Category: Korean Food 101

The Surprising Korean Burger Foodies Are Crazy For
There’s a Korean burger that has been the must-try in Seoul’s foodie community. And it comes from a surprising place.
Lotteria.
Yes, Lotteria. The Korean-Japanese fast food franchise known for its culinary abominations–soggy fries and cardboard tasting burgers (though their Shrimp Burger is the perfect drunk food).
In 2016, something started changing. It was as if management had gone through a change. They came out with their A-Z Burger. It was super loaded. It wasn’t sickeningly sweet.
I compare it to the American cable TV channel AMC. How a shift in management turned it from the “Short Circuit 2” channel to the “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men” channel.
This past week, in our group Restaurant Buzz Seoul, member Gilbert Lee posted this review (I’ve broken up the text to make it more readable):
So, I’ve been in a love affair these past few months with this burger from Lotteria: the Classic Cheeseburger. As a review, I feel that I should compare it with burgers that people know of in this group, and I’d have to say, the whole In-and-Out, Cali Kitchen, Shake and whatever places have lacked resonance over the test of time. I don’t remember them, other than their brand names. Actually, In-and-Out required a long line, and the other ones had questionable interior designs and service for a dumb pricey burger. I remember yellow walls and dark lighting. And lots of people eating the burgers with their eyes closed.
Anyhow, this cheeseburger I like is super! It takes seven minutes to make, sometimes even instanteously served if you order it during breakfast hours. It costs 4,000 won, and you can inhale it in about a minute. I eat two, usually, and my day’s anxiety melts away.
The burger embodies the essence of fast-food burger joints. In and out, pure. No godforsaken lines. Oh, and the servers are great! No cheap talk, just “What do you want?”
And if you look them sternly in their eyes when you say you don’t want the set meal, they feel you proper: no more questions.
As for the taste of these bad boys, oh man. The bread complements the condiments really well. So well, in fact, Lotteria should definitely make a “Condiment Burger” with no beef. The mustard and mayonnaise is that good, people. Speaking of beef, I believe the chefs at Lotteria have made their ultimate patty, perfected over the years since the restaurateur’s inception in 1979. Words do not do the patty justice. The onions are crispy, too, reminiscent of those crispy onions we’ve all had in our day.
I will definitely remember this burger forever. I had my first in Mangwon on a summer day. It was raining outside. I was sad, but then my discovery made me happy. I hope it stays on Lotteria’s menu for generations to come.
He’s talking about the Classic Cheeseburger, which is one of the new Lotteria Korean burger offerings in the past couple of years.
His post was immediately met with skepticism. Members thought he was trolling or being ironic.
Then others piped in to agree with him.
Besides, it was a great Korean burger review. Fun, entertaining, informative, enthusiastic. So much better than the pretentious crap we usually read from the resident snobs.
The review was intriguing enough to inspire members (including me) to give it a try.
We tried. And you know what? It’s really frikkin’ good!
I’d say it’s even better than the equivalent burgers at Burger King and McDonald’s. It’s no premium burger, like Shake Shack and Five Guys. But that’s not their playground. This change is disturbing. It’s challenging everything I know.
And then it went to fanboy levels of unmitigated enthusiasm.
I’m craving this again.
There’s something addictive in it that I just can’t pinpoint. It’s not syrupy sweet like the Bulgogi Burgers. The patty has actual flavor. It’s oniony. The pickles make it taste a little of Krystal/White Castle. The bun is toasted.
Bonus: Mac and Cheese Sticks
I had to try their new Mac and Cheese Sticks. They taste as if Taco Bell made macaroni and cheese and deep fried it. Not bad.
I’ve been doing this long enough to know there will be a backlash. It always happens when something becomes surprisingly popular. People who mistake cynicism with intelligence will pooh-pooh it just to be contradictory.
But seriously, it’s great to see this surprising development from crappy old Lotteria.
January 25, 2018
What Is Korean Buddhist Temple Cuisine?
You may be wondering why an unapologetic meat eater would be enthusiastic about vegetarian Buddhist temple cuisine. Temple cuisine is a topic that the average Korean wouldn’t be able to tell you much about. It’s pretty exotic over here too. My first experience with temple cuisine came from an article I was researching for a local magazine in 2007. One of the large temples was holding a tasting and meditation seminar, and I thought I’d check it out.
All from a bowl of mushroom soup?
We sat in a large temple, on the floor. We learned some basics of meditation, and then came the food. The monk who was holding the seminar taught us not only about the food but how to eat it. I was facing a bowl of mushroom soup. He told us to close our eyes and smell the soup. Then, with eyes half closed, we slowly ate the soup while learning eating meditation. I had never tasted mushroom soup like this before. We were in a Korean Buddhist temple, but I was being transported to crisp autumn mornings in my native Alabama. Walks through the woods. Memories I don’t remember having. All this from a bowl of mushroom soup.
From the past, the future of food
Even though this is the most traditional of Korean foods, it’s also ahead of its time. Just name a major food movement, and it applies to temple cuisine. It’s slow food. It’s local. It’s organic. It’s vegan. And it’s stubbornly seasonal. Even if temple cuisine is not your type of food, the messages it conveys are valuable to any meal.
The ideal diet from Buddhist scriptures starts with a breakfast of porridge for the mind, a lunch of solid food for stamina, and a dinner of fruit juice for fiber. You also shouldn’t sleep less than two hours after eating—something our doctors tell us all the time. Temple cuisine stresses efficiency, something people in the restaurant business would appreciate. Waste is greatly frowned upon. If you cook vegetables in water, reuse that water in a soup or cook rice with it. And when eating there should not be any waste. There’s the rice bowl, some soup, and some vegetables. And when a monk is finished, he takes his water and swirls it around the rice bowl and drinks it. That’s why the best job at a Buddhist temple is the dishwasher.
It’s also very seasonal. But Korean cuisine itself is highly seasonal. I’ve heard that every two weeks there’s a special day to eat a certain dish. For Buddhists The Scripture of Golden Light advises to have spicy and astringent food in spring; slippery, hot, salty and sour food for summer; slippery, cold and sweet food for autumn; and slippery, sour and astringent food for winter. By slippery, I mean vegetables like seaweed, mushrooms and fiddleheads.
More vegan than vegan
Ideally there is no meat. Buddhism is about life, and you should never kill anything. One time I was eating at a temple restaurant during summer, and the happiest housefly was buzzing around. That had to be the luckiest housefly in Korea. You should not kill your food whenever possible. And if you can help it, try not to kill any plants either. Just take what you can and keep the plant alive to produce more. Monks use the analogy that the bee doesn’t kill the flower to make honey. But this isn’t pure dogma. Sometimes meat is necessary depending on one’s constitution.
At its heart, it is locavore vegan cuisine, but it goes even one step further. Among the vegetables there are five forbidden veggies that incite anger when raw and sexual mischief when cooked. They are garlic, leeks, Chinese chives, and two other wild onions. It’s basically anything from the allium family—garlic and onions. How can you cook anything without garlic and onions?
What we can learn from temple cuisine
This is where we can learn a lot from temple cuisine. The historical rule of food is when one is given limitations, creativity flourishes. All the world’s great peasant cuisines, including Korean, invented amazing dishes out of necessity. It takes a great cook to make something with limited ingredients. When I watch cooking competition shows, I think it’s cheating whenever a contestant breaks out the foie gras. It’s too easy. It’s not clever to just throw in luxurious ingredients and serve them. But when you get all that taken away, you are forced to look at food differently. And it’s from this that we realize that we neglect a lot of what nature has to offer.
As diners, temple cuisine teaches us to appreciate our food. Eating meditation forces us to slow down and enjoy each bite. When a temple chef cooks, she does it with a happy mind. It’s what we always say about soul food and Sunday dinner at an Italian grandmother’s—what makes the food taste good is the love put into it. That is at the heart of temple cooking. But this continues on to the eating part.
