03 Apr Seoul Soul, Abbotsford Take 2

Time to try the bibimbap! My eyes gravitated towards the stone-cooked (dolsot) version such that I don’t even remember the price of the non-stone cooked (“cold”, but actually room temperature) version. The beef dolsot bibimbap was $13.

Beef Dolsot Bibimbap

The dish arrived steaming and crackling on the table and the waitress asked me if I would like sesame oil and/or chilli sauce on it. I said yes to both, and she subsequently made a circle of oil and a zigzag of chilli sauce on top. The chilli sauce bottle was left on the table in case I wanted more. Interestingly, the sauce was very similar to the one I tasted at Purple Peanuts the other day with my tuna onigiri, as it had a bean paste flavouring to it. Amongst the ingredients of the bibimbap were bean shoots, a bit of alfafa, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, zucchini, ?chives and a some sort of picked root, all topped with some beef and an egg. The beef was slightly sweet and I’m wondering if it was the same marinade used for their bulgogi. The egg was slightly pan-fried, sunny-side up, before being placed on. I often see the egg being cooked inside with the other ingredients on TV or photos. This is only the second time I’ve had bibimbap, so I don’t know what the traditional way is. The egg whites were nearly cooked through, but the egg was runny enough to be mixed through the rice and cooked by the dolsot’s residual heat to form yummy, eggy rice clumps. There were a few crispy rice bits at the bottom of the dolsot, similar to that found in Chinese claypot rice (unsurprisingly).

Another patron sitting nearby ordered the cold pork bibimbap and it looked like there was an extra ingredient added (a julienned, pink-coloured ingredient – not sure what it was), but there’s nothing like a warm rice dish on a chilly day.

On the way out I wanted to check the price of the cold bibimbap, but could only see their dinner menu, where it was $14 and the dolsot bibimbap was $16.

(please excuse the poor quality phone photos)

Seoul Soul
323 Victoria St
Abbotsford, VIC, 3067
0478 768 760
http://www.seoulsoul.com.au/