Gahyo

June was a month of celebration since my mom was celebrating her 50th birthday on 17th.. to celebrate it, my brother and I made her a little surprise.. my brother is actually working abroad in Singapore and without her knowing, he came home on 16th.. I picked him at the airport and we arrived home around 10p.m.. as he walked in her bedroom, she was so surprised that she barely can even speak.. I remembered that she smiled a lot and right at midnight, we presented her with a slice of Oreo Cheesecake from Coffee Bean bought in the airport.. I was so glad that we managed to surprise her.. I do hope she had a great night :) 

so for her birthday lunch, we decided to take her to Gahyo, a Korean restaurant located in SCBD area.. I know that my mom is a big fan of K-drama and all the food shown in the series.. I know Gahyo from my office mate and google it to find that it was one of the best Korean restaurant in Jakarta.. so that's how we made our choice.. I have never been to Gahyo before, luckily, the restaurant was easily spotted, located right in front of SCBD's Electronic City..

the restaurant was quite empty as we arrived around 2p.m for late lunch.. the area is separated into two, the tatami area and dining tables.. we chose to sit at the tatami area.. as we walked in the restaurant, I noticed that there were a lot of waiters who were ready to serve us.. there was one giving us the menu book and guiding through it, there was another one brought the ocha and another one brought the banchan.. it was one kind of a service given to us.. the table was ready, each of us had a plate, cup filled with ocha, steel chopstick and spoon.. all of our eating utensils were covered in Gahyo's wrap and on the back of chopsticks cover, was a how-to-use-chopsticks-guide which I thought was very cute.. 

back to business, we ended up ordered teuk seng galbi (Rp198,000), dolsot bibimbab (Rp68,000), sundubu chigae (Rp68,000) and jabchae (Rp95,000).. teuk seng galbi is prime beef short rib boneless.. this dish was served with a plate of vegetables, consisted of lettuce, carrot, green chili and some other leaves I don't even recognized.. a waiter grilled the ribs right in front of us along with some raw garlic.. the way to eat it was first, take a leave, put the grilled rib and garlic on top, add some gochujang (chili pepper paste), wrap it then insert it to your mouth and have a juicy bites.. Gahyo's galbi was so tender, perfectly cooked and well seasoned.. I especially love to add gochujang since it added a unique flavor to it..

dolsot bibimbab is Korean signature dish.. I'm pretty sure everyone knows about it.. quoted from Wikipedia, dolsot bibimbab is a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables), gochujang (chili pepper paste), raw egg and sliced meat (usually beef).. all of the ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating, usually served in a hot pot (dolsot).. in Gahyo, bibimbab is served with a bowl of clear soup, filled with nori and some minced meat.. I have to say that this probably one of the best bibimbab I have ever tasted.. the whole dish tasted very good, generous fillings and fresh vegetables.. the dolsot kept the dish warm throughout our eating session..

actually I wanted to have yukaejang for our soup menu in the first place, since I am a big fan of it.. but my brother picked sundubu chigae saying that we need to try something new.. sundubu chigae is a soy bean paste soup, served with bean curd, squash, onion, tofu, clams and stirred raw egg.. the soup tasted quite spicy, but I think I would still prefer yukaejang which has a stronger taste..

last but not least, we had jabchae.. actually we ordered to this to replace noodle, since in our Chinese tradition, eating noodles on your birthday symbolize long live.. the portion was very huge and it tasted really good.. Korean special glass noodle served with shitake mushrooms, onions, sliced carrots, bell peppers and beef.. I was a huge fan of Korean glass noodle and this one definitely fulfill my expectations.. since the portion was very huge, we ended up have to ask for the dish to be taken away.. the to-go package was very nice.. Gahyo even add some banchan to accompany the dish.. very thoughtful :)

upon finishing our meals, Gahyo still have something for us.. a waiter came and asked us to choose their dessert selection, free just like the banchan.. it was one of the best thing eating at a Korean restaurant, they are very generous.. so we had coconut pudding, coffee pudding and mango pudding.. a plate of fresh watermelon was also served in our table.. the best dessert would be the mango pudding.. it was silky and not overly sweet.. 


overall, I had a great time at Gahyo.. a little bit pricey compared to other restaurant, but worth every Rupiah spent.. four thumbs up service and great food.. what can you possibly ask for more? oh, the prices stated are subject to 10% tax and 5% service charge..


Gahyo
SCBD Lot 6
Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav. 52 - 53
Ph.: 6221 5289 7044