8 Reasons Why I Like Bulgogi Brothers

Korean food is one of my favorite cuisines. The food is generally very, very flavorful. Their food can be sweet and salty or spicy to burning hot. There’s something for everyone.

Imagine my delight to finally get to eat at Bulgogi Brothers in Alabang Town Center right after attending the blessing of Chatime. Bulgogi Brothers is a Korean franchise with it’s first branch at Greenbelt 5 in Makati.

Let me tell you upfront I LIKED my experience at Bulgogi Brothers. Here are the reasons why.

1. The restaurant didn’t smell like barbecue and we left without smelling like barbecue. They had a great exhaust system.

2. They had a simple and straightforward 2 page menu with all time favorites and some new ones. I find it terribly confusing to go through 10-20 paged menus in some Korean restaurants. I was just disappointed that there wasn’t any pajeon (Korean style pancake) in the menu.

Bulgogi Brothers Manila menu

3. They had appetizers which I found uncommon and yummy. First up was boiled sweet, sweet potatoes and quail eggs. I’ve never had this in any Korean restaurant I’ve eaten at in Manila, Hong Kong or the USA.

sweet potatoes and quail eggs

Another appetizer I really liked was the mashed pumpkin salad. Other Koreans served mashed potatoes or potato salad. These were a healthier and sweeter option.

4. I’ve never ever had free bottomless salad in any Korean restaurant either. I’ve stopped eating white rice completely and it’s specially hard to resist rice in a Korean restaurant. I was perfectly happy and satisfied to eat my bulgogi beef with the salad. The dressing was a sweet and mildly spicy sauce that perfectly complemented the beef.

salad

5. Hot Bori cha (barley tea) was free and bottomless too. They had different kinds of daily teas. My only gripe was the barley tea was a bit diluted. It wasn’t as strong and potent as the one I had at Yabu:The House of Katsu. But hey, it’s free so I didn’t complain. Maybe the Korean version tastes different from the Japanese barley tea?

Korean bori cha (barley tea)

6. I simply loved the crispy tofu with sweetish teriyaki sauce and topped with beef and bland bean sprouts. The best way to eat is to take a piece of tofu and top it with a little beef and bean sprouts. The combination of textures and flavors was just divine. On my next visit I want to eat a whole order as my meal.

dubu steak P395

7.  They have portions perfect for family style sharing. There were 11 of us in our party and we ordered 3 Bulgogi Brothers special since the menu said each order was good for 2-3 people. Either my friends were light eaters or they were wrong since we had a lot of leftovers. Two orders would have sufficed since we ordered other food items too.

Bulgogi Brothers special P1,495

8. If you don’t want to cook the beef yourself on the tabletop grill they can cook it for you. This minimizes your chances of smelling like barbecue too.

I was surprised that one of the meat was actually beef burgers Korean style.

unyang style bulgogi

The burgers were just ok but when dipped in the brown and red sauce it became awesome burgers. They were specially good eaten with the salad.

Another pleasant and delicious surprise were the thinly sliced pan fried sweet potatoes that came with the mini burgers.

The thinly sliced beef bulgogi was perfectly seasoned in my opinion and didn’t need any sauce at all.

gwangyang style bulgogi

My not so likes are:

1. The kimchi tofu stew had a mildly spiced tomato based soup with firm tofu. It wasn’t bad at all but it was a poor comparison to the one I had in Virginia where there was more than double the quantity of soft silken tofu in a more flavorful broth.

2. The galijim or braised short rib’s to share portion was ridiculously expensive for such a small serving. The menu said it was good for 3-4 people but there was only a small amount of beef and more bones.

The beef was tender but lost it’s meaty flavor probably from the long cooking time. The sweet sauce couldn’t make up for the lack of flavor. Of all the food we ordered this was the only dish I wouldn’t order again.

galbijim (braised short ribs) P1,495

3. A bowl of rice cost P75. It’s good that the Bulgogi Brothers special came with a couple of bowls of rice already so we only had to order 3 extra bowls. I heard it was good though. But honestly, P75? Oh yeah, canned soda cost P75 too. I’ll stick to the free tea.

4. It cost P926 per person for our lunch. Quite pricey but we had lots of leftovers. If we skipped the galbijim the bill would be a more reasonable P650 per person.

Would I go back? Definitely!!!!

Bulgogi Brothers
Lower Ground Level, Alabang Town Center
Alabang-Zapote Road, Alabang Muntinlupa
Metro Manila, Philippines
telephone: 919-6840


3rd Level, Greenbelt 5, 
Paseo de Roxas cor. Legaspi St., 
Ayala Center, Makati City
telephone: 621-6216, 621-5289