Sunday, February 5, 2012

Honey Pig with Groupon Crowds

We spent a long day shopping at the outlet mall, and all we wanted was to indulge in some Korean bbq. I inadvertently vetoed HP Friday night after work because I wanted to change out of my silk work clothes before heading to the grilled meat, slightly smokey and greasy restaurant. Unfortunately, once we got home, the lure of comfortable pjs and relaxing at home was too large a draw to change clothes and head out into the cold again.
We got to Honey Pig in Annandale, after driving out of the slushy snow in Leesburg, and ran into a rude awakening. The online Groupon/Living Social deal had driven large groups of non-Asians to venture out into the Virginia suburbs to try out the moderately-priced Korean restaurant. Ugh. Groupons are great for introducing new patrons to different restaurants, but it's similar to Restaurant Week. It overwhelms the restaurant and makes it very difficult for regular patrons to enjoy a meal at a favorite place.
Grilled kimchee, spicy pork belly and boneless galbi on the tabletop grill.
Everything feels better after a big bottle of Cass (Korean beer) and soju are brought to our table. Almost able to forget about the crazy scrum at the entrance that set off warning twinges of my claustrophobia.
Wish they would leave a pair of tongs on the table so we could flip the meat and vegetables ourselves.
Patiently waiting for the flip of the meat and snip of the scissors into nice bite-sized pieces.
I can't wait to head back to Japan and enjoy a proper yakiniki restaurant. Korean bbq is great, but my heart belongs to Japanese yakinikuyas. Nama-biru and self-grilled bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables, here I come (soon!)

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