#73: Urban 3b at Urban Seoul

The 3b (short for bibimbap) at Urban Seoul doesn't hide what it is. Atop a bed of rice (purple in this example) you have your ingredients laid out nice and orderly. You then add the vinaigrette to your liking, mix it up, and dig in. For today's meal, I opted for the spicy pork, and enjoyed the nice kick it + the vinaigrette delivered. However, I was very underwhelmed by the poached egg. In OCWeekly's review, they rave about the egg:

We're talking about another fine example of perfectly poached egg.

Our broken yolk sauced the contents of our bowl nicely, as we contemplated dessert options. 

However, my egg was sadly cooked through and mostly cold. This seemed to be the most popular dish in the restaurant, so perhaps they poach the eggs and then chill them to stop them from cooking and just add them to the salad chilled? Either way, mine didn't stop cooking or was just overcooked. I often say that adding an egg to anything makes it better, but when you're expecting a "perfectly poached egg" and receive one cooked through, well, that's disappointing.

Besides that though, the 3b itself was quite delicious. I wish I did have the egg yolk running through it, but either way, the textures and flavors all worked together perfectly and I devoured the whole bowl quite quickly.

However, the main issue I had with Urban Seoul was their beer delivery. Beer delivery you say? Yeah, while I would wager 80% of the taps (I'm guessing 8 out of 10) had a tap handle that corresponded to the beer inside, some were just blank, and I ordered a beer off the menu that didn't have a handle. What I wanted was a Great Lei from Belching Beaver - described on the chalkboard as a Pineapple Colada IPA. What I instead received can be seen above - just by look alone, you can tell it's not an IPA, but probably a pilsner.

What also confused me was I ordered the beer, and he hands me a sample of it before pouring the full glass. Not quite sure why, but sure, I'll sample it, but if I order a pint, why not just bring me a pint? Why waste the time and effort of giving me a sample? But I digress, I try the sample and say I get absolutely no "colada" or coconut. Also I say, "it tastes more like a pilsner than an IPA." So my server goes to try it himself, but only after pouring my full pint and says "I get some pineapple at the end."

So while I am positive it's a pilsner, I'm really not in the mood to argue and tell him he's wrong and also have him pour the pint down the drain, so I just drink it. And it went well with my 3b. It's a fine example of a pilsner from Noble Ale Works - their PILSNEAR. But if you don't have a tap handle available for the beer you're putting on tap, you better label the blank handle. Otherwise, you'll be serving pilsners and calling them IPAs. Which, quite frankly, is unforgivable.