North Wales spot takes Korean barbecue to the next level

The food at SALT Korean BBQ tends to appear with a theatrical flourish.

If you order the crispy yang-nyeom chicken to start — and I suggest you do — you’ll see its crimson gochujang glow from across this stylish dining room atop a large wooden boat, weaving its way through the forest of shiny copper and steel vent hoses that dangle over tabletop grills until it lands at your place.

The meaty king oyster mushrooms are branded with the restaurant’s logo. And the kimchi-jjigae stew is still roiling in a vivid orange boil when it arrives, the blazing hot stone bowl carefully clutched by a server who searches — and somehow finds — an open space on a table already crowded with colorful banchan dishes.

But nothing is presented with more fanfare at SALT than the grand meat and seafood combo platters, which, if our “Beef Superior” meal for four was any measure, will be one of the most memorable blow-out feasts I eat this year.

I’m not just talking about the four kinds of fancy salts, from crunchy fleur de sel to milder rose-colored grains from the Bolivian Andes, that accompany the grilled meats and set a decidedly bougie tone for this six-month-old restaurant as this region’s most ambitious Korean grill house.

I’m talking about the outstanding beef itself, richly marbled and ready-to-cook, that arrived in hunger-stoking waves. First came the prime-grade bottom sirloin, already aflame over a pedestal of river stones before the server set it to sizzle atop a gas-assisted grill fired with coconut charcoal. The server scissored the meat into perfectly medium-rare morsels, and I promptly wrapped them still-sizzling into cool lettuce leaf bundles with shaved scallion salad and a dab of chef Alex Kim’s special ssamjang. But that was just a tease.

No sooner had I swallowed those savory nuggets, sharpening my appetite with smooth sips of Jinro Ilpoom soju, than an enormous board of meats and seafood appeared beside us, its multiple pounds of coiled galbi short rib, Wagyu ribeye, lobster tails, pork belly, shell-cradled scallops, shrimp, and chili-marinated octopus artfully posed amidst mini-topiaries and greenery like the still life of a royal banquet.

“I wanted to open a Korean restaurant that served top quality traditional meals we could be proud of,” says co-owner Rich Kim, 52, a health-care administrator and deli owner. He persuaded his childhood friend from Cheltenham and Penn State University, Daniel Eun, 50, an academic urologist specializing in robotic surgery at Temple University’s medical school, to invest in his vision of a luxurious grill house that appeals to both a broad Philadelphia audience and residents from North Jersey and Northern Virginia, which have more dynamic Korean dining scenes. “It’s working,” he says. “A lot of customers say, ‘Oh, I came from Ft. Lee or Palisades Park.’ ”

The fires of Korean barbecue have blazed across the Philadelphia region for several decades. From the Olney classics, Kim’s Restaurant and Seorabol, that remain the last bastions of full charcoal-fired cooking, to the gas-fueled, all-you-can eat value chains like Kpot and Nine Ting, there’s an array of styles and price points. The cozy booth oasis of SO Korean Grill in Olney is another good bet to cut your galbi cravings after a shopping mission to the city’s biggest H-Mart next door.

But I happen to agree with these partners that a next-level quality experience has been lacking locally — until now.

The duo chose to open in North Wales, a popular suburban enclave for Korean families, and they put their money where their dreams are. Along with their managing partners, brothers Dong-Shin and Dong-Keun Lee, they’ve invested $2 million to transform the strip mall branch of the now-closed Every Day Good House (my old favorite!) into a hip, industrial space with dark wood accents and walls clad in burnished copper tiles. Karaoke rooms bustle next door with large parties.

The ceramic plates are imported from Korea. And a powerful ventilation system keeps the room relatively quiet and smoke free — unlike some of the popular new bargain options like Jomon Japanese BBQ in Center City, whose noisy, underpowered grill left me reeking like a smokehouse for hours.

There’s no mistaking the high quality ingredients at SALT where the flavors were so good, even on the unmarinated meats, that the side salts often felt superfluous.

Much of that can be attributed to chef Alex Kim, a Korean-born chef who was recruited from the penthouse grill of Gaonnuri in Manhattan. Kim, 56, brings finesse and tradition to every dish, from the effervescent zing of his fresh kimchi to the crispy moons of delicately fried pumpkin and chewy topokki rice cakes that garnish the yang-nyeom chicken, which was a meal in itself.

I noticed his touch especially in marinades for meats like his galbi, which is the single cut of beef you must try. Kim deeply scores the flesh with a diamond cut for tenderness then marinates the beef in a complex blend of four fruits and kombu-fermented soy sauce for two days. When it hits the grill, it sends up an aroma of orchard sweetness and deep umami that essentially melts when it hits your tongue.

I enjoyed virtually every dish on the broad menu, which has several a la carte options beyond the combos, which range from $140, for the pork platter, to the $600 “premium” works with foie gras, beluga caviar, and abalone. These are definitely a splurge, but a comparable meal for four at an American-style steakhouse would cost far more than the $350 “superior” combo we selected.

Among the a la carte highlights, I was especially impressed with Kim’s spicy pork bibimbap in a hot stone bowl and also his pajeon, a thick seafood pancake with a crisp exterior and soft, scallion-laced interior that popped with tender shrimp and calamari, its subtle oceanic back note from scallops and clams blended into the batter.

There are still several items I’ve yet to sample, but I’m sure I will eventually, because SALT is serving up one of the best Korean food experiences in the region. Its biggest flaw remains the young service team, which is friendly and informative, but not nearly patient enough to properly pace a multimeat combo feast.

Once the fire ignited, I felt rushed as our server briskly cooked through the platter at a faster clip than we could comfortably eat, as the bits of sirloin, ribeye, and galbi backed up into one overcooked beefy jumble. That’s not how it should unfold, according to Rich Kim, who says the optimal scenario involves multiple, well-timed cooking visits from servers, who should prepare the seafood as palate-cleanser interludes between cuts of meat.

Then again, we’d arrived late by suburban standards, since North Wales is an hour from Center City. A room still jammed with diners at 8 p.m. was nearly empty by 9 p.m. — on a Saturday night. So when the grand finale of a 30 oz. bone-in ribeye steak hit our grill with its rosemary-scented sizzle, servers across the room had already begun sweeping floors and piling up chairs. Was someone in a rush to end this show early before the final curtain falls officially at 10 p.m.?

SALT has proven that Korean steakhouse luxury can absolutely thrive in this unassuming strip mall. But the early-to-bed impulses of its suburban setting might also challenge SALT’s ability to grow into the regional dining destination it can become.

1222 Welsh Rd., North Wales, 215-412-4200; saltkoreanbbq.com

Lunch Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner served Tuesday through Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Karaoke rooms open Friday through Sunday until midnight.

Wheelchair accessible.

Not recommended for gluten-free diners.