Eating Meditation
When you eat, try this. Close your eyes half-way. Ponder where the food originally came from. Think of its journey from the field, the forest, the sea, the mountain to the kitchen to the table. Think of the sun putting its energy into the food and the rich minerals of the earth absorbed into it. Ancient materials creating new life. Think about the people you love and the people you’re with. Think of the moment. Consider how everything, from a star far away in space to the ancient earth to the people who affect your life are embodied in the meal before you. In eating meditation you are supposed to chew each bite forty times. Again, I think it’s a guideline. It does help the digestion, but the message is that we need to slow down and take each bite one at a time. We have a habit of thinking about the next bite or even finishing the whole dish without appreciating what’s currently in the mouth. You appreciate being alive and feeling alive through reflection. Eating meditation tells us to stop and savor. It could be temple cuisine. It could be a fancy meal. It could be a hamburger. But don’t try it with a Big Mac unless chemicals sets make you hungry.
Now, I’m still a carnivore, or rather, I’m an omnivore. I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian, but Korea has taught me to put meat into perspective. I grew up thinking of meat as the big tumor at the center of the plate. But now I consider it a balanced player amongst a bounty of foods. I can eat vegetarian, even vegan, and be satisfied every now and then. Temple cuisine has taught me to look at food in a different way. To appreciate what I have and to explore new food possibilities.
And that was a damn fine mushroom soup.
February 21, 2017
Winner of California culinary contest: ‘Korean food will become more popular’
The first-place winner of the recent Korean Sensation Culinary Contest at The Culinary Institute of America’s Napa Valley campus is neither a traditional North American college student nor a stranger to Korean cuisine.
A native of Montreal, Stephen Neumann came to culinary school to pursue a second career. He had spent 11 years teaching English as a second language in Busan and Seoul, South Korea.
Tthe 38-year-old student at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif., is in second semester of his program. His externship is coming up in January.
Stephen Neumann introduces his Koreanized interpretation of Pate Chinois to the judges. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
According to Neumann, there were more than 200 submissions from the three of CIA campuses in the States (Hyde Park, N.Y.; San Antonio, Texas and St. Helena). Students were given a list of five Korean ingredients and told to incorporate at least two into the final dish.
Obviously, the $7,000 scholarship from the Korea Agro Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aka aT) will come in handy as Neumann continues his culinary studies at the CIA. ZenKimchi Food Journal talked with him about his inspiration for the fusion dish, background with Korean food and insights on the future of Korean cuisine overseas.
ZenKimchi Food Journal: What is your food vision?
NEUMANN: I haven’t to discover that. My passion for this came from working in a kitchen. I have a lot to learn. That is why I’m here. Going into this a little older, I have experienced cuisines from all over Asia, especially Korea.
I lived in Busan for a couple of years and then to Seoul and Anyang. I taught ESL for 11 years there before coming to the USA to study culinary arts.
Stephen Neumann garnishes his yangchigi (Korean for “shepherd”) pie. This dish received quite a bit of love from the judges. aT Center Vice President Yoo Chun Sik said, “It’s a bit playful. The sweet and spicy play well in this dish.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
What inspired your winning dish?
NEUMANN: It comes from my mother’s French-Canadian background. It was a staple in my home. It’s simple, nice, easy to make. I love the sweet potato–kimchi combination.
My mother never uses lamb in her pâté chinois. But if I’m doing a shepherd’s pie, I wanted to be as authentic as possible. Lamb is a popular meat in China but not in Korea. The bulgogi sauce worked well with the lamb. I didn’t overload it with bulgogi sauce, but it balanced the edge that comes with lamb.
What Korean food blogs or Korean chefs did you study to prepare for this contest?
NEUMANN: I came up with the idea for the dish when the contest began. I submitted this concept and one other, and the shepherd’s pie was accepted. It was just an idea in my mind.
He told ZenKimchi he didn’t start working on the recipe until after it was accepted for the scholarship contest.
What are your favorite cuisines, beside Korean?
NEUMANN: I have been a fan of Mediterranean food. There’s a huge variety on offer: Southern France, Italy, Greece, North Africa. I don’t know enough about Mediterranean food, but I’m open to learn more.
Asian-wise, I was blown away by Vietnamese food. I love the freshness of the greens and the heat. I fell in love with Korean food immediately. There are very few things I have not tried yet.
How do you see the future of Korean-American cuisine?
NEUMANN: In North America and Europe, there is a lot of potential. Eleven years ago before I left North America for Korea, there was little interest in Korean food at all. Still, it’s a vague concept to people, but they love Korean barbecue. North Americans have a singular vision of what Korean food is, but that is going to change. It’s not just going to be Korean barbecue that people will talk about in the future.
