Memphis Rib in Seoul? Positive!

When I first heard about Memphis King Barbecue, I was skeptical. The restaurant serves “authentic imported Memphis ribs,” which means the ribs are cooked and sauced 11,000 kilometers away in Memphis, Tennessee, then frozen and shipped to Seoul. Can ribs that undergo such traveling really be any good?
The answer is yes. Of course, Memphis King’s ribs lose something in transit. They’re not quite as juicy, not quite as tender as ribs that have just finished 12 hours in a blackened pit smoker.
There’s the gritty, smoky atmosphere of a true Southern barbecue joint that adds something to eating ribs and would be damn near impossible to replicate in Seoul. But, Memphis King’s ribs do meet several important criteria for a good rack of ribs:
• The meat pulls easily off the bone.
• It has a slightly charred, chewy outer layer and a tender middle.
• The bones are soft enough to bite through, the result of slow, low-heat cooking.
• The sauce is sweet and mild, just like you’d get in Memphis.

What’s more important, though, is that they’re probably the best Southern-style ribs you’ll find in Korea. Danner Chang, the owner of the ribs joint, hails from Memphis. He got the idea for opening a Memphis-style ribs place in Seoul when a group of church pastors from Korea visited his hometown for a festival. Chang and his parents sent the pastors to Corky’s, a local staple. They loved it. An idea was born: Koreans love pork; we know the Memphis style. We will open a Memphis ribs joint in Seoul.
Danner decided to import ribs from Memphis rather than use Korean pork because Korean butchers cut an important section of the rib away, while American butchers leave it on. As a bonus, a 70-year-old smokehouse in Memphis had the know-how to smoke, sauce, vacuum seal and freeze ribs so that they could be transported across the world and maintain their quality.
The menu at Memphis King revolves around ribs. It’s eclectic and decidedly “fusion,” but nearly every item incorporates ribs. Their barbecue salad is topped with meat pulled from the ribs; the barbecue spaghetti, meat pulled from the ribs. The barbecue sandwich – yep, you guessed it, meat pulled from the ribs.
We had a plate of their barbecue fried rice before our ribs. In addition to being the only place in town with real Southern ribs, Memphis King may be the only place in town with true American-style fried rice. Ours came with little bits of scrambled egg, minced onion, chives and carrot. It was the exact shade of golden brown that fried rice back home always is. And of course, pieces of rib meat had been pulled and mixed into it.
Danner gave us his fusion barbecue sauce and told us to mix it in. It had that sweetness evocative of Memphis sauce and the distinctive heat of Korean chilies.
The crowd inside the restaurant on the Saturday we went was a mix of older Koreans and young expats. One customer from St. Louis explained the differences between Southern-style barbecue and Korean-style barbecue to a Korean woman while they shared a Coke float. “Root beer is my favorite, but you take what you can get,” he told us.
Chang said he’s trying to draw in a foreign customer base. “Unless foreigners recognize that it’s legit Western food, the Koreans won’t follow.” The inside of Memphis King is decorated with pictures of Memphis icons: Beale Street, The Pyramid, the Mississippi River. But Our ribs came with sweet pickles and cabbage salad – reminders that we were definitely still in Seoul.


Direction
To get to Memphis King Barbecue, go out exit 3 at Bangbae Station. Walk down the alley on the left. Follow a bend to the right. Memphis King is located on the right.

Tel: 02-797-0127
924-9 Bangbae 1-dong, Seoucho-Gu, Seoul
http://www.mkb.kr/


Promotion
Memphis King is having a promotion from now until June 23. Full slab meals are discounted from W25,000 to W17,500 (which makes them less expensive than a rack at Corky’s in Memphis). Frozen ribs are discounted from W18,000 to W15,000.

By Josh Foreman
Photos By Melissa Hubley