Kang Tong Degi - 3702 Telegraph Ave

This is the sign outside Kang Tong Degi, which is why it is known by PIC and I as "Nameless Korean place next door to New Big Daddy's."



Thanks to Yelp for filling in the blanks and giving me a name (and photo!) of this place for our blog.

Note that this is yet another Korean restaurant without windows. What on earth is the deal with this trend? Enlightenment from someone Korean, please.

In any case: This was our third try at Korean food, so we were feeling a little more comfortable with things. We walked in to find a vaguely hipster atmo much like Dan Sung.

We had two guest eaters with us for this adventure. One is a vegetarian, which would prove to be her undoing.

Like Sam Won BBQ, this place will bring you little grills to cook your meat. Unlike Sam Won, the grills are electric rather than giving you the satisfaction of actual fire. Also unlike Sam Won, you get way less condiments and groovy veggies, and the meat was frozen.

The quality of this meat paled in comparison to our impression of the Sam Won meat, and without actual flame we knew that this place just wasn't going to be as good. However, the atmo is groovier and it really puts you in the mood to drown yourself in some soju.

Unfortunately, vegetarian options are extremely limited. Our veggie friend ended up ordering some crazy noodle dish in a spicy sauce that was so hot she couldn't eat it. We're not sure what it was called; the menu wasn't very non-Korean-friendly.

What we ordered: Double beef BBQ (Sirloin and something else in chunks), vegetarian noodle thing with Ass-Burn-hot sauce, soju
Atmo: Korean hipster bar
Crowd: us and young Korean hipsters
Spent: Around $40 for 4 people
Overall rating: 3 sporks

We wouldn't go here again for the Korean BBQ (we'd go to Sam Wong BBQ), and with Dan Sung down the street with a similar groovy atmo and awesome chicken wings, we probably just wouldn't go here again, period.

However, we're glad we tried it out. At this point, the PIC has decided that she may actually be tired of Korean food. This is a problem, because we have at least 2 more Korean places that we know of before we get into the fancy stretch of Telegraph where Dona Tomas and Pizzaiolo live. Yikes.