Best Kalbi - Final Results and Rankings

The Kalbi Kong took place on April 18, 2009. Ten kalbi behemoths locked horns in a WOW Grinds Blind Taste Test. For those who were keeping up with our kalbi competitor list over past few weeks, you'll notice the current competitors have changed slightly. Due to a technical oversight, we switched out some competitors. A few days before the tasting, we called around and found out Kim Chee II, Jin Joo and O-bok only serves big bone (one bone) kalbi. "No mo 3-bone!", they all said. Since this was a 3-bone kalbi taste test, we couldn't include them. So we substituted three worthy competitors Bob's Bbq, Kum Chee Korean Buffet and Kiawe Grill. The big bone kalbi challenge will be saved for another day. This kalbi battle was met with mixed feelings and even "dissapointed" some of our judges. In the end, only one kalbi was crowned The Kalbi Kong. Click "read more" to see the results.

Click on a Judge to see their profile. Mouse over each Judge's score to see their comment explaining that score and a score breakdown. A complete list of judge's comments is located below the results table. Scoring was weighted with Taste=50%, Texture=30% and Presentation=20%. The highest score for each judge is highlighted in yellow. The second highest score for each judge is highlighted in brown.

Judge's Comments

#1 Kum Chee Korean Buffet

Judge 1 - Taste 7...Texture 7...Presentation 6. Eh...average.

Judge 2 - Taste 7...Texture 5...Presentation 7. Tender. Good taste.

Judge 3 - Taste 6...Texture 7...Presentation 9.

Judge 4 - Taste 8...Texture 8...Presentation 5.

Judge 5 - Taste 7...Texture 6...Presentation 5. Nice balanced flavor.

Judge 6 - Taste 7.5...Texture 8.5...Presentation 9. Good piece of meat.

Judge 7 - Taste 6...Texture 8...Presentation 8. Soft. Kinda steakish again. Better taste, but not really kalbi.
Judge 8 - Taste 8...Texture 8...Presentation 9. Plentiful, moist, good flavor, best combo of taste. Just right thickness of meat. Nice grill presentation. Shiny.
Judge 9 - Taste 7...Texture 8...Presentation 9. Grill marks, nice tone, thick but tender, slightly spicy, not too sweet, not too oily, slightly gamey.

#2 Yummy Korean Bbq

Judge 1 - Taste 5...Texture 5...Presentation 7. Korean Bbq.

Judge 2 - Taste 7...Texture 7...Presentation 6. Really tender. Good taste.

Judge 3 - Taste 8...Texture 8...Presentation 9.

Judge 4 - Taste 8.5...Texture 8...Presentation 8. Full of flavor.

Judge 5 - Taste 6...Texture 5...Presentation 5.

Judge 6 - Taste 8...Texture 5.5...Presentation 9. Tough but tasty.

Judge 7 - Taste 8...Texture 9...Presentation 8. Soft...nice, good taste, fatty and you can smell the sauce.
Judge 8 - Taste 6...Texture 9...Presentation 9. Tender. Just right thickness, too sweet, nice color, nice presentation.
Judge 9 - Taste 6...Texture 7...Presentation 8. Dark brown, carmelized, salty.

#3 Homemade Korean Secret Special Kalbi

Judge 1 - Taste 7...Texture 3...Presentation 8. Shimmery, tough, taste different, thick, enjoyed the after flavor, sauce brushed on while cooked.

Judge 2 - Taste 2...Texture 3...Presentation 6. I don't like the taste. Fatty.
Judge 3 - Taste 6...Texture 4...Presentation 8. Good flavor, but not kalbi style.

Judge 4 - Taste 8...Texture 7...Presentation 9. Very different taste but unique and tasty.

Judge 5 - Taste 7...Texture 6...Presentation 6.

Judge 6 - Taste 7...Texture 8...Presentation 9.5. Slight aftertaste of lighter fluid.

