A Unique Dining Experience

[JCarson 816]

I am not one to go out for dinner very often, I learned to cook fairly well myself but luckily married a woman who is an excellent cook. Most chain restaurants can’t put out a meal as good as she can.  Why would I ever pay more money for a meal to get worse quality. 

 

So, when I do go out, I tend to choose a restaurant that serves a type of food that I don’t typically make (seafood is a big choice here) or something that has some cultural linking that I am not familiar with or don’t typically have the ingredients for in my fridge or pantry.   

 

Outside that I am looking for one thing in particular, a place that has an experience that I am not going to do at home.  Last night I experienced that.  It was my wife’s birthday and so was looking for something that would be unique as part of that celebration experience.  I remembered that my wife had gone to an independent restaurant in the city we live in with a friend of hers a little while back.  She enjoyed it and I thought it might be a great place to take her back to.  The name of the restaurant is Langs.  It specializes in Korean BBQ and Hot Pot.  It is an all you can eat establishment where you cook everything at your table either through a specialized grill built into your table or within a soup pot that is kept hot through an induction element built into the table.  We chose to do the hot pot. 

 

The waitstaff set us up with a pot of broth (we chose chicken, it also came with ginger and lemongrass) and then took our order for meats.  While we waited for the meat to arrive, and we chose several options including beef, chicken, pork, pork belly and shrimp, we also ordered pork and shrimp wantons. We then went to the refrigerated cabinet and got our vegetables.  There were so many options.  There was also a spice and sauce bar. 

 

With everything delivered we started making our soups, cooking the meat in the broth and then bringing it into individualized soup bowls.  The interesting part was that as we cooked the meat and vegetables in the broth it continued to flavor it making it tastier as the meal went on. It was a fun and tasty experience, and I would recommend it as something to try if you can. 

 

Now that I have talked about my dining experience, I would like to challenge the VHL community to discuss some of their unique experiences.  What have you had that others might enjoy, what places have taken the concept of a restaurant beyond just eating food and have made it a dining experience.  I would like to hear about all the experiences that are out there that I might have the opportunity to experience and enjoy.   

 

Thanks everyone who offers up something to this topic, I am looking forward to reading your entries.