Arirang Korean BBQ

FOOD

The current Standard AYCE menu starts with a practical mix of beef and pork. Beef brisket cooks quickly and stays relatively lean; beef belly brings more fat; bulgogi adds a sweet-savory marinade. A New York steak option gives the list a thicker cut when the table wants something more substantial than thin slices.

Pork belly appears in several forms, including plain, miso, garlic and spicy versions, along with thin-sliced pork belly and pork bulgogi. The differences are mostly about marinade and thickness, so ordering two styles in separate rounds makes the changes easier to notice. Soy-marinated and spicy-marinated chicken give the grill two lighter alternatives.

Seafood is a smaller part of the Standard menu. Baby octopus can be ordered marinated or spicy, and green mussels provide another break from beef and pork. Vegetables such as onion, squash, asparagus, sweet corn and king oyster mushroom can go onto the grill beside the meat rather than functioning only as side dishes.

The cooked dishes are almost a second menu. Corn cheese, dumplings, spicy rice cakes, kimchi pancake, kimchi fried rice, tonkatsu, potato croquettes, sausage and steamed egg can all be ordered around the barbecue. There are also soybean, soft-tofu and kimchi stews, plus Korean ramen. These dishes make the meal less dependent on how much meat the table wants to grill at once.

A short roll list – California, spicy tuna and tempura – adds another direction, while lettuce, rice paper, radish wraps, sliced jalapeños, rice, ssamjang and pickled onion handle the practical work around the grill. Arirang is not difficult to navigate: start with one or two meats, add a hot side or stew, then use later rounds to change marinades, textures and heat.