Judge 7 - Taste 6...Texture 7...Presentation 8. Good but more steakish again.
Judge 8 - Taste 4...Texture 7...Presentation 9. Red flakes, aftertaste, not traditional kalbi taste, shiny, sesame seeds, juicy, carmelized, chewy. Nice color of meat.
Judge 9 - Taste 4...Texture 7...Presentation 9. Pepper flakes, brown, even coloring, sweet, peppery, no depth.

#4 Gina's Bbq

Judge 1 - Taste 8...Texture 8...Presentation 7. Not tasty, but I liked the flavor. Simple.

Judge 2 - Taste 5...Texture 7...Presentation 7.

Judge 3 - Taste 6...Texture 8...Presentation 7. Good flavor, but more steak-style.

Judge 4 - Taste 5...Texture 6...Presentation 7.5.

Judge 5 - Taste 5...Texture 5...Presentation 5. As basic as it gets.

Judge 6 - Taste 4.5...Texture 7...Presentation 7.5.

Judge 7 - Taste 5...Texture 7...Presentation 7. Again steakish. Not much flavor, but soft.
Judge 8 - Taste 5...Texture 7...Presentation 8. Plentiful in presentation. Shiny, dark meat, no bone, bland, tender, sauce not complex, shoyu only?
Judge 9 - Taste 4...Texture 6...Presentation 5. Black, thin, trimmed, bland, salty, oily, strong shoyu taste.

#5 Bob's Bbq

Judge 1 - Taste 8...Texture 7...Presentation 7. Tender, pre-soaked meat.

Judge 2 - Taste 6...Texture 3...Presentation 3. Fatty-grisly. Taste is good, but I don't like the fat part.

Judge 3 - Taste 6...Texture 7...Presentation 6.

Judge 4 - Taste 5...Texture 8...Presentation 7. Lacks flavor but tender.

Judge 5 - Taste 5...Texture 6...Presentation 6. Nice koge-ness to it.

Judge 6 - Taste 6...Texture 8.5...Presentation 7.5. Tender. Good mix of fat and meat.

Judge 7 - Taste 6...Texture 7...Presentation 7. Softer, short taste a little. (We at WOW Grinds don't know what this means)
Judge 8 - Taste 3...Texture 8...Presentation 7. Tender, gamey taste, see grill marks, nice presentation.
Judge 9 - Taste 2...Texture 6...Presentation 7. Brown sugar complexation, burnt at edges, salty, gamey, oily.

#6 Young's Kalbee

Judge 1 - Taste 6...Texture 4...Presentation 3. Supermarket meat? Sweet.

Judge 2 - Taste 6...Texture 5...Presentation 5. Very tender, not tough, sweet.

Judge 3 - Taste 6...Texture 5...Presentation 5. Too sweet.

Judge 4 - Taste 7...Texture 6...Presentation 5. A lot of fat.
Judge 5 - Taste 5...Texture 4...Presentation 4. Too sweet.

Judge 6 - Taste 7...Texture 6...Presentation 5. Small piece of meat.

Judge 7 - Taste 6...Texture 6...Presentation 6. A little thin, kinda rubbery, decent taste.
Judge 8 - Taste 7...Texture 5...Presentation 6. Sweet taste. Kinda tough meat. Thin stringy meat.
Judge 9 - Taste 8...Texture 6...Presentation 8. Good smell, thin, sweet, oily, soft texture, slight taste of lighter fluid.

#7 Spicy Ahi & Bbq

Judge 1 - Taste 8...Texture 8...Presentation 6. Not fully cooked. Is this the challenger's entry?

Judge 2 - Taste 4...Texture 7...Presentation 4. Very tender. Tastes strange to me. Bland.

Judge 3 - Taste 7...Texture 6...Presentation 6.

Judge 4 - Taste 7.5...Texture 7...Presentation 6.

Judge 5 - Taste 4...Texture 5...Presentation 4.

Judge 6 - Taste 3...Texture 6...Presentation 4.5.

