Seoul Garden and Its Ultra-Bargain Korean Lunch Can Be Your Little Secret

My office takes lunch outings seriously. We have a shared document listing nearby restaurants in categories like "Old Favorites," "New Openings" and "Places That Have Changed and Are Different and Frightening Now." If your office is similarly intent on lunching well, and is located anywhere near the intersection of Interstate 35 and Royal Lane, make sure you know about the lunch special at Seoul Garden. File it under "Old Favorites."

At lunch, Seoul Garden offers two pages of specials starting at $8, most under $11. Bibimbap, the classic mix of rice, meat and veggies with a raw egg, is a fixture. Look for "dolsot bibimbap," served in an extremely hot stone bowl. (Mix well, or the rice at the bottom will get burned, although it honestly tastes pretty good that way.) I recently enjoyed my dolsot bibimbap with flavorful prime rib meat, zucchini, fall squash and spicy red chili sauce.

Fall weather means looking at the ample soups on the menu, too. And every lunch comes with a free cup of soup, plus the usual banchan, the small army of tiny dishes served in the middle of the table. Seoul Garden's selection of kimchi, bean sprouts, tofu, cucumbers in chili sauce, potatoes and others is very well-prepared and fun to eat through.

Oh, and solo diners get all nine of Seoul Garden's banchan with their meal, making this restaurant one of the best places in Dallas to eat alone. My group spotted multiple tables of people eating solo, their entire tables for two covered in delicious food. So, on second thought, don't tell your office about this lunch special. Maybe complain that you're on some stupid committee that meets at noon all the time. Seoul Garden and its ultra-bargain lunch can be your little secret.

Seoul Garden, 2502 Royal Lane, 972-484-6090, open 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday.