I was dazzled when I stepped into Wako Honey Pig. I’d expected a low-key Korean BBQ restaurant in Buena Park’s tourist district. Instead, I found cheerful interiors brightened with dozens of pendant lights. Young Korean waiters chimed welcomes – there are enough pretty boys here to make two Asian NSyncs – and the restaurant was filled with the sizzles of meat.
Every now and then, I step into an Asian restaurant I can’t believe is actually in America. Fountain Valley specializes in this with Kappo Honda, Shin Sen Gumi and Tsuruhashi. Buena Park’s got its own corner of Middle East with Golden Nights; and now I know, also a slice of Korea with Wako Honey Pig.
Wako Honey Pig is divided into two sections. Wako, on the right of the entrance, serves donkasu (aka tonkatsu), a Japanese style of breaded and deep fried meat cutlets served atop rice. Honey Pig, left of the entrance, is a much larger, busier area for grilled meals.
Instead of the usual rectangular grills, Honey Pig’s grills resemble upside-down woks. Eating Korean BBQ is a communal affair – most tables had at least four people. Don’t come alone. When we sat down, the waiter immediately began to fill the outer ring of the grill with alternating sections of kimchi bean sprouts and napa cabbage.
We also got a big bowl of shredded green onions, small plates of bean paste, chili paste, and a ground sesame seed/black pepper oil dip, plus stacks of smooth, rice sheets (imagine rice noodle in the shape of a square).
We went with the waiter’s recommendation of pork belly (about $19) and beef short rib prime (about $25). The prices are on the higher side, but we got 14 slices of meat per plate – a lot for a party of two. As the meat cooked near the hotter center of the grill, melted fat (plus the butter the waiter added) flowed to the kimchi beneath to create a greasy, angina-baiting mess.
We followed the lead of other tables and assembled our food by piling bits of green onion, kimchi, meat, and sauces on the rice square, and plopping the whole mini-taco thing into our mouths. Not easy with those slippery metal chopsticks, I tell ya.
Every table got a free egg pancake – samples, I presume. When we were done grilling our meats, our waiter came by and cut up the remaining kimchi, and tossed it with rice in a big giant bowl before putting it back on the grill for a kind of improvised bibimbop.
The flavors here are not that different from what you might at other Korean restaurants. Our pork and beef came unmarinated, great for purists who want to taste the meat unadulterated. Pork belly has absurdly large strips of fat, and while searing the fat at high heat sated my carnivorous instincts, I think I still prefer the cut slow braised so all the fat can soften. Once you throw the pickled bean sprouts and napa cabbage into the mix, though, things start tasting the same - the chili masks subtle flavors from the meat. I prefer the less cluttered, slower pace of eating at Tsuruhashi, but Honey Pig is still so much fun it would take me a few more visits before I get tired of it.
By the way, I noticed that EVERY table was left with big orange messes of uneaten food. Servings here are big. Our bill for two, excluding tip, was $50, and we had enough food for three.
Wako Honey Pig
7212 Orangethorpe Ave, Suite 1, Buena Park.
(714) 739-4504
MmmmMM. Yum. I just love the name: Wako Honey Pig. I would go just on the name alone. KBBQ rules. Just not so much with my waistline after I eat some. It’s an instant 3 to 5 pounds added on.