Korean Catering House (To To Wha Catering House)

March 25th, 2008 · No Comments

There’s a new kid on the block that I ~~predict~~ promise will take Duluth by storm (if it hasn’t already). It opened 3 weeks ago. I learned about it from my mom’s Chinese good friend who literally walked me over to the restaurant and introduced me to the owners and staff as her “other daughter”. Even at just being open for 2 days, they have everything spot on: food and service.

Located in a brand new huge Asian shopping plaza with only a handful of businesses open, this Korean barbecue house was packed on the lunch day I came in (and they’ve only been open 2 days!) with a mostly Korean clientèle. The shopping plaza is on North Berkeley Lake Road which cuts through PIB, Buford Hway, and Pleasant Hill. It’s closer to the Pleasant Hill side and if you keep going, Super H Mart Duluth will be on your right past the Pleasant Hill traffic light (where Walmart is). [Side note: Incidentally, a new Super H Mart-type super grocery is going to open here soon. The new place has been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with Super H because they want to name the new place something like The H Mart. Clever. They were supposed to open 3 months ago. Name has been settled and I heard they’ll be open in a few weeks.]

Anyway, I was impressed with the food, both quality and quantity-wise. And the prices — well, it puts Super H Mart to shame. At cheaper than it’s supermarket counterpart, this place offers superior taste that’s world’s away. They offer quite a good list of Lunch Specials that, at $6.99, is the best deal in town (and cheaper and way more flavorful than the fast food at Super H). The food is fresh, with good quality ingredients, and very, very tasty. You get 12 banchan dishes per order (too much for one person, if you ask me). Not to mention its serene ambiance that, well, the supermarket will never have. And you’ll love the huge tables. So why go to Super H at all? It’s 200 yards away!

I had Kimchi Rice topped with Egg. Since very little English is spoken here, my Beef Kimchi Rice order got lost in translation. No matter, it was spicy and delicious. The banchan (12 total) was all good, too, especially the bowl of hot broth with taro.

A friend came a little while later and ordered a Beef Bibimbap in a stone hot pot on a slab of wood. Awesome presentation. Plus the fact that the stone pot was so hot, so you really needed the slab of wood. And I like that the rice and sauce is served separate so you can adjust the heat to your liking.

Definitely a must-try. Go now. The lines during lunch are already piling up out the door.

Insider tip:

Go early and beat the lunch crowd of Korean business people. Banchan available for purchase.

The signage outside is in Korean and the only English words are Catering House. So I’m naming this place Korean Catering House. Go through the plaza entrance and it’ll be a little to your left as you go all the way in.

The scoop:

Korean Catering House
2645 North Berkeley Lake Rd.,
Duluth, GA 30096