Korea Palace--Bayan Lepas

We wanted to explore more Korean Food as a family, and I had spotted a fabulous Groupon for this set meal at half-off.

The catch was that the restaurant was on the south side of the island, near the airport. (There was a branch just 8 minutes from where we live).

We all arrived hungry...












But the lively and flamboyant 'K-Pop' on TV really intrigued the kids.

My head was hurting, and I was fighting off a bug. 

I hope the kids would take to the food--I crave Korean Food at times! The pumpkin soup served above was very sweet, and magnified my headache. I guess I just don't like cold soup.

The Herbal Tea was very bland and very refreshing. Kind of like watered down cold green tea.

Next came the 'Banchan'--pickled assorted appetizers, of which Kimchi is most famous. Unlike many other cuisine where the entree/main course is the star, good Banchan is the hallmark of a Korean Meal.

Here, the 7 varieties were re-fillable, and I liked all of them! Here is the ubiquitous Kimchi. From the bold, tanginess, we could infer that it was very mature! Monica prefers fresh, milder Kimchi.

Monica really enjoyed the pickled Daikon shown below, and the deep purple Lotus Root.

We both favored this spinach-like dish.

Aria liked the salad broccoli and cauliflower with red bean paste, and the beansprout. Then the main courses came out. Ian and Monica liked the earthy Duck Bulgogi.

I actually enjoyed the Pork Bulgogi more.

While I enjoyed the Bulgolgi, I knew that the Kimchi Chigae (Soup) would be even less popular because of its chili-heat.

And it tastes as fiery as it looks, served in a heated ceramic bowl.

Filled with sliced pork, kimchi and tofu, this intensely spicy, sour, and pungent soup cleared my head!

Ian liked the flavor, but the combination of heat from spice and temperature was almost too much for him.

Aria was thrilled with the sticky rice--no surprise!

She is after all, our sushi rice and Thai Sticky Rice monster!

Very soon, Aria was in carb-coma heaven!

The K-Pop was numbing her brain!

As much as it hurt, Ian kept returning the the Chigae Soup.

He said that he really liked the flavors, but found the experience too intense to consume a lot of it.

We had 2 bowls of the stuff, and so I was happy to let 1 cool off for him to play with.

I had deferred the items on the table to the family first. But now that they were full, it was time to clean up.

At some point sooner than I expected, the rice started to swell.

Sadly I had to stop asking for banchan refills.

I was officially stuffed!

But happy!

Our server was very attentive, and when she noticed us slowing down, gathered the watermelon and dessert bowls. I took the opportunity to start a dessert battle!

When I was distracted, Ian countered!

Aria could care less if no one attacked her delicious watermelon.

She happily nibbled it away--whittling it down to nothing.

Looks like we can add Korean Food to our list of things we like to eat in Penang!

~ Shien