Chogajib

Chogajib, are Korean houses which were built using bundles of dry straw left over from a harvest. The straw thatching protected houses against the summer heat and prevented warmth from escaping during the winter.



Chogajib is also the name of the Korean restaurant that my student brought me to last night for dinner and a few bottles of San Miguel's light beer. Located near Donada Street (walking distance from Pablo Ocampo Sr. Street), the small quaint restaurant reminded me of some of the restaurants I was able to visit during my past trips to South Korea. I've always been a big fan of authentic Korean food specially since they use a lot of veggies and spices.



We decided to order two orders of Samgyupsal (pork slices with fat). Two orders because this is the minimum for this kind of dish. They will cook the pork slices in front of you (typical Korean cooking style) so expect your shirt to smell once you step out of the restaurant (typical Korean restaurant)


Our food attending cooking the pork slices for us. (does he look bored or what? hehe)


I actually forgot to take pictures early on which is why there were only a few pork slices left when i started snapping pictures. Normally, there would be around 20 slices.


The 'free' side dishes that came with our order. All items except for the pork slices are refillable, typical Korean restaurant style.

Side dishes include: (some photos may not be focused on properly as yours truly already had a few bottles of beer hehe, nah, I just forgot to set my camera properly)

Kimchi - a Korean food staple. I never really appreciated Kimchi but now, I'm getting to enjoy its tangy taste.


Tofu - Be it cooked the Chinese, Japanese or Korean way, I just love tofu. Unfortunately, nowadays, I have to curb my tofu craving due to my above acceptable uric acid level.


Roasted peanuts that taste sweet. Another food to avoid.


Veggies (with beer on the side) used to wrap the pork slices. How healthy!


Veggie stuffers for the vegetable leaf wrapped pork slice.


Sliced veggies which is similar to the Filipino's atchara.


Tofu soup (another no-no for me but I did try it anyway). Very tasty soup which kind of reminded me of miso soup.

Korean food definitely is on my list of food that I would love to keep on going back to. Filling and delicious at the same time. Plus, where else can you get unlimited refills of the side dishes! Given the chance, I would definitely go back to Chogajib. The client mix was not entirely Korean...there were some Filipinos and some Chinese students so this is an indication that the restaurant is good because of the affordable food that they serve. We only spent around Php650 (around US$ 14) which, aside from the food pictured above, also included six bottles of beers...not bad actually.

Correction: I actually spend Php760 (app US$ 17) and not Php 650 as indicated above...must have been too drunk to really notice