Food Blogz: Flaming Clam Grill of Cheongdamdong

The restaurant's name, Bultaneun Cheongdamdong Jogae Gui, translates into English as "Flaming Clam Grill of Cheongdamdong". , Cheongdamdong is a fancy suburb in Seoul nicknamed the Korean Beverly Hills as it has upscale boutiques and art galleries.

Don’t look for any English here as everything is in Korean even the menu.

We chose the 59.99 option for our table of three

The nice thing, though, is that the menu has pictures so you know what you’re getting.

I was invited by a friend and upon reading the L.A. Times review I knew I was in for a real treat. This is a place that offers fresh seafood and they cook it for you tableside. Oh yeah, I was in. As soon as we all sat down the feast began. The first item to come out was the Gyeran jjim AKA the Korean steamed egg casserole which you spoon out. It has the texture of a soft custard. Alongside that was the ddukboki spicy rice cake.

Next, the banchan was spaced all over our table to be shared and eaten with our main course. What I love about banchan is that it is constantly replenished. My favorite banchan is kimchi and even though I know it’s not a main course I treat it as such. Banchan is different at every restaurant depending on the chef but the one constant is kimichi as no meal is complete without it. The banchan served tonight was kimchi, quail eggs (which were cooked perfectly nice and creamy), marinated vegetables, congee, fried rice with nori, vegetable pancake, tempura fried sweet potato and noodles.

Tempura fried potato,noodles and korean pancakes.

Kimchi

Fried rice.

Salad and congee.

Clam soup

Next, our seafood arrives consisting of shellfish such as shrimp, scallops,clams, oysters, abalone, conch and mussels.
Top View of Seafood

Conch.

Scallops.

Oysters placed on fried rice.

Mussels.

The seafood was arranged neatly on our grill and the server knew exactly where to place each item depending on how fast it would cook. The server opened up each clam and placed it on the grill.

As each item was cooked it was arranged at the perimeter of the grill for us to start eating.

Don't look for any type of seasoning on your seafood because there isn’t. The reason you have all the various banchan is so it can be eaten with your meal. I like the idea that the seafood is served in its natural state. This way you know what you’re eating is fresh and not covered up with spices and sauces. The experience for me was like one big seafood bake without getting sand in my shoes. I will definitely be back and bring more friends.

We did pretty good eating everything.