“Yuck Hwe”, that is.

Today we ate dinner at one of our favorite Bay-Area restaurants, the decidedly low key (one step above “hole in the wall”) Secret Garden Korean restaurant in Santa Clara. Although we hadn't been there in years, the waitress recognized us and immediately guessed correctly that we wanted to order Yuck Hwe (also written in other ways, such as “yukhoe” -- our menu had “Yuck Hwe” -- but in any case, pronounced similar to “YOU-kay”).

Yuck hew is raw marinated beef served very cold, with a raw egg on top, and julienned apple or pear (the beef itself is julienned as well). It's best served very cold (with the beef actually a bit stiff from being frozen), although Secret Garden doesn't serve it quite that cold.

At least one of us gets it every time we go, and particularly after Anthony was born, I'd often stop by for carryout to bring home.

We like Secret Garden because their food is good, and also a good value. You have to be sure to order a small amount, because no matter what dinner you order, you end up getting 8 or more little dishes of extras, both spicy (such as kimchee) and mild (bean sprouts). Anthony's entire meal consisted of portions of the non-spicy contingent from these extra dishes.

In the end, I ate almost none of my broccoli & beef and so we returned home heavily laden with leftovers to enjoy later. Yum.