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Monday, March 28, 2011

Farewell Dinner at BBQ City (Liverpool Street, Sydney)

Australians love to celebrate.  Even if it's just a small detail in their friends' lives, as long as it is something positive and happy, it is always a good excuse to drink and eat.  


So when they learned that I'm going for a 5-week vacation, my workmates organized a small, intimate dinner last Friday at BBQ City.  BBQ City is a well-known Korean barbeque restaurant in Liverpool Street, Sydney.  I've been to this restaurant lots of times before with Chris, our friends and my parents (when they visited Sydney in 2009).

The last time I had dinner here, I was also with my workmates and we loved the food a lot so we had my farewell dinner here too.

Whenever I dine here, I always start my meal with Kimchi Pancake.  This dish is very addicting and not too spicy.
BBQ City


As we savour the goodness of the Kimchi Pancake, we contemplate on the BBQ dishes we were about to order.  

A Korean BBQ meal will never be complete without Soju. It is Korea's distilled beverage likened to vodka with an average of 18.5 to 20% alcohol.  The taste is unloveable at first, but it grows in you.


BBQ City dinner

Korean barbeque refers to the way Koreans grill their food, whether it's pork, beef, chicken or seafood.  The food is grilled on the diner's table.  The grill is built into the table or the restaurant provides portable stoves for customers to use.


In BBQ City, the minimum order of a BBQ plate is two orders.  Since there were five of us, we ordered 4 dishes to BBQ.  


As soon as our BBQ dishes were ready, the staff served the Banchan which refers to the small dishes that accompanies our main Korean dishes.  My favorite of all the Banchan is the Cabbage Kimchi.
BBQ City dinner


The BBQ dishes we ordered were the Beef and Pork Fillets (we chose these because it has less fat).

BBQ City dinner




Then we also grilled Chicken Fillets and Marinated Octopus.  
BBQ City dinner



All barbeque dishes were delicious and tasty, especially when partnered with a range of Banchan and of course, shots of Soju.
BBQ City dinner




Cheers to a safe and joyful adventure!!!!  Cheers to friendship!!!!
BBQ City dinner 


Today was my last day at work and I'm feeling a mix of happiness and relief.  Stepping away from my busy and sometimes crazy work at the office is something I really need to do right now.  My work means a lot to me and I have an attachment to what I do--a passion that sometimes takes so much of my attention and focus.   Work is one of the major reasons why I decided to push thru with our plan to visit our other home.  I felt that I need time off and just step away from it all or else I might burn out.  


Went to work early today so I can leave early.  At 3:15pm, I said goodbye to my boss, my colleagues and friends at work.  And although I was glad I finished my tasks, meetings and handover today,  a part of me was a little bit sad, withdrawal syndrome I guess.  


I felt the love of my teammates, it was overwhelming.  All of them wished me a happy and safe travel and profusely assured me that I deserve the long break.  I'm truly grateful to be working with an incredible team and to have them as friends is a big bonus.


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