Chae Banh Korean Cuisine

This was the next leg of our trip. Can you believe D and I spent nearly 14 hours together without strangling each other?

As much good friends that we are, we've never spent that much time together for anything!  Luckily the radio station we were listening to was playing all 80's that weekend. D's charger for her iPod was broken, so the radio it was.

It was quite pleasant not having to battle over the radio because I didn't like what she was listening to or vice versa. We really enjoyed the playlists because it was pretty fun playing name that tune and hearing some lesser known songs from the past. If you've ever ridden in a car with me, it's pretty much my way or no way (i.e. My music or no music). I feel so self conscious listening to some of the stuff I really like with friends that are into more "tamer" music that's why I don't listen to my Metallica, old Van Halen, Guns 'n Roses, or Iron Maiden with just anybody! If it's not my car, then I usually suck it up and listen to their preference. It's only polite right?

Well, D and I were back at the Diamond Jamboree strip mall for several reasons. We wanted to go back to Bon Epi to pick up a few more pastries (for her, a gift to relatives). The line at 85C across the way was fkg long so we didn't bother going there again. For dinner, we wanted to try the Korean place next to Bon Epi, Chae Banh.

We were served a selection of panchan first...pickled radish, chapchae noodles, kim chee and some other type of vegetable plus a bowl of hot sauce along with our seaweed soup.

You can see updating her status on FB, ha ha. She ordered a bowl of the beef bulgogi with rice which was served in a big stone pot. It smelled delicious and tasted just as good as it promised.

I ordered the Bibimbap - a rice dish with various ingredients (julienned vegetables and meat) that you are SUPPOSED to mix with a raw egg. The girl asked if I knew how to eat this and I told her 'yes' so she could get off my back. There WAS a raw egg yolk in the middle but I took it out then snapped this shot. So, there I was eating this dish with the ingredients separately and without the raw egg as well. The waitress came by again and said, "Oh, I can mix that for you" but I politely told her "no thanks" and that I preferred to eat it this way. I'm sure she was itching to just take my chopsticks and mix that shit up for me. But no, I picked over the pieces I wanted to eat. I barely touched the rice (trying to avoid too much carbs).

You can see the ostracized egg yolk that I placed in exile in the empty panchan dish. Damn egg.

The tea was a sweet cinnamon flavor which I did not like at all. Not a fan of cinnamon and not a fan of tea I am.

There's that longa$$ line for 85C Bakery...

Overall, dinner was all right. The food was good but a little pricy for my tastes. We could get cheaper Korean in San Diego. The service was very nice but I'm suspecting the waitress thought I was a clueless cretin for not wanting to have my bibimbap mixed up like it was supposed to.

But wait there's more!

Dessert was waiting for us upstairs...