U Shao BBQ

This past week I had the delectable pleasure of trying out "U Shao BBQ" (Korean BBQ) on John St.  If you're from Hamilton or the surrounding area and are looking for an interesting experience with "group eating", I would recommend an evening at U Shao!

I should clarify, that by "group eating", I mean an experience similar to sushi.  I always find that sushi is best with larger groups of people, because you are to able to order a greater variety of items...and you aren't left trying to hide five maki rolls from the server to avoid being charged extra for wasted food.  I love going out for sushi with friends and U Shao is very similar to the sushi experience.

You walk in to a beautiful (and large!) restaurant.  The decoration and lighting are ambient.  There are no bright lights or loud noises.  Even the staff speak with almost hushed tones and are light on their feet.

Each table has it's own grill.

Every customer gets their own set of tongs and chopsticks.  The tongs are only to be used for handling and cooking the raw meat.

On the table was a set of five types of dressings/extras.  From the bottom up:  house sauce, kim chi, turnip, bean sprouts and tofu.  Matt grilled the tofu with the meat and it tasted very good.  As well, I had several tastes of the kim chi! Spiced cabbage which I REALLY enjoyed.

The kim chi

We all ordered virgin Pina Coladas. 

So basically, the idea of Korean BBQ is to eat meat.  Lots of meat.  If you're following a low carb diet, this is probably your safest place to eat ethnic food.  Meat and vegetables are primarily what is served, although one can order a side bowl or rice or miso soup if desired.

We ordered A LOT of meat.  It comes raw and using one's tong, you lift it onto the grill and proceed to cook it to your preferred taste:  rarer or more well done.

I was actually SHOCKED when I took my first bite of the sliced beef.  The meat was EXQUISITE.  I was concerned about it being stringy or chewy, but it was soft and tender.

We tried lamb, ox tongue, beef, pork, mussels, calamaric, fish, lamb, chicken, beef ribs...and we even deviated and added grilled vegetables and pineapple!

Mushrooms, onions, green pepper, zucchini, sweet potato.... It was all so...good.
One of my favourite combos was the grilled pineapple and shrimp:

And the mussel was actually good too!

We finished the meal off with some refreshing ice cream and Matt ordered a chocolate pudding that was...pretty strange and nasty.  

I snapped a quick picture of the menu 

So there you have it! An extremely filling and delicious meal.  I wouldn't do it more than once every couple of months, because like sushi it leaves you feeling EXTREMELY full and a bit bloated.  It's a great place to go eat, talk and hang out.  We were there two hours and the staff never once hassled us or urged us to hurry up.  

I hope you go test it out!

(You also view their website here.)