Jinbin Korean Grill and BBQ Food Review
Jinbin Korean Grill and BBQ is located at Purok Talisay, Roxas Ext., Digos City and is one of the two Korean restaurants in the city. Click here for my review of Mama's Noodle House.
What I tried:
Samgyeopsal (Regular Php 149, Unlimited Php 249)
Yangnyeom Chicken (Half-chicken Php 250)
Brown Rice Tea "hyeonmi cha" (Php 45)
Beef Bibimpap (Php 139)
Kimbap (Php 139)
Kimchi bokkeumbap (Php139)
Beef Bulgogi Rice Bowl
Jeyuk bokkeum Rice Bowl
Iced Coffee
The typical samgyeopsal meal consists of medium thick slices of pork belly (looks like bacon strips) that you grill with garlic and white onion on a hot plate. The cooked and crispy meat, together with the side dishes, are arranged inside of a lettuce leaf then topped with dipping sauce of your choice, rolled into a bun, and finally taken into the mouth in one bite. That’s the traditional way of eating samgyeopsal. Anyhow, you get to decide how to eat it, which is part of the reason why samgyeopsal is a popular dish for diners.
Jinbin’s samgyeopsal dish regular serving includes about eight pieces of pork belly strips, garlic, slices of white onion, and lettuce; the side dishes: kimchi, seasoned dried anchovies "myeolchi-muchim", and braised peanuts (I think it’s supposed to be braised black soybeans “kongjorim” but these aren’t available locally, hence their improvisation); and a dipping sauce duo: "ssamjang" , a chili-soybean paste with sesame oil mixture and the other is "gireumjang" , made of salt and sesame oil with a small amount of black pepper .
The pork strips could be thicker, at least a quarter of an inch, so they could turn out crispy but juicy. Among the side dishes, the seasoned dried anchovies were my favorite. It was crispy, sweet, salty and spicy. The braised peanuts were watery and were supposed to be salty like the anchovies but it was pleasant nonetheless. I think it would be better if they replace it with a vegetable side dish such as cucumber pickles so as not to repeat flavors. It would also provide juicy crunchiness when you bite into the rolled samgyeopsal. The kimchi was a little bit on the sour side but was still appetizing and it doesn’t smell strongly of fermented squid or oyster that some kimchis do.
The simple dipping sauce duo is commendable for the tang and savory taste that sort of brings together the whole components of the dish. The gireumjang is perfect for seasoning the samgyeopsal if you want to taste the cooked meat by itself.
As long as the ingredients are excellent, you really can’t go wrong (unless you’re a lousy griller) with samgyeopsal because you can customize each element of this dish to your liking. I have ordered this dish again on my second visit, and I am thinking about a third time.
Yangnyeom Chicken is very crunchy on the outside but juicy on the inside with a sweet and spicy hot glazing that is the stuff of my wildest fried chicken dreams. Yeah. The reason why I visited Jinbin’s was because I was craving for Korean style fried chicken.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t satisfied. Although, the glaze was spot on,you taste the sticky sweetness first and then it gets spicy and hot all over your mouth, but the crunch wasn’t there; a major blunder because crunchiness is the characteristic of the authentic Korean fried chicken. It probably wasn’t double fried hence the soggy exterior. The chicken was dry and you can tell by the color of the bones that it was frozen for quite some time.
The dish came with rolled omelette "gyeranmari" that were light and fluffy and an eggplant side dish "gaji-namul" which was also tasty.
For beverage, I always choose tea or plain water over soft drinks. Tea is light, refreshing, and soothing to the stomach, which makes it perfect when devouring large meals. I opted for the brown rice tea "hyeonmi cha" and was rewarded with its nice nutty aroma and flavor.
The bibimap, or mixed rice, smelled sour like a spoiled meal. Not to worry though since vinegar, along with the red pepper paste, is part of the seasoning. The big serving consisted of carrot and cucumber strips, stir-fried ground beef and onions and sunny side up egg on top of white rice. Instead of soybean sprouts, which aren't available locally, Jinbin's used mung bean sprouts or togue.
The beef was seasoned perfectly, not too salty nor too sweet. There was enough hot pepper paste to keep you eating the plain rice and the vegetables were crunchy and fresh. I am very satisfied with Jinbin's version of bibimpab.
Gimbap or kimbap is a seaweed rice roll made of gim (a sheet of dried seaweed) and bap (rice). Served in bite-size pieces, each roll has carrots, cucumber, egg, spinach and other choice ingredients.
Jinbin's kimbap was delicious.It was light, fresh, crunchy and savory. Perfectly balanced. Eating it kind of made me happy. :)
Kimchi bokkeumbap is kimchi fried rice. Basically, the rice is flavored with stir-fried chopped kimchi and pork and garnished with green onions. My grandmother is the pickiest of all eaters. She ordered this dish and we (the family) were relieved because she really liked it. It was seasoned perfectly and wasn't too greasy. This is a pretty easy dish that you can cook at home.
There's not much to rave about Jinbin's Beef Bulgogi other than this is a delicious rice bowl meal. The beef strips were tender and perfectly seasoned: sweet, salty, savory. I would probably enjoy this better wrapped in lettuce leaves and dipped in sauce.
Koreans season almost everything with soy sauce, hot pepper flakes and paste, sesame oil, brown sugar, and roasted sesame seeds. Just thinking about these ingredients makes my mouth water. Add that to pork belly or pork shoulder , some vegetables and voila! In under twenty minutes you have Jeyuk Bokkeum or Korean spicy stir-fried pork.
We were served with Iced Coffee freebies yaaaayyy! With its beautiful balance of coffee and dairy, this refreshing drink stole my heart. Not too sweet, not too strong nor too creamy, just perfect. The aroma was earthy but the taste was heavenly.
All in all it was a nice experience for me. I had a great time: the staff were friendly and very attentive. If you don’t know which food items on the menu will be agreeable to your taste, the staff are more than willing to explain to you each dish and to even teach you the Korean way of eating it. The food was great although some items probably needs review and improvement. I am excited to try Jjamppong and Kimchi Jigae next.
