There are some restaurants you go to because you want to try something new, and then there are restaurants you go to because you already know exactly what you’re craving.
Zhubajie is one of the latter for us.
Whenever we want something warm, savory, and a little spicy, we usually end up here. And it’s the gamjatang in particular that keeps bringing us back.
There’s also a little bit of nostalgia attached to it.
Our first-ever meal when we visited Korea was gamjatang. This was back in 2017, and at the time, I didn't even know what the dish was. I just knew that we had this amazing, bubbling Korean stew in front of us, and somehow that meal stuck with us.
For years, we would talk about that first meal in Korea and how much we wanted to have it again. Except... we had absolutely no idea what the dish was called or where to find it here. Hahaha.
Then we found Zhubajie in Manila.
And suddenly, we could have that same kind of meal again.
So whenever we eat gamjatang here, there’s this little feeling of being transported back to that first trip, sitting around a table in Korea, discovering something completely new, and not knowing yet that it would become one of those meals we'd remember years later.
The gamjatang arrives bubbling in a black pot, with a deep reddish-brown broth and the top piled with enoki mushrooms and greens. Underneath are chunks of pork ribs and potatoes, all sitting in that spicy, savory broth.
The broth is rich without being overwhelmingly heavy, with that deep Korean stew flavor that gets even better as everything keeps simmering together. The pork becomes tender enough to pull apart, while the potatoes soak up the broth and become almost buttery inside.
And then there are the enoki mushrooms. soft, slippery, and perfect for soaking up all that broth.
Also, let's gooo FIBERRR. 😂
It's the sort of dish that makes you want rice even when you told yourself you weren't going to eat that much.
And then there’s the squid pajeon.
This thing comes out huge!! almost comically large for a pancake with a thin, irregularly crisped surface covered in scallions and pieces of squid. The edges get beautifully browned and crunchy, while the middle stays softer and chewy. the dipping sauce brings everything together with that salty, slightly sweet tang.
Between the bubbling gamjatang and the giant pajeon in the middle of the table, this is exactly the kind of meal I think of when I want comfort food rather than an occasion meal.
Nothing complicated. Nothing that needs much explanation.
Just a hot pot, something crispy to share, plenty of rice, and that familiar feeling of:
Yes. This is exactly what I wanted.
And maybe that's why Zhubajie has a little place in my heart.
It isn't just that the food reminds us of Korea.
It's that, for a little while, it reminds us of 2017 us, discovering this dish for the first time and having no idea we'd still be craving it years later.