The concept of fermentation has taken North America by storm. Korean food will become more popular. I would like to see more Korean restaurants open. They haven’t caught up with the passion or the demand for it.
Living in Korea, some of the humble aspects of the food like the kimchi jjigae and the side dishes — I love that simplicity. It didn’t need any flair to heighten it. It is a cuisine that can be elevated and taken in so many directions.
What kind of beverage do you recommend drinking with Korean food?
NEUMANN: With my dish, it is pub food. Having a stout, a pint of beer, with shepherd’s pie works well on a lot of levels. The beer is refreshing after the heat of the food itself.
My wife is in the accelerated wine program at CIA Greystone. We have started drinking some wine with our Korean meals. There are wines that go very well with Korean food too.
November 11, 2015
CIA Greystone hosts Korean cuisine contest
The Korean government doesn’t want Korean cuisine to be Los Angeles’ best kept secret, so the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Greystone, based in St. Helena, Calif., in cooperation with the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (also called aT for short), hosted a scholarship competition and recipe challenge on Oct. 26.
The Korean government has worked hard, over the course of two presidential administrations, to preach the gospel of the health benefits and bold flavor profile of Korean cuisine. Korean trade officials are hoping their three-year-long relationship with the Culinary Institute of America will help spark the interest of America’s up and coming chefs in traditional Korean ingredients and that their evangelical fervor will spread onto the shelves of America’s grocery stores.
CIA students from all three of their American campuses submitted recipe ideas and the five students with the most promising concepts were invited to travel to the CIA’s Greystone campus to compete for scholarships ranging from the first prize of $7,000 to the fifth place prize of $1,000.
The culinary students were given a list of five Korean ingredients to chose as the inspiration of their recipes: gochujang, bulgogi sauce, kimchi, yujacha (citron tea) or boricha (roasted barley tea). The students were required to use at least two of the ingredients in their final recipe.
The Korean Sensation Day at CIA Greystone was not just a scholarshp contest, it was also an opportunity for CIA students, media and guests to taste some innovative dishes using Korean ingredients.
The finalists, listed in the order their food was presented to the judges, were:
- Eric Garcia, a student at the CIA Greystone in St. Helena. He made a recipe called K-town Carpaccio, which was made with gochujang and kimchi.
- Stephen Neumann, a student at the CIA Greystone, made a dish he called Yangchigi Pie (which means Shephard’s pie in Korean) or Pâté Coreen was his his Koreanized take on a traditional Quebecois dish called Pâté Chinois, which strongly resembles an Anglo-American Shephard’s pie. This dish featured Korean sweet potato, kimchi and lamb marinated in bulgogi sauce.
- Elizabeth Aristeguieta, a student from the CIA in San Antonio, Texas. Her dish was called Mah-Sit-Sso-Yo Pork, which used roasted barley, yujacha and gochujang in the sauce and marinade, garnished with grilled green onions.
- Sean Dodds, a student from the CIA in Hyde Park, N.Y., made Memphis/Seoul Pulled Pork sliders, flavored with bulgogi sauce, gochujang and topped with finely julienned kimchi.
- Jun Heum Park, a student from the CIA in Hyde Park. His dish, called Yuzu-like Ssam Pork, was a pork roll flavored with gochujang and yujacha.
The dishes were scrutinized and judged by several judges including:
- Marja D. Vongerichten of Kimchi Chronicles
- Chef Hooni Kim of Michelin-starred Danji and Han Jan in New York City
- Yoo Chung-Sik, Vice President of aT
- Chef Bill Heubel, instructor at CIA Greystone
K-Town Carpaccio. Chef Hooni Kim said of Garcia’s K-town Carpaccio, “The beef took a back seat to the salad, but the salad had the salty, sweet and spicy of Korean food.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo)

Yangchigi Pie. This dish received quite a bit of love from the judges. aT Center VP Yoo Chun Sik said, “It’s a bit playful. The sweet and spicy play well in this dish.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo)

Mah-Sit-Sso-Yo Pork. Marja Vongerichten, host of the PBS TV series and author of the cookbook, Kimchi Chronicles praised the dish saying, “Wow, this is perfectly cooked. I can really taste the yuja.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo).

