You know that thing when you cook bacon, and a few pieces fry faster than the rest, so you pull them out of the pan and place them on a paper towel to degrease and wait for their still-frying friends?
…but the friends take a while, and the first few pieces have cooled enough to eat, so you grab the first one, and it’s perfect. You don’t wanna get ahead of yourself, but there’s still a nearly full pan of sizzling scrumptiousness, so you eat another one. Then you pull a few more out of the pan. You won’t eat all of those until the rest are ready…but maybe one more? Or two?
You’re playing a dangerous game, and you know it. If you keep going, you’re going to ruin the meal, and if you’re sharing it with someone who expects an even split of sizzling swine, you could ruin the whole day. If only there was a place that let you fry thinly sliced meat, eat it fresh out of the pan, and repeat to your clogging heart’s content.
Enter BB2 Ayce Korean BBQ — but prepare to wait, because when we show up, the actual entrance is packed with people waiting well over an hour to get in.
Each table comes with a built-in frying pan (which means some oil splatters, so keep your phone off the table), overhead vents, and a call button for when you’re ready for the server to bring a new bowl of flavoured chicken, beef, pork or seafood — or to replace your pan when it gets too charred and smoky. For the uninitiated, the experience is similar to fondue, only the meat fries faster.
Spicy Usamgyub, Soy Dakgalbi, Daepae Samgyupsal, with salt, mustard and garlic soy dips on the side — the goal is to try a wide range of dishes (along with the self-serve, hot-food buffet), and you’re allotted a two-hour window to do so. But after an hour we’re stuffed full, feeling like experts who know exactly when to take the meat out of the pan, onto the plate and into our mouth. We just hope we have the patience to break the habit next time we cook bacon.
Ayce BB2 Korean BBQ
Ermineskin | 2335 111 St NW, Edmonton | 825.394.2645 | bb2kbbq.ca
