Daeho Kalbijim & Beef Soup
| Cuisine | Korean |
|---|---|
| Price | $$$ (31-50) |
| Rating | 7/10 |
| Last Visit | March 3, 2025 |
| Location | SFBA: San Francisco: North |
General Notes
Kalbijim is the star of the show at Daeho, and it is insanely good. Slow-braised, spicy-sweet, fall-off-the-bone beef short rib stew; it hits all the notes. But don't sleep on their other items either -- they were also pretty good. With some exceptions, pretty much everything on their menu contains some kind of beef. We got their kalbijim and it was as good as my friends hyped it up to be. The waitlist can get pretty long, but it's a good excuse to explore around Japantown while you're waiting. Would definitely recommend giving it a try with a group of friends!
Positives
> You can add cheese to kalbijim; they'll scatter the cheese over the top and blowtorch it tableside. Quite an experience and adds a lot to the dish; would definitely recommend getting it!
> Their portions are quite generous. I eat quite a lot and their "3 person portion" was definitely enough for 3 of myself. By extension, the prices are pretty reasonable. They also have a "2 person portion" that you can get. This is definitely not a restaurant that you want to go to alone, however.
Negatives
> The waitlist can get very, very long. One time we tried to go with a party of 8, put our names on the waitlist at around 6pm, and were told that our expected time of being seated was 12:36am -- way past their closing time. Prepare for a long wait on the weekend. Weekdays are a bit lighter, and you can put your name on the Yelp waitlist in advance. If the waitlist isn't too long, it's also nice to explore around Japantown for a bit.
Dishes Tasted
- ★★☆☆ Oxtail Seolleongtang -- flavor was okay, the oxtail itself was pretty tough / not as tender as I was hoping.
- ★★★★ Kalbitang -- beef, shredded egg, vermicelli noodles. Excellent flavor, beef is super tender.
- ★★★☆ Kalbijim -- medium spicy, +cheese +rice cakes. The spicy-sweet flavor and the thick consistency of the sauce stood out to me. All the components (root vegetables, beef, cheese, rice cakes) paired so well with this sauce, and it's delicious with a bowl of rice on the side. Some pieces of beef could have been braised a bit longer to make them more tender (particularly the connective tissue), but overall a great dish. Very generous portions too.