Dodd’s Memphis BBQ pork slider featured pulled pork marinated in bulgogi sauce. It was cooked slow overnight sous vide. The recipe also had the distinction of using 4 of the 5 featured ingredients. Chef Hooni Kim called it, ‘The most delicious thing I’ve tasted today, but when you create something miniature, make sure everything is perfect. There’s no room for error.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo).

Park’s Yuzu-like Ssam Pork with couscous was brined and then marinated in ssamjang, which was not one of the featured Korean ingredients. Marja Vongerichten said, “It looks like western dish but with every bite, there were true Korean flavors.” Chef Bill Heubel, an instructor at the CIA called it, “a restrained dish even with the bold flavors” that showed that “Korean ingredients don’t have to be loud.”
None of the students left empty-handed. Each of them won an aT Center culinary scholarship. The grand prize $7,000 scholarship was awarded to Stephen Neumann (CIA Greystone) for his Yangchigi Pie (Shepherd’s Pie aka Pate Coreen). Mom’s home-cooking won Neumann a nice reward.
Elizabeth Aristeguiesta’s (CIA San Antonio) Mah-Sit-Sso-Yo Pork won her second place and a $4000 scholarship. Maybe the dish’s name, which literally means “Delicious Pork,” was a subliminal message that help her come very close to the top.
Eric Garcia’s (CIA Greystone) K-town Carpaccio won him the third place scholarship of $3,000.
Fourth place went to Sean Dodd (CIA Hyde Park) and his Memphis Seoul Pulled Pork Slider and a $2000 scholarship.
Jun Heum Park’s (CIA Hyde Park) Yuzu Ssam Pork came in fifth place, netting him a $1,000 scholarship.
This scholarship was a student innovation challenge. The CIA and aT Center have no plans at this time to make this into an annual contest.
October 28, 2015
Another Copycat, This Time in L.A.
Soon after Vatos Urban Tacos opened and became a hit, people from rival restaurants showed up, vigorously taking pictures of each detail for “research” and “benchmarking,” business Konglish for “straight up ripping off and copying.”
A few months later, dishes that never existed on Korea’s shores until Vatos made them magically appeared in other restaurants around Seoul. That’s to be expected in the industry with a successful restaurant, especially in Korea, where copying can sometimes be considered a cunning skill rather than shameful theft.
This popular Korean BBQ restaurant in L.A., Quarters Korean BBQ, felt it was okay to benchmark the overall design of the Vatos menu all the way down to individual graphic elements. Yes, they’re not doing anything illegal. But they should be aware that it is a shameful practice. Copying isn’t always the highest form of flattery. It can also be lazy and cheap. And if a restaurant is going to be lazy, cheap, and unethical about menu design, who knows how it behaves in the kitchen?
If this bothers you…
Make it known to their management.
Yelp Page
Facebook Page
Ah, and remember Meat & Bread (the original) vs. Porchetta? The former winners of the benchmarking Olympics didn’t see any dent in business when people found out. But their poor service and food did that for them.
January 20, 2015
I Love You, Bae 배 사랑해요
January 9, 2015
Groovy Find: Spicy Lamb Bulgogi at Home Plus
Yes! I found this at Home Plus. Even though I found proof somewhere that Koreans used to eat lamb, it’s not common today. Lamb can be found only in foreign supermarkets.
Until recently.
I saw this at Home Plus. Mr. Beaks Premium Chili Paste Lamb Bulgogi.
Out of the package, it’s straight up bulgogi. Just thinly sliced meat and marinade. No vegetables. I coulda added some onions and carrots, but… NAH…
It was easy to fry up, but I didn’t need to add oil to the pan. This was much greasier than its beef and pork counterparts. I had to drain the pan twice.
Too bad we didn’t have any video rolling when I tried my first morsel straight outta the pan. It was so good that it took a few minutes for my eyes to roll back to the forward position. Sweet, garlicky, very lamby–almost mutton-like. At the end was some nice heat. Like spicy lamb candy.

I just served it deopbap style over rice with some kimchi. Even Jian enjoyed it. I thought this pack would last us a couple of days, but we ate the entire pack in one sitting. Gone!

