So, my vegan sister, vegan friend Sara, and I have recently been trying to be super adventurous with food. The other week we tried Hot Pot and LOVED it (check out that blog post here), so we decided why not yolo it some more! Next stop – Korean BBQ!

We literally thought Korean BBQ was where you cook your food on a little grill in front of you, but maybe we are dumb and didn’t realize that KBBQ is just a type of Korean BBQ and that Korean BBQ encompasses all-Korean comfort dishes? Can someone confirm or deny this??

Either way, we were committed and made the trek to Long Beach to see what this KBBQ hype was all about.

The place we went to, Sura Korean BBQ,  is not 100% vegan, but they do have a separate portion of their menu dedicated to vegans which is always sexy to us vegans. The waiter was also really good about explaining to what was vegan/could be modified and what wasn’t, which was great.

To start, Bella got a diet Coke which she quote unquote said “This is one of the best, crispiest diet cokes I’ve ever had” and I had an iced green tea with passion fruit syrup, which was so refreshing and delicious. Like, truly, anyone can win my heart with passion fruit anything. I am a certified hoe for passion fruit.

Then to start we got the vegan banchan, which are essentially traditional Korean side dishes like spicy cucumber, kimchi, macaroni salad,  marinated lotus root, bean sprout salad, pickled daikon, etc. Half were gluten-free and all were vegan! They were EPIC! We literally almost licked the bowls clean.

Then we got one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth (wink, wink), the tteokbokki – which is a Korean rice cake, grilled, and covered in this amazing spicy-sweet gochujang sauce. THIS was A 100/10. Straight up, we were all floored. The outside was crispy, but the inside was soft and doughy and the sauce was the absolute perfect mix of spicy and sweet. I legit dream about eating these every day. So insanely good.

Next, we got the vegan scallion pancake. The sauce it came with was so tangy and almost ponzu-y and delicious. That was my favorite part of this particular dish. The scallion pancake itself? I would probably skip tbh. Maybe just get the sauce on the side to dip other things into lol.

For the meal, we got the japchae (sauteed sweet potato noodles) and the gluten-free version of the veggie bibimbap. The japchae was A FORKIN AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another 10/10. Another major slay. The sauce they put on it was scrumptious and the noodles themselves had such a great texture. I want to fill a bathtub with this and sit inside. 

The bibimbap was only ok. The sauce was removed on behalf of our GF friend, so, something to consider when taking our ranking into account. The bowl just felt a bit flavorless, but I’m sure a good sauce could have taken it to the next level. Regardless, the rice on the hot stone bowl got all crispy at the end, which was fun. 

Either way, this place has some baller options and if you’re in the area, definitely check it out!!!