“What kind of meat do you want?” our server asked.
“Everything,” my husband, Jerry, answered. “Everything.”
Korean barbecue is his comfort food. His mother is Korean, and an excellent and prolific cook. Because of the two, I am something of a kimchi snob. While I can’t put away barbecued meat like my husband can, I also find it immensely comforting.
A place we return to whenever we’re craving some comfort, especially when the days get dark and drizzly, is Secret Garden in Lynnwood.
It’s not fancy. Everything looks old and well used and the carpet is faded. But the food is plentiful and delicious. If you ever leave hungry, that’s your own fault.
Secret Garden has a menu, but, frankly, I don’t usually bother to look at it. If you do, you’ll find some enticing options. The short ribs have caught my eye, for example. The Korean short ribs, or kalbi, are usually fabulous.
What you really want to order, though, is the buffet ($18.95 for adults and $9.95 for kids 4-8). Calling it a buffet is a bit misleading. There’s no actual buffet. Everything is brought to your table and the server cooks the meat on a little grill in the middle of the table.
First, the server will bring out approximately 10 little side dishes, collectively called banchan. You’ll have some seaweed salad, bean sprout salad, lotus root, fried tofu, kimchi, kkakdugi (square kimchi made from a type of radish) and, strangely, coleslaw and a type of potato salad.
On our most recent visit, the tofu was particularly good. It was perfectly fried, with a thick, pleasingly crunchy crust. It was almost creamy on the inside. It was drizzled with a slightly spicy, slightly sweet red sauce. The kimchi and the kkakdugi were both excellent as well, nearly as good as my mother-in-law’s, and that’s saying something. The kimchi had a bit of a kick, but not too much. The kkakdugi was pleasingly crisp.
I also really enjoy the lotus root. The flavor is good, but mostly I’m always amused by its entertaining shape, kind of like a fat wagon wheel. The coleslaw was fine, but I mostly ignored it. Who wants coleslaw at a Korean restaurant? The potato salad was like some weird mixture between potato salad and mashed potatoes. It was strangely sweet. It should have been unpleasant but it was actually rather good, if a bit out of place.
For the meat, we had beef, spicy pork, chicken and squid. All were delicious. The beef and pork are my favorite. My daughter preferred the chicken. Jerry ate everything, except the squid which he left for my mom and me to enjoy.
You can eat the meat however you like, of course. We think it’s best rolled up in a lettuce leaf with a bit of rice and some of the bean paste dip they provided, like a Korean burrito. They also bring small bowls of sesame oil with salt and pepper. I love these and dip my little lettuce wraps frequently.
Cooking the meat is part meal, part entertainment. The server puts the meat out on the grill and usually comes back and watches it for you. Then, when it’s ready, she’ll chop it up and set it on a side plate. At least, that’s what happened every other time we’ve eaten here.
This time our waitress was rather inattentive. We had to ask repeatedly for an extra set of chopsticks and water. We had to monitor the meat ourselves, which wasn’t really a problem, it’s rather fun. But when we ran out of banchan and lettuce we had to ask twice for each before she brought more. We’ve never had this problem before, so hopefully they were just having an off night.
All of us finished eating well before my husband. He was still happily scooping up meat while I was trying to stop eating at comfortably, rather than painfully, full. He’s had many more years of practice than I have, though, so what should I expect?
Secret Garden Korean BBQ and Buffet
21025 Highway 99, Lynnwood; 425-771-5546
Hours: 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily
Alcohol: Beer and wine only
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