Over a decade ago, former Westword food editor Mark Antonation began his food-writing career by eating his way up Federal Boulevard. Now, we're turning our attention to another vibrant culinary corridor.
The four-plus-mile stretch of Havana Street between Dartmouth and Sixth Avenue in Aurora is home to the most diverse array of international cuisine available in the metro area. From restaurants and markets to take-and-go shops and stands, food lovers of nearly any ethnicity or interest can find a place that will remind them of home or open new culinary doors. In Eat Up Havana, Antony Bruno will visit them all, one by one, week by week.
Previous stops:
Walking into Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot is kind of like entering a mini food hall that has only two concepts. To the right is a Korean BBQ restaurant. To the left is a hot pot restaurant. You choose.
Those thinking about taking a big group where some can get hot pot and others can have BBQ are only half correct. Sure, that’s possible. But you won’t be sitting together, or even waving to each other, as these are two completely different spaces that share a host stand, a roof and not much else.
While they share an address, a sign, and a door, the BBQ and Hot Pot are two different restaurants under the same roof.
Antony Bruno
So in that spirit, Eat Up Havana will treat them as separate restaurants as well, even though they have the same address. This week, we’re focused on the hot pot side, which is the newer addition to the duo.
The Broth
When you talk about hot pot, the first point of discussion has to be the broth. This, after all, is what both cooks and flavors all the meat, fish or vegetables you choose to put in it. So it’s worth knowing what to expect.
The hot pot burners are set into the table to avoid any accidental spillage, and made for each diner to enjoy their own pot.
Antony Bruno
“It’s very rich and flavorful,” she says. “It’s based on Chinese broth, but we kind of made it into our own traditional way, with a very strong beef flavor.”
Korean broth also has different seasoning options, which is important to know upfront. The Original Seoul Broth here is a beef bone broth, richly seasoned and ready to go to work from the start. But the GomTang Soup, while also based on beef bone broth, is not seasoned. That’s by design, because the Korean tradition is to allow each diner to season the broth to their individual liking.
That’s great if you know what you’re doing. If not, the helpful staff here will steer you in the right direction. Other broth options include a pork broth with miso, a fully vegetarian broth, a seafood broth and both spicy Chinese and Thai style broths.
These come out in individualized pots placed into the built-in table inserts, so everyone has control over their own dish. That’s great for when you have vegetarians or other folks with dietary restrictions in your group.
The greens, mushrooms, and other vegetables at Seoul Korean BBQ & Hot Pot are notably fresh and crisp.
Antony Bruno
The Ingredients
But the broth is just the beginning. It’s what goes in that broth that makes or breaks a good hot pot experience. And in this regard, Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot really shines.First, there are the protein options, which you order from the menu to a server who brings it out to the table. They run the usual gamut of sliced ribeye, beef short rib, brisket, tongue, belly and tripe, as well as alternatives like duck breast, lamb leg, chicken and more.
All are sliced impossibly thin so they will cook easily and quickly in the hot broth without any worry of under- or overdone meat. It’s pretty idiot-proof. And as this is an all-you-can-eat model, you can order as many rounds of flesh as you like (so long as you don’t waste any).
Once you’ve ordered your meat, the real fun begins. At Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot, all the additional items you may want to add are available self-serve from a salad-bar-like setup that looks more like a grocery store aisle than a restaurant.
We’re talking healthy-sized trays of different types of tofu, dumplings and fish cakes. Large bins of noodles: pho noodles, chewy noodles, ramen noodles, rice noodles, mung bean noodles, green konjac noodles and more. Piles of greens, five different kinds of mushrooms, tomato, broccoli, zucchini, bamboo shoots, bok choy, onions, cabbage. (Deep inhale.)
Baby corn, fish cakes, chopped chiles and garlic, scallions, cilantro, parsley. Clams, crab, fish. And don’t miss the hot station with egg rolls, crab wontons, japchae noodles and more. Oh…and rice.
The sheer number of options may seem overwhelming at first, but quickly becomes intuitive once you take it all in.
Antony Bruno
You’re free to choose as much or as little of each item as you like, rather than have to choose from a list on a menu and then given the portion the restaurant decides. Plus…you actually get to see it all up close. That’s a big selling point, because it’s clear that Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot is laser focused on freshness. The produce spread here puts the Whole Foods salad bar to shame.
Add in a highly accessible array of sauces, along with useful four-compartment trays to pour them in, and what might look complicated at first glance becomes intuitive and fun in a short period of time.
Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot was originally just a Korean barbecue restaurant; the hot pot expansion came two years after the restaurant was acquired by the Seoul Hospitality Group in 2017. Since then, it’s proven a worthy addition to not only Havana Street’s hot pot scene, but that of the greater Denver area. For those new to the hot pot format, it’s an easy entry point to a style of dining that shouldn’t be missed.
Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. For more information, visit www.seoulkoreanbbq.com.
