Whenever we make a Home Depot run, it is a requisite that we time it just right that we have to go out to dinner afterwards. Sometimes, it's a cheap trip to Baja Fresh or a belly-filling stop at Rexy's Bangkok Cuisine. Last night, when we went to order a new storm door at the Depot in Royal Oak, we swung down to Clawson for a little Korean food.
Shilla has become a regular in our repetoire of local favorites. It is stylishly decorated, with one dining room set off as a typical sushi bar, and the other room as a traditional Korean restaurant, complete with tableside grills.
On past occasions, I have opted for the sushi-bar side, typically ordering a selection of their vegetarian rolls--cucumber with preserved plum, spicy asparagus, etc. But usually, we take the grill side, but never order the grill (that's reserved for dinners with my family, which we LOVE). Todd sticks with his old standby, Dol Sot Bibimbap, which is a traditional Korean rice dish, loaded with fresh vegetables and, in his case, tofu instead of beef, served in a sizzling stone pot. It's topped with a fried egg, which you stir into the rice and vegetables to create a creamy sauce. When combined with the spicy red condiment served with, it becomes a deliciously satisfying meal in itself. Last night, instead of my usual Udon noodle soup with tempura shrimp, I bypassed the soup and just ordered a plate of the shrimp tempura. It was accompanied by a variety of tempura-battered vegetables. It was a deep fried extravaganza, which I loved, but would probably never order again, unless it's shared with a large group. Holy moly, was it too much!
Thankfully, every meal is preceded by an array of traditional condiments in little white bowls--kimchi (a spicy, fermented cabbage pickle that smells like feet), cold steamed bean sprouts drizzled with sesame oil, a potato salad, surprisingly sweetened with bits of fresh apple, and about a half dozen others. When eaten with meat or fish or, in my case, tempura shrimp, it helps to cut the "meatiness" of the food with a cool, crisp, freshness.
As we learned a couple of trips ago, it's good to find a favorite and stick with it. I'm all for being adventurous when it comes to food, but we learned our lesson last time when we ordered the seafood hotpot: a metal pot boiling on a hotplate at our table, filled to the brim with shrimp, mussels, clams, crab pieces, and lobster, in a spicy seafood broth. It was the most stressful meal I had ever encountered, all that seafood gurling in our hot, sweaty faces, so we rushed through dinner just to get out of there! Lesson learned: Shilla is a terrific restaurant, but do a little research--or at least invite a friend who's fairly familiar with Korean cuisine--before you stray from the basics.
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