IL-CHA Kbbq  // The Big Catch Seafood // EMC Seafood

My experience with ZAO group restaurants was fantastic! All thanks to Lawrence, I was lucky enough to try these amazing restaurants.

First, I stopped by IL-CHA, an all-you-can-eat KBBQ place in Koreatown, CA. Located on Olympic blvd, its really not hard to miss their sign. With AYCE I have to admit that I just find a place where I can just stuff my face with. If you are looking for that “QUALITY>QUANTITY,” type of place, Il-Cha is the place to go to. Not only does this place do AYCE, but their quality is just on point.

As you can see here, each person gets 1 lobster (the only limited item on the list), and unlimited oysters to large variety of meat. Forget the usual pork belly and brisket, because here you can get anything from rib-eye, yukhae, to even lamb! Also don’t forget about their side dishes, because they have a full self-serv bar that has over 30+ variety to choose from!!!

view their full menu here

Next, my next visit was to Big Catch Seafood. This place was a bit harder to find for parking because it was outside of a mall that had a heavy flow of customers. Not knowing what type of seafood I was about to try, I hit a jackpot. Not a typical cajun seafood place, I was recommended to try this HUGE plate of seafood :

Honestly for a party of 4, I think we were able to finish half of the plate. With crab legs, shrimp, crawfish, clams, mussels, corn, sausages & potatoes- we didn’t expect to walk out this full from here! Thank you BIG CATCH SEAFOOD for spoiling us with so much flavor! ❤

“sea” their full menu here:

Last but not least, I was very excited to visit one of my all time favorites, EMC Seafood. I usually visit the one in K-town, but this time I was able to try their NEWEST location in Irvine, CA.

Of course, you can’t forget to try their Uni Pasta. This here is my ALL-TIME favorite dish, honestly there is no way of explaining the garlic noodles mixed with their special sauce topped with uni…. When you especially mix the uni with the pasta, the first bite you take is indescribable. Also you can’t forget to try their oysters:

you can choose from:

• Minter Sweet (Gig Harbor, WA) 
• Little Neck Clams (Florida) 
• Fanny Bay (British Columbia, Canada)
• Kusshi (Vancouver Island, BC, Canada) 
• Kumamoto (Humboldt Bay, N California) 
• Fat Bastard (Seattle, WA) 
• Shigoku (Samish Bay, WA)

I was able to try all different types of the chefs favorites of the day, but I would have to say that I enjoyed the Fanny Bay’s the best.

I want to give a special thanks to their general manager, Michael Yamada for such a great service as well and offering many different dishes .. since I couldn’t make my decision..!!

Check out their full menu here.

My overall experience with ZAO group was super. There are more of their restaurants to try out: Wokano, Backhouse, Triple 8, Bunker Hill, 3rd Generation & Spear Steak & Seafood. I think I have enough places to choose from if I am ever hungry in the area 🙂

until next time,

Fof ❤