I’ve been a huge fan of Korean food going on 40 years now (had a half Korean friend starting when I was about 20).
For our niece’s birthday today, we went to one of those trendy Korean barbecues. The place was huge, and freakin’ packed with people hopefully vaccinated. I’ll admit, it was pretty good, beef, pork, chicken and I insisted on ordering squid. My issue is I missed all the traditional pickles as obligatory sides. I had to actually order kimchi. There were a few pickled vegetables present, but it was so sparse. I actually ate all of these sparse sides myself, and we were a table of 6.
Korean food was often a winter thing for me. I’d go and order one of the spicy soups with all those sides, just a wondrous combination of spicy warm goodness to comfort you. I can still order my favorite speaking Korean, it’s all I know in Korean. I need to go soon to a more traditional place.