Restaurant review - New Seoul Restaurant Des Plaines, IL

When we were trying to decide where to go for lunch, this idea of korean bbq was brought up by our son.  Come to find out this seed was planted over a year ago my our son's 5th grade teacher, Mr. P, a teacher who liked to talk about food and eat Cheese Nips.  Mind you, our son is now in 6th grade and this idea had been brewing in his mind this whole time. We were excited because this would be a new food adventure for all of us.  I had never been to a korean bbq place and I am always open to trying a new cuisine.

So I yelped and found New Seoul in Des Plaines, IL.  It is a little no assuming place.  But what a treat.....expensive though.  But you did get a lot of bang for your buck.  There were also pot stickers to order for the kids....just in case.

 First they bring all these sides to the table.  It just kept coming....different pickled roots vegis, different sauces, creamy slaw-like sides....most were yummy.  Tangy, spicy, sweet - a bit of everything.  See the hole in the table....stay tuned to see what goes in there.....

 We ordered shrimp - little did we know it was going to be full bodied, huge prawns (the menu said shrimp).  They were heavily salted and beautiful, but it freaked out the kids to see the whole thing, which is ok.  We love for them to experience as much as possible and understand what their food actually looks like.

 This was the beef.  Look at it....marinated with all kinds of spices and scallions....cut thin.  Wow!

 Here was some of the sides....you can see here (top to bottom) some kind of root in a spicy marinade, shredded scallions with some chilis and vinegar, and kim chee - a typical korean side dish.

 A pot of hot charcoal was brought out to the table and put into the hole in the table.  You can almost feel the heat radiating off of this picture.

 We put the meats right on the grill.  The smells coming off the grill was amazing!

We also ordered buckwheat noodle soup, thinking this would be a good filler if the kids didn't like the grilled stuff.  Well, the kids didn't like this....I did (go figure!). The noodles were a texture they didn't quite like - a bit "slimier" than what they are accustomed to.

The people working there explained how to eat it. Once you grilled the meats, you wrapped it up in a lettuce leaf with some sides tucked in there.  So tasty and fresh.  The hot meat with the tangy side in the crunchy, cold lettuce leaf....wow!!!  Happy mouth!!!

Here is the prawn cooked....then I had to peel the shell - exposing all the inards.....not too pleasant, I do have to admit.  I didn't eat the head portion....I know some folks find that a delicacy - I'm not one of them.  Next time I wouldn't order the prawns....just more beef.