A few years back, we had the pleasure of visiting Korea and got to taste just a bit of the Korean cuisine. Korean BBQ has been trending across the world for years and now it has also come to Stavanger. On Valentine's Day we decided to head to Matsaya Stavanger and check out their version of the BBQ. Matsaya is located on Nytorget and the restaurant has room for about 25 people. The menu includes Korean BBQ but also hotpot and a la carte. We wanted the BBQ and when ordering this, you have to choose meat, marinade, sauce and your side dishes. We decided to have pork and beef (they come in 200-gram portions) in adobo and yangyeom marinade, chili garlic and gochujang sauces and kimchi, Ssam (lettuce) and spicy cucumber as sides.
This version of BBQ means that you get the food and then you fry it yourself on a platter in the middle of the table. Once the meat is ready, you dip it in the sauce you want and fold it into a lettuce together with your toppings and eat it like a wrap. It might be weird to go to a place, pay money and do most of the work yourself. But it is a fun and interactive way of sharing a meal – especially if you are a group of friends going out. The meat was thinly sliced, and it was easy to fry but the process can be a bit messy, both the frying and the eating. The marinades and sauces did bring back memories from nights out in Seoul even if we felt that some of the marinades and sauces were a bit heavy on the sesame oil.
All in all, it was great to try this again and I enjoyed the taste of marinades and sauces. But at 450 kroner per person this was not a “value for money” meal as the side dishes were quite small. You can get an unlimited package for 90 minutes that will give more value for money but I’m not a great fan of “eat as much as you can” deals. Thanks for bringing Korean BBQ to Stavanger Matsaya – it was fun to try this again!
Note: the last photo below shows the table setup for a group of 4 that were enjoying the unlimited package where you get all the sides.
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