From birthdays to graduations to anniversaries, Korean Barbeque (BBQ) brings people together around a hot grill to enjoy juicy morsels of protein for any occasion. Like roasting a marshmallow over an open campfire, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your piece of steak being seared and charred to your heart’s content on a grill and tasting the velvety texture of meat and rice in your mouth.
Unfortunately, the craze around Korean Barbeque has caused it to become more of a luxury meal nowadays with restaurants charging extreme amounts per person. As a high school student, it is not always feasible for me to go out and eat BBQ with my friends. How am I going to pay for the bill—with my AP Research papers?
I often frequent Houston’s Chinatown with my friends, and we recently noticed a new spot: Hongdae 33. Illuminated by neon blue and pink LEDs, Hongdae 33 is an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ spot located on the second floor of Chinatown’s Dun Huang Plaza. For $33 a person, you get unlimited access to a variety of cuts of meat and banchan (Korean side dishes) for 90 minutes.
My friends and I knew we had to try it out, when the aroma of the smoking wagyu inside drifted into our noses. I longed for that nostalgic family meal taste, but accompanied by my friends. Entering Hongdae 33, my party of three was greeted with an estimated wait time of 30 minutes. Not horrible, for a Friday at 7 PM. We previously had visited Chinatown’s K-POT, another Korean BBQ restaurant that had wasted our precious time and ran us dry of $30 per person with terrible electric grills and poor quality meats, so we hoped Hongdae 33 would do us justice.
After a grueling 30 minutes of waiting, we got a notification from the restaurant stating that there was a table available for us. We were going to eat this restaurant dry, and we had a game plan to get the most bang for our buck at this restaurant. We planned to focus more on meats, drink minimal water, and avoid tempting carbs like Ramyeon and Tteobokki. DO NOT FALL INTO THE TRAP! Wasting $33 for some water and cheap carbohydrates is not the right move.
The service at Hongdae 33 was exceptional; the waiters were quick to give us our orders. The restaurant’s interior was brightly lit with neon lights, and each gas grill had a kitchen hood. The restaurant has a more urban-based interior design with neon lights. It felt like we were at a restaurant in Seoul’s lively nightlife district.
We started round one off skipping appetizers and going straight into the feast with two plates of Black Angus, LA-style galbi, one plate of a classic ribeye steak bulgogi, a plate of premium-sliced pork belly, a plate of Texas Wagyu sliced beef belly, one plate of cheese corn, one plate of pineapple, and three bowls of steamed rice.
Steamed rice and pineapple are essentials for Korean BBQ. Placing pineapple on top of the meat allows the meat to become more tenderized, while the rice helps cut down the saltiness of the meat and add a pillowy complimenting texture. But remember, don’t eat too much rice! Our favorite cuts from round one were the LA-style galbi and the sliced pork belly. The meats were very rich and fatty, and the texture made us feel like it was melting on our tongues. However because the cuts were wider and thicker, they took longer to cook on the grill and caused the grill to get a bit dirty. Even though it wasn’t our favorite, the Texas Wagyu sliced beef belly was nice, bite-sized, and extremely tender.
We ordered another round with 60 minutes remaining, feeling a little more adventurous and still just as hungry. We sampled from their seafood and banchan options, which included some classic Cajun jumbo shrimp, spicy pickled kimchi, bean sprouts, pickled radish, and cabbage kimchi. To top round two off, we reordered a plate of premium sliced pork belly and Black Angus LA-style galbi, as well as two new plates of miso-marinated flat iron steak.
Typically, seafood options at Korean BQQ spots aren’t the best, but we wanted to try them anyway for the complete experience. To our surprise, the shrimp was delightful. It was very well seasoned with a variety of spices and wasn’t too salty. The best side dishes were the spicy pickled kimchi and cabbage kimchi, which acted as palette cleansers, but were a little salty. The real winner of round two was the flat iron steak. The miso marinade provided a salty-sweet richness to the meat, and the charred taste added from the grilling was perfection.
After our second round, we began to feel the heat. Our stomachs were about to explode, but we were determined to get our money’s worth in our remaining 30 minutes and decided to go all out on the third round and order a plate of galbi marinated pork belly, two more plates of Black Angus LA-style galbi, and two more plates of miso-marinated flat iron steak.
The galbi pork belly was the only cut we hadn’t tried yet, and was similar to the premium sliced pork belly, just with a tangy, sweet-and-salty marinade. We ate the entire third round and left no crumbs with 3 minutes remaining on our timer. In those last few minutes, we finished off all of our banchan and pineapple for dessert and left Hongdae 33 completely satisfied.
Overall, I give Hongdae 33 a solid 9.3/10 stars. One thing that was exceptional about the service at Hongdae 33 was how quickly they gave us our orders. Another thing worth mentioning is the strength of their grill; many overrated Korean Barbeque restaurants use electric grills that take forever to cook the meat, but the grill at Hongdae 33 was very strong. The restaurant is a bit pricey, especially if you are older and want to order alcoholic drinks to enjoy with your meal, but I think the overall experience is completely worth it. Hongdae 33 is now my new favorite Korean barbeque spot.
