Al Bae Nae Korean Restaurant

Well, as you may have heard by now, Al Bae Nae is no longer in operation.

The good news is that the current restaurant in that space, Yonggung (also known as Dragon Palace) has much of the same menu, plus even more tasty Korean-Chinese offerings!

So give them a try and see what you think.

I know this restaurant is CLOSED and changed to another name as Dragon Palace Restaurant if I am not mistaken, but somehow, since this is indeed a long overdue review, I'll just type it out.  Went here with Hubs on Monday May 7th 2012, one day before its official that the famous KFC aka Korean Fried Chicken of Al Bae Nae Korean Restaurant disappear due to the change of restaurant names and management.

Went here for DINNER.  Time was at about 20:00hrs.  YES it was somehow a late dinner for us since that is the time, that Hubs can leave work.  Upon arriving, we were seated promptly and given the menu.  I wanted to order the FAMOUS KFC aka Tongdak Fried Whole Chicken, but somehow our server "directed" us to another dish from their simple menu.  Oh well, a big bummer since I did not managed to eat or even taste the famous "KFC" since some writer bragged about it.  Hence my mission to search, and devoured the "KFC" from my lovely Korean friends who called Colorado home.

These were what we ordered that evening :

*  Kkanpunggi Fried Chicken With Hot Pepper ($13.99)
*  Ojingeo Twigim Deep Fried Cuttlefish ($5.99)
*  Beefgaseu Deep Fried Beef Cutlet which comes with salad and rice ($9.99)
*  Bokkeumbap Stir-Fried Rice with Beef ($6.99)

While waiting for our order to arrived, our server provide us with a bowl of Vegetables Kimchi and Pickled Daikon/Radish and White Onions.  Our order was ready for us, say about 10 to 15 minutes after ordering.  The Kkanpunggi reminds me of sweet and sour, and the chicken pieces are fried with some kind of batter.  Not spicy for my tastebud at all.  The Ojingeo Twigim, though it came out hot, was tender but something was missing in this dish in which I cant pin point what...

Hubs likes the order of the Kkanpunggi and his order of Beefgaseu.  I am A-OK with the Ojingeo Twigim and the Bokkeumbap.  Nothing stellar nothing fancy.  All in all, our dinner cost us $45 with tips and tax.

@84/2012

As of 1/23/2013, this place has changed to Yong Gung (Dragon Palace).
My source tells me the previous owner of SamChon (southwest corner of Peoria and Mississippi) bought it recenlty and serving up Koreanized chinese food.  

As I have stated earlier, I have been visiting this place about 2X per week.  Its the same menu for lunch or dinner and the price is the same.

I was there last Saturday night and place was packed except few tables.  We ordered out usual small order of deep fried calamari (o-ching-uh) , chicken Katsu (chicken battered in tempura mixture and fried to golden and comes with rice and corn with salad) and seafood jambong (spicy seafood noodle soup).

The calamari was battered and fried to perfection.  Came to our table within seconds and it was delicious on make our own sauce of soy-vinegar and hot peppers.   I will give 5 star for the value and quality.

For the Katsu, it came out as always.  two large pcs of katsu and trimmings.  
The Jambong was also very good.

Overall, they have consistently delivered value packed meal with good quality over and over again.

I will definitely come back again.

If you are 1st timer or thinking about going, please do and ask for suggestions from the waiters.