Sooda

When it first opened, I had visited Sooda, even before they had removed all of the previous "Firepots" table burners.  Since I was with only one other person, we ordered the Sooda dakgalbi (that big hotplate of rice) and one more dish.  I never blogged about it because that was not representative of their whole menu.  I did enjoy the rice, despite it costing like $40.00.  It took me until recently to visit it again with my family (more people = more food!).

So before we got to our dishes, we had some of the complimentary Banchan including cabbage and onion salad, cabbage kimchi and seaweed salad.  These were fine where the kimchi was very lightly dressed.  Not the typical version, but okay.  We actually started with some Honey Butter Korean Fried Chicken consisting of chicken wings.  I found the batter to be lightly crunchy and sauced enough.  However, the skin wasn't rendered enough.  The meat was tender and juicy though.

One of their signature items is their Sooda Box, so we ordered the full 46cm version.  This featured premium Korean steak tartar atop boxed sushi rice.  It was drizzled with spicy aioli and then torched.  A slice of jalapeno graced each piece.  This was really good witch chewy rice and buttery tender beef.  Lots of spice and spiciness to go around.  We didn't stop there and also got the full Cheese Sooda Box with melted and torched mozzarella on top.  We enjoyed this one very much since they didn't skimp on the cheese.  Much more rich and heavier than the regular sooda box.

We also had some Korean BBQ in the form of Beef Belly and Pork Jowl.  This was a reasonable amount of quality meat for the price.  Using their induction burners (that replaced the old firepots branded ones), the BBQ got hot enough for searing.  Hence, the meats came out well and were tender.  The pork jowl had the usual rebound texture.  As for the fatty beef belly, it was soft and buttery.  Not bad for a place that doesn't specialize in Korean BBQ.

Lastly, we had the Sweet Pork Ribs with Mozza.  The description said it all where the ribs were fall-off-the-bone while maintaining a meatiness.  They were sauced with sweet soy.  The side of melted bubbling mozzarella was a cheesy accompaniment to the pork.  Rather heavy dish, but it is meant to be shared anyways.  So I didn't get to order the rice again since we had enough food and also there was not enough table space either.  I can confirm it is a large order best shared by more than 2 people.  For the rest of the food we had, it was more than acceptable and I can see why the place is busy.  Things aren't exactly cheap, but portions make up for it.

The Good:
- Some unique dishes
- Fairly large portions
- That Sooda Box is a must order

The Bad:
- Prices are on the higher side, especially for the signature items (but portions are large)
- Place gets busy and you will need to lineup