January 8, 2015
Three kinds of bulgogi
Over at Sorae Bulgogi in Soraemaul we tried three types of VERY traditional bulgogi.
The Eonyang Bulgogi comes from the southeast near Ulsan. It’s thin slices of been mixed with garlic and sesame oil and pounded like hell. It’s squeezed and massaged and eventually pressed by hand into a ball. At the grill it’s basically shredded with tongs and comes out tender and beefy.
The Gwangyang Bulgogi is mixed with onions and apples. The thin strips of ribeye are grilled over charcoal very quickly, flipping constantly. It’s kinda like chadolbagi brisket at other Korean restaurants. With this kind you can get some crispy edges and great textures.
The final kind is Seoul style cooked on a domed grill with broth around the edges. I’ve been told by a historian that the grill is fashioned after a Mongolian helmet. The top part gets that lovely kiss of charcoal. The broth is mild.
Unlike the bulgogi in modern Seoul and overseas, this isn’t that sweet. The Seoul style isn’t sweet at all. Even after ten years I’m still getting an education.
November 27, 2014
The Secret to Great Kimbap
Put tasty grilled sausage in there. EJ threw some li’l smokies in these. Ni-i-i-ice.
July 14, 2014
Another Hilarious Bibimbap Ad
CORRECTIONS AND UPDATES: The Bibimbap Backpackers contacted us and informed us that they have been working separately from Seo Kyung Duk since 2012. Even though it wasn’t mentioned in the post, they also want to verify that they get no government support. They regret the ad they posted and will try harder to contemplate their promotions before posting.
From the Bibimbap Backpackers, ~~who are a subsidiary of Seo Kyung Duk’s ForTheNextGeneration–you know, the guy behind the cheesy New York Times ads.~~
There is SOOOO much that is wrong with this ad, which they briefly posted on their Facebook page.
For one thing–THAT IS NOT A BIG MAC!
That’s the first fib they told on this. The other one–a Big Mac is 550 kcal, not 1055!
When I mentioned this on their Facebook page, they said that they were talking about a Big Mac set. To people not familiar with how Korean fast food restaurants run, a “set” means a combo meal. Fries and drink. Again, not very forthcoming in the truth department.
But really, we’ve gone over this before. Don’t try to make traditional Korean food look healthy by comparing it to the worst of American junk food. That’s so dumb! Was this the school project of an 8-year-old?
I myself love bibimbap, which is why this ad infuriates me. It is trying to make bibimbap into something it’s not. It has its health benefits from a variety of high vitamin ingredients. But it’s hardly the food for calorie counters. As an exercise, I posted on their Facebook page all these other traditional foods from other countries, including America, which have less calories than bibimbap. There are quite a bit. Bibimbap is closer in calories to a Philly Cheesesteak than it is to a Cobb Salad.
This is another area that they just stubbornly can’t wrap their minds around. How do they think they can successfully promote Korean food by insulting other foods?
Yes, I said they were comparing it to junk food, but I have run into this time and time again that Koreans assume Americans only eat hamburgers and pizza all the time. One young man seriously asked me how many hamburgers Americans eat per day. It’s similar to that study that was posted (and taken down) on the Korean Food Foundation website that compared sperm counts of people eating traditional Korean food with people who ate burgers and fried pork cutlets.
There’s this frog-in-the-well stereotype (I’m not saying racist stereotype) that Americans are fat because all American food is unhealthy. When in fact it’s because Americans are eating cheap junk foods and not exercising much. They have access to plenty of healthy traditional American cuisine, but they just choose not to eat it. Telling someone that bibimbap has less calories than a Big Mac ain’t gonna change the mind of someone who is craving a Big Mac.
The whole “Korean food is healthy” angle is such a dangerous and unproductive approach. For one thing, it’s not like there aren’t healthy options available to westerners, who are waiting for some Hansik white knight to rescue them. But also, Korean food is just as healthy and unhealthy as other traditional cuisines. It does use less oil and animal fats. Koreans are generally thinner than their western counterparts. But they also have the highest stomach cancer rate in the world.
After I posted a little of what I wrote up here, they took down their post. A pity. It was such a great model of how not to promote bibimbap.
June 27, 2014