I recently tried a new (to me) Korean restaurant that was pretty interesting: Garden Buffet up in motel-land on Lincoln. GB is a big place in a strip mall. The room itself is kind of odd. It's painted that awful institutional light green and has these weird trellis-like light fixtures on the ceiling. There are some booths around the walls and a bunch of tables in the center around the actual buffet. There is a huge TV mounted above the buffet (showing a hockey game the night we were there). There's even a fishpond sunk into the floor with some goldfish and turtles swimming around. It's certainly different; I've never seen anything quite like it. The assortment of food is very large and I doubt that too many people would have the stamina to try everything. Like most buffets the quality varies but there are enough really good dishes to make an excellent meal. Toward the back to the left is a plastic cabinet holding premade sushi. Not the greatest sushi but there was an interesting roll made with a Korean fish cake that I'd never had before. Premixed soy/wasabi is found in little teapots near the cabinet. I wouldn't waste too much stomach capacity on the sushi if I were you. I wish I could give a complete report on what was available but I simply can't remember it all. There's a nice variety of cold dishes including sliced raw skate in chili sauce, 4 or 5 kinds of kimchee and that American-style potato salad that always turns up in Chicago Korean restaurants (anyone know the story on this, do they really eat this stuff in Korea?). Plenty of fried things (many of which suffered from their time spent on the table), several dumplings, some noodle dishes and a variety of more substantial hot dishes. There's a good selection of raw meats meant to be grilled by you at your table. They have marinated sliced ribs (kalbi), a pretty spicy pork as well as squid, shrimp, intestines, and several other things. One little problem is that nothing is labeled and our server spoke little English so you may be pretty much on your own. When you're ready to start cooking the hostess radios back to the kitchen and a guy wearing a radio headset comes running out with a bucket of flaming coals and puts it in the hole in the center of your table. You are supplied with a set of tongs and a pair of kitchen shears, then it's up to you. I'm no expert but I believe the proper protocol for eating most of the grilled meats is to take a lettuce leaf, add a bit of rice, maybe a few sprouts, a smear of soy/chili paste, and a bit of meat, then roll it all up and eat like a burrito. They have a lousy beer selection, only OB and Miller (hard to say which is worse). Probably you'd be better off with soju, a vodka-like drink. I think the price for all this is $16.49, not a bad deal at all. You can probably get a better meal at some other restaurants (at least if you're with someone who speaks Korean; Kang Nam on Kedzie or Woo Chon on California come to mind) but if you want to try a wide variety of Korean foods, some pretty darn good, GB is very much worth a visit. Garden Buffet 5347 N Lincoln Av Chicago 773-728-1249
Chicago, IL