Foods tried - Yakimandu, Jam Bong, Mandu Ramen, Galbi Tang, Kah Soo Dong, Dolsot Bi Bim Bop
Thoughts -
1. Yakimandu - This is your standard potstickers and comes with your soy sauce which has chopped green onions in it. The potstickers are made with pork. You can also order them steamed. There's 8 in an order and they are cooked just right. The skin isn't too chewy and it's definitely cooked to that lovely golden brown color. The pork is well seasoned.
2. Jam Bong - I was looking for a spicy noodle dish and I landed on this one because once in awhile I feel like seafood and this one has plenty of it. They don't kid around with this whole spicy thing. It does make me sweat, but it is so delicious. I can't promise this is a spiciness everyone can tolerate, but if you love spicy food, this is a good one. I'm sure if you asked nicely they can put it in their non-spicy broth but I've never tried so i honestly don't know if they would do it or not.
3. Mandu Ramen - This is hands down my favorite and I've gotten this for the last 15-20 times I've been there because not only is it delicious, it's almost $2 less than the other entrees. It uses the same mandu (dumplings/potstickers) as the Yakimandu. The broth is spicy as well which is perfect. The mandu is very well marinated because of the spicy broth. The ramen is cooked just right. The ramen I cook at home is like theirs about once out of 10 times. The eggs are scrambled and there are some vegetables. Since I love spicy food, I dumped all of the kim chee and picked radish in with everything else. I don't like radishes, but I wanted the spicy stuff off the pieces.
4. Galbi Tang - This is a non-spicy noodle dish. The noodles are a little different. It's thick see through rice noodles so the texture is different as well. Galbi is sliced short ribs. The meat is so tender it falls off the bone. The only reason I haven't gotten it more than once is because I discovered Mandu Ramen. If they ever add the Galbi into the Mandu Ramen, I'll probably never order anything else.
5. Kah Soo Dong - This dish is very similar to a Katsu Don at a Japanese restaurant, except this is made with strips of meat (I usually choose pork) that are not breaded. The cooking method seems to be quite similar and the eggs are around the same consistency as the Katsu Don. It's basically strips of meat sitting on top of white rice with soft scrambled eggs poured over the top + whatever sauce is used. I've asked for it to be made spicy and it was a good addition to the dish.
6. Dolsot Bi Bim Bop - This is a classic Korean dish. The difference between this is regular Bi Bim Bop is that the bowl is pre-baked so that it's incredibly hot. Then once you put in all the rice and all the other stuff in it, the rice continues to cook because of the bowl and starts sticking to the bowl. This is one of the few instances where burnt rice is a good thing. All the meats and veggies are topped with a fried egg (usually sunny side up or over easy). The whole idea of it is that you can pop the yolk and mix the yolk into the dish and add to the taste of it. A red sauce is also provided for the Bi Bim Bop. It looks spicy but it's not really spicy. I'm not quite sure what kind of sauce that is, but I know I don't see this sauce used for anything else.
Final thoughts - Was it Very Yummy In My Tummy? Oh yeah! Will I go back? You know it! Going to U Cafe is like having a Korean mom cook for you. All the ads around the restaurant are either maize and blue or in Korean. Most of the staff speaks minimal English. You order at the counter and they bring it out to you. They also pick it up at the end. I wish there was one closer to me so that O'Sushi would actually have a competition for my business. I've tried other similar restaurants that have popped up at the U of M campus over the years, but in the end their attempts at copying U Cafe's menu are futile because U Cafe has this whole Korean food thing on the lockdown.
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