What better accompaniment to raw beef could there be than raw egg? Yuk Hwae has got to be one of the best combinations I have ever eaten. Being crisp, refreshing, smooth and creamy, I can think of few dishes that can compare. As far as raw dishes go, it could give sushi a serious run for its money, but is perhaps lacking in the “sexy” factor. A few Korean restaurants in the Philadelphia area feature a Yuk Hwae bi bim bap (raw beef over vegetables with a delightfully sweet and spicy sauce), but I think Pastoral is the first one I have been to so far that features straight up Yuk Hwae.

I can vividly remember the first time I had the dish. It was years back in San Francisco when I had been getting into sushi and Japanese culture. My girlfriend at the time had been regaling me with stories of beef and horse sashimi back in Japan. I was so jealous that she had the opportunity to try such delicacies, and had no expectation of finding such a dish in the states.

Training at the Kyokushin dojo certainly exposed me to many new experiences and taste sensations. Our sensei lived by the motto that karateka should eat eat eat and drink drink drink. A normal meal should be augmented with three bowls of rice and as many beers as you can drink. Bulgogi (Korean barbeque) fit well into that model. Brothers Korean Restaurant in San Francisco was most likely my first taste of Korean cuisine, and sparked what would become a lifelong love affair with their side dishes and soju!

Raw beef was on the menu. Whoa—Raw beef? None of my companions had any interest in eating it, but it leaped off the page at me like a child’s three dimensional pop-up book. I simply had to taste it. I was served a huge pile of frosty slivers of beef, letting off steam (or whatever you would call the opposite of steam… Evaporative condensation? Fog?) in the hot atmosphere of charcoal grilled meats. As they gorged themselves on bulgogi, I eagerly shoveled heaping piles of the chilled sliced beef into my mouth. I had some apprehension about actually consuming raw beef, but after the first taste, I could have cared less about the consequences. Looking back, it was fairly safe. I have come to believe that Korean restaurants and markets have some of the highest quality and freshest items available, and I have no hesitation about eating raw meats, fish or eggs from them.

While Pastoral on Walnut and Thirteenth can not compare with my first experience of Korean cuisine for whatever combination of factors made the first time so spectacular, they do an excellent job of preparing every dish I have eaten there. I should add that at the great delight of my vegetarian girlfriend they have quite an extensive list of offerings for the meat-impaired. Another great feature of Pastoral is that a lot of the barbeque items, which are typically only offered for groups of two or more, can be made for a single person. That’s great for people like me who live, eat and sleep side by side with the Vegetarian.

Some of the dishes featured in the pictures from this trip include haemul pajun (seafood pan-fried savory pancakes), kimchi jigae (a bubbling cauldron of a kimchi soup), kalbi (seasoned barbeque beef), the Yuk Hwae (raw beef with raw egg and julienned pear whose crispy texture and sweetness is quite a welcomed addition to the dish), and a wonderful selection of side dishes.

June 16th, 2007 by John (Cho-Tabetai)