Dining Out Southeast: Cafe Korea, Saks, AL

We have passed by this little restaurant for years. Finally, in honor of celebrating my birthday month and trying new spots (for us), we decided to give Cafe Korea in Saks a try. It's a small restaurant and we were honored to be able to meet the owner/chef when she came out to check on our meal to make sure we were satisfied and to ask if we needed anything. We felt like we were in our Korean Mother's house and she was preparing her specialties for us.  Here's the cover of the menu and also a picture of the lunch menu offerings.

Being entirely clueless on what to order, we took a little time with the menu reading the descriptions of the dishes and narrowing down what we thought we would enjoy.

While we did that, we decided to order Yaki Mandu (Korean dumpling that can be steamed or fried. We chose wisely. They were lightly fried and filled with delicious minced vegetables.  The dipping sauce was very flavorful with just a hint of spicy heat. It should be bottled and sold in grocery stores!

Isn't that tantalizingly appetizing? 

Our server next brought out small bowls of pickled cucumbers, pickled daikon radishes, bean sprouts, and Kimchi. I literally could have made an entire meal out of these fermented treats. Everything was fresh and perfectly seasoned. I am a new fan of Kimchi and this serving was delicious.

Sweet Harold decided that the Bibimbop $11.99 was the choice for him. This is a Korean styled salad plus rice topped with radish, bean sprouts, beef Bulgogi, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce, and topped with a fried egg served with a spicy sauce on the side.  This looks like a delicious and healthy bowl of goodness, doesn't it? He was well pleased with his meal.  And yes, a little of the spicy sauce went a long way.  

We each ordered an egg roll to go alongside our meals. Definitely homemade and served piping hot. The dumpling dipping sauce worked well with these egg rolls, too.

The egg rolls were packed with chicken and minced vegetables.

I was torn between the pork bulgogi or beef bulgogi.  I asked our server for his recommendation and he told me the pork was spicy.  Now we all know I love spicy food and I told him that.  He stated that most people ordered beef.  Perhaps he thought that I wouldn't be happy with the spiciness of the pork dish. I ordered the beef with vegetables. This dish is served with a side of steamed rice.  $15.99

The beef was extremely tender and well seasoned. The spicy factor was about a 3/10 for me.  As you can see, this was a very generous serving. Yes, some came home with me!

We will be returning to try more of the "new to us" menu items. A very enjoyable meal.