Golden Bell Korean Restaurant

" Food without wine is a corpse; Wine without food is a ghost; United and well matched they are body and soul- living partners" Andre Simon (Author of A Flummery of Food)

I take this quote to heart because up until five weeks ago the concept of wine tasting anything but horrible was a foreign one. Don't get me wrong, I understand the theory of it all- the notes, mellow undertones and subtle flavours that come from a 'good' year. BUT. It just smells so wrong. Like Bleh. But i digress- Let me start at the beginning...

So my love affair of all things Korean started with Netflix. I strongly recommend that you watch Cunning Single Lady because I CRIED. I also fell in love with the concepts of kimchi and soju. I learned how to say 'kansamida' and 'kinchana?' Which mean thank you and are you okay respectively in Korean- not that i'm an expert or anything. But it got me all fired up wanting to step out of my comfort zone with food- and this is where I ended up on my first pit stop of my culinary education.

I actually ended up by this fantastic restaurant on a Wednesday afternoon about 5-6 weeks ago when I hopped on a plane after wrangling and begging the travel agent to do me a favour and put me on a flight to Trinidad so I could go to class. Long story short- I was late, Reached into PoS after 7pm and it just did not make sense to go to COSTAATT. So I called my bestie and was like "hey i'm ditching class until next week, wanna meet up?"

We decided to meet at movietowne in Invaders Bay to catch up and have drinks. But looking at the menu options it was fancy surf and turf, brazilian surf and turf, unappealing italian or fast food. And I was not about to spend $500 on rubbish. So entirely disheartened we made a call and Golden Bell was highly recommended.

Stepping into Golden Bell was weird. There was no one there but the host. ALL the tables were empty. And it was really quiet. Like creepy quiet- But hey I was already there. Looking at the menu was like reading gibberish- the words looked like they were supposed to make sense, but they kind of didn't. So when the host came to the table he was like are you ready to order? Huh? Where's the menu? Wow. Apparently the menu doubles as a placemat....


Yikes! Didn't see that coming.... Totally mortified I ordered the only two things I know about- Kimchi and soju. They didn't have soju, but the korean bbq came with a side dish of kimchi. Yay! At least I didn't have to die a social death by stereotyping korean food... Anyway the restaurant is Shabu Shabu which is a kind of dish where you steam your vegetables and meats in this really fragrant kind of fish sauce- that tastes way more appetizing than it sounds.

Totally unexpected to cook your own food, but it adds to the charm of the place- plus its fun trying not to overcook your squid while simultaneously keeping and eye on your beef rib eye before it burns. Since they didn't have any soju I asked what the other options were- Bobokbinju (yes, it's a mouthful) A mouthful of exquisite light and crisp raspberry wine from the Korean Gods!!! how do I describe it? The wine is a bit sweet, deep red and served chilled in these little unassuming cups. It just perfectly cuts through the slight fattiness of the beef, but works so well with the crispness of the lettuce wrap- Not to mention the added bonus of using it to wash down the remnants of my lettuce wrap after I almost choked trying to get it down in 'ONE BITE!" 

To me, a person who hates rice dishes and all things vegetable, eating steamed patchoi and plain rice has probably been the most appetizing thing since- forever. The total cohesion of food and wine is what has really inspired me to do the wine part of this blog especially. So yes, since then I have probably eaten at Golden Bell at least four times and while I love the seafood shabu and beef bbq, I actually have a date with some divine looking ginseng chicken- or maybe I'll be adventurous and try the duck!

Until Next Time You Guys!!!!
Ps. Look forward to some interesting posts from Blue Food Festival!