A Banquet at a Wedding

The Korean food I had for lunch at the first wedding I have been to was quite a disappointment, but Mom told me to expect much less so I wasn't too surprised. It sure is hard to cook well for a mass.

I was served a bowl of galbi-tang, or braised short-rib soup, as I sat on the table. The beef in the soup was surprisingly tender, while the rib had chewier texture from the tendon. It tasted great with a piece of kimchi. I am personally a huge fan of scallions, so I liked the big, chopped pieces floating on top as well as the long mushroom. The soup was seasoned slightly salty, but the plain white rice balanced out the saltiness.

The shrimp was pre-peeled for convenience, and had sweet chili sauce on top. The shrimp didn't taste super fresh, and the top part tasted a bit fishy.

The galbijim, or braised short-rib marinated in soy sauce, wasn't cooked enough because the sauce is supposed to be thicker from boiling for a long time. The meat was extremely fatty to the point I only took a tiny bite and all the other parts were fat.

Abalones are expensive, but I really don't find them that appealing. These had very bland flavor, if any. Maybe people just like that jerky texture?

Smoked duck, which I didn't try because it looked greasy and scary.

Other banchans included smoked salmon (pretty decent), japchae, raw beef, and other red spicy stuff. The pineapples were very sweet! Haven't had them in a while :)