!! Beef is generally graded for their quality, tenderness, juiciness, and flavor according to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) beef standards. The higher the quality of grade, the more marbling exists in the beef. USDA prime is considered to be fairly abundant in marbling. What is marbling? Marbling is intramuscular fat. So what parts are the fats? The white, intermingling veins in the beef that you see is the intramuscular fat, hence marbling. The more marbling there is in the beef, the more intramuscular fat. This leads to a more juicy and flavorful piece of meat. But you don’t just look at any part of the cow’s meat! The meat is graded from the piece of rib-eye muscle cut between the 12th and 13th rib of the carcass. There are other factors that the beef is graded for, which you can read more at this useful website. 😀

Isn’t it cool that we have a waiter to cook for us? I mean, it’s fun to cook ourselves but most of the time, this leads to one person mostly cooking and never getting a chance to eat! This way, we can enjoy drinking and chatting with each other! Also, just watching them cook is so cool! These people are pros at cooking and flipping meat!

Check out that thick, white marbling on the left! Wow.. juicy indeed..

Who likes brisket? I love prime brisket! Super, thin cuts of beef that is tossed and turned. They cook quickly! I normally like to wrap my brisket into rice paper with some kimchi and dip it in my sauce.. But this place serves special rice that I could not ignore..

White and black bean rice! Wow! Delicious, fluffy, soft rice! Almost, almost like a sticky rice complexion to it but not quite.. So good.. I love rice again..!

Did you know that eating raw garlic brings out that spicy aftertaste? Try it with some of your meat and rice! Gives it that crunchy chew too! 🙂 (And way healthier than cooked garlic)

premium beef tongue and pork belly – Which one is the tongue?! The bottom, more red one of course! The tongue has been slit into thin slices.. 🙂 Easier to chew on hehe

Does it kind of resemble cow’s tongue to you?

beef large intestine! So yummy with its different seasoning! Brings out the abundant flavors of the intestine as you bite and chew into its squishy texture! The juice just flows out of the intestine and into my mouth and tongue with each chew!

Look at that fat leaving the pork belly..

They chopped it up for us! Yay!

mmMmm!! If you guys have never heard of this place or wouldn’t mind going to a none-AYCE KBBQ for a change, check this place out!! There is hardly any wait for this restaurant yet because I think it’s not as “mainstream” as the other more known names. But it is just as good! Maybe slightly on the pricier side, but who can beat that godly picture of meats! That boat tray is just so overwhelming good!!

Thank you little sister for recommending such a yummy place! And Happy Birthday again! <3