Judge 7 - Taste 6...Texture 6...Presentation 6. Good garlic, but not much taste.
Judge 8 - Taste 5...Texture 7...Presentation 6. Bland, average, garlicky.
Judge 9 - Taste 6...Texture 6...Presentation 6. First taste salty-slightly sweet. But lighter fluid like after taste. Light garlic.

#8 May's Hawaii Frozen Kalbi (wildcard/control entry)

Judge 1 - Taste 7...Texture 7...Presentation 7. Hibachi cooked? Thicker. Smoked flavor.

Judge 2 - Taste 2...Texture 4...Presentation 6. Stringy. Smokey. Tough. Fatty.

Judge 3 - Taste 6...Texture 6...Presentation 7. Smokey flavor.

Judge 4 - Taste 7...Texture 5...Presentation 8. Good grilled taste. Meat was tough.

Judge 5 - Taste 5...Texture 5...Presentation 6.

Judge 6 - Taste 5...Texture 7...Presentation 8.

Judge 7 - Taste 5...Texture 4...Presentation 7. Already cut? A little dry, more like thin steak. Small kine lighter fluid.
Judge 8 - Taste 4...Texture 6...Presentation 7. Thicker cuts, slightly charred, taste more of grill. Plain taste.
Judge 9 - Taste 4...Texture 6...Presentation 6. Dark, burnt, salty, slightly bland, oily, tender.

#9 Kiawe Grill

Judge 1 - Taste 8.5...Texture 8...Presentation 5. Tender, sweet, most tasty.

Judge 2 - Taste 4...Texture 5...Presentation 7. Grisly, sweet, soft, easy to cut and chew.

Judge 3 - Taste 4...Texture 6...Presentation 3. Sub-par presentation.

Judge 4 - Taste 4...Texture 5...Presentation 4.

Judge 5 - Taste 2...Texture 3...Presentation 3. All wrong, unnatural combo of spices.

Judge 6 - Taste 3...Texture 7...Presentation 4. Weird taste and aftertaste.

Judge 7 - Taste 6...Texture 7...Presentation 7. Jerky-ish? Sesame? Soft though.
Judge 8 - Taste 4...Texture 8...Presentation 6. Color of meat is darker, grill marks, longer, more substantial pieces of meat. Chinese 5 spice?
Judge 9 - Taste 4...Texture 6...Presentation 4. Grill marks, light brown, tender, oily, slightly sweet, Chinese jerky tasting, flecks of cabbage.

#10 Soon's Kal-bi Drive-In

Judge 1 - Taste 3...Texture 3...Presentation 5. Pre-frozen kalbi?

Judge 2 - Taste 1...Texture 2...Presentation 5. Tough. Too chewy. Strange taste.

Judge 3 - Taste 4...Texture 3...Presentation 6.

Judge 4 - Taste 1...Texture 2...Presentation 4. Tastes like lamb.

Judge 5 - Taste 3...Texture 2...Presentation 3. Very tough, don't think this is beef and I don't think that's a good thing.

Judge 6 - Taste 5...Texture 5...Presentation 5.5. Looks dry.

Judge 7 - Taste 4...Texture 2...Presentation 5. TOUGH!
Judge 8 - Taste 2...Texture 2...Presentation 7. Meat looks old and dry. Hard to cut, broke the fork, lamb? Gamey. Tough. I spit it out!
Judge 9 - Taste 0...Texture 0...Presentation 4. Grill marks, dark brown, chewy, gamey, very dry.

Comments

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Ren (72.234.229.xxx) 2009-09-21 12:27:11

next time try Kim Chee 2 in Kaimuki or
Best Drive Inn on Sand Island Rd for good Kalbi.

Choi's Garden?

Han (64.75.193.xxx) 2009-11-30 04:11:00

How can any good list not include Choi's garden?

Kum Chee no longer in business

rich (98.150.140.xxx) 2010-07-03 07:33:06

Kum chee is no longer open for business.,

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3.23 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."