Who knew cooking your own food at a restaurant could be so fun?
€€
R. Gomes Freire 11B, 1150-119 Lisboa | website
Expo
Tue – Fri, 12h – 15h, 18h30 – 22h; Sat – Sun, 12h30 – 15h30, 18h30 – 22h
Some might find the concept of cooking your own food at a restaurant a bit strange, but at Han Table Barbecue in Expo, that’s exactly what you should expect. Korean barbecue is essentially based on the idea of self-cooking meat, fish, and/or veggies on a charcoal-heated plate in the center of each table. Overhead is an adjustable extractor fan hanging from the ceiling to both manage the intensity of the heat and give the char smoke a place to go.
While this place differs slightly from other Korean restaurants Atlas has visited around the globe in that the kimchi and other pickled yummies aren’t free, the one-euro fee for their homemade, lightly spiced kimchi didn’t seem like too much of a trade-off so we went for it. And then we went for another helping alongside a kimchi pancake. We were hooked from the start. As we sipped our Super Bock (they were out of Cass Korean beer) waiting for the fried dumplings to come out of the kitchen, we eyed the grill list and decided to throw caution to the wind. We decided to go for all of the house specialties: the traditional beef, pork belly, eel, and a few sides from the veggie list, the most memorable of which were the agulha dourada mushrooms.
We grabbed the large tongs and scissors that came out with the first plate and began the cooking and cutting process reminiscent of a Brazilian-style cookout where there is constantly a next course cooking while everyone is nibbling on the one before. It’s not surprising that the place gets so crowded, as everyone enjoys a slower rhythm to the meal. After several leisurely rounds, we found ourselves pleasantly stuffed, sharing our favorite bite combinations and debating which mochi we should choose for dessert.