Tag: kimchi jjigae

14 Must-eat Korean Foods In Seoul and Where To Eat
I’ve been writing about Korean food in Seoul since 2004 at ZenKimchi. I’ve consulted Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Travel Channel, and other world media in finding the must eat Korean foods.
Here’s the ultimate list. These are foods you can find specific restaurants for. I’m not including foods that you’d find as side dishes, like Japchae and Kimchi.

Beginner’s Quest
This list is getting so hyuuuge that I’m dividing it into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Beginner is if you’re new to Korean food, or if it’s your first time in Korea. These are also the foods that are crowd pleasers–the greatest hits. The Top-40 music of Korean food.
Korean BBQ
The first must-eat Korean food that springs to mind. Cooking meat at your table and wrapping it in lettuce. There’s something primal about that. Korean BBQ is all about community and fun. In Korea itself, pork is king. Beef costs so much it’s for special occasions.
Where to eat Korean BBQ
It’s hard to screw up Korean BBQ in Korea. The competition is so fierce that mediocre places don’t hang out long.
Mapo Jeong Daepo 마포정대포
My go-to place is still Jeong Daepo in the Mapo neighborhood, near Gongdeok Station. The whole area is full of BBQ aromas. Most all the restaurants in that area are great. We made sure Anthony Bourdain went there the last time he was in Seoul. It’s the main place we go to on The Ultimate Korean BBQ Night Out.

Hongik Sutbul Galbi Sogeum Gwi 홍익숯불갈비소금구
I don’t know how long this will hold out against the pressure of gentrification. It’s a packed, packed, packed place. They give your meat a pre-cook over strong fire before finishing it at your table.

Chicken & Beer
“Chimaek” (Chicken + Maekju | beer) got its start in the early 1970s. It’s now such a great must-eat Korean food institution that we have more chicken restaurants than there are McDonald’s in the entire world. There’s something about this combination. Strangely, it works well with watered down Korean beers–preferably Cass. I swear.
I’m more a fan of classic styles. Recent styles of fried chicken lean more to the American style–thick flour-based crust. I like the thin starch-based coating with the aromatic spicies.
Where to eat Chicken & Beer
I’d almost say it’s hard to go wrong, but it is. Chicken hofs are neighborhood haunts. There’s no exclusive I-gotta-try-this chicken pub with a line out the door. In fact, if there’s a line out the door stay far away from it. My rule of thumb is this. If it’s full of beautiful young women taking Insta-selfies, it’s not good chicken. If it’s grease stained and full of middle-aged men who look like life has kicked them in the teeth, great chicken.
Two-Two Chicken 둘둘치킨
You can’t go wrong with Two-Two (pictured above). You’ll likely be the youngest person in any of its locations. It’s a franchise, but each venue acts like a mom-and-pop shop. The basic recipe and yangnyeom (spicy sweet garlic sauce) are the same, but they put their own spins on the sauces. We include a stop at a Two-Two on our Authentic Korean Chicken & Beer Experience. They’re outside Gongdeok Station, and the couple who runs it is great and welcoming. I want them to get more love.
Chicken Baengi 치킨뱅이
They also do it classic style. Get their chicken 3-ways: fried, sauced, and garlic. Then go for the pa dalk, boneless chicken thighs on top of dressed ribbons of green onions. My favorite location is run by two ladies on the north of the main strip of Hongdae. Go out Hongik University Station, exit 7 (Holiday Inn) and head due south a couple of blocks. It’ll be on your right.
Nurungji Tongdalk 누룽지통닭
A new brand, they don’t do fried. Chicken is spit roasted over wood and served on sizzling platters of crispy rice. We also go to this on the new Authentic Korean Chicken & Beer Experience. The ones near Gongdeok and Sookmyung Women’s University kill.
Locations?
Since these are franchises, your best bet is to copy and paste the Korean names above into Google Maps, Naver Map, or Kakao Map.
Kimchi Jjigae
Okay, you fans of “Always Be My Maybe.” This stew sits on the pantheon of comfort foods, next to macaroni and cheese. It is so perfect on a chilly Seoul night. You want it chock full of tofu and pork. The canned tuna version is also quite good, though I like it better when it’s served at a drinking establishment in a beat-up tin pot.
Where to eat Kimchi Jjigae
Most Korean diners, like Kimbap Cheonguk, will have it on the menu. There are few places that make it the star of their menus, except…
Omori Jjigae 오모리찌개전문점
Go down to Jamsil, across the lake from Lotte World, and up to the second floor for this. It’s a chain, but this is the flagship store. Go to the second floor. The first floor is for black bean noodles. Here, you can get 3-year-old Kimchi Jjigae. You’d be surprised at how subtle and smooth it tastes.

Gwanghwamun Jip 광화문집
Tiny, tiny, tiny place near Gyeongbokgung Palace. They have two items, a very tart pork kimchi jjigae and gyeran mari (rolled omelet). Get both.

Bibimbap
(Gogung Jeonju Bibimbap)
The king of rice bowls. There are many kinds of bibimbap. There’s the dolsot sizzling kind. There’s the fancy Jeonju bibimbap. There’s your basic Korean diner bibimbap served in a plastic bowl with a fried egg.
Contrary to what you may have had outside Korea, it doesn’t always come sizzling, and it doesn’t always come with an egg. There are infinite combinations.
Where to eat Bibimbap
Like Kimchi Jjigae, it’s available in most diners. There is a chain called Bon Bibimbap, the same as Bon Juk. It’s just fine and dandy. But if you want to go for something more serious…
Jeonju Yuhalmeoni Bibimbap 전주유할머니비빔밥
Respect, respect, respect. Grandmother knows how to make good bibimbap. This place has been around for over 50 years. Simple menu. Get the bibimbap and the Kongnamul Gukbap (Bean Sprout Soup).

Gogung 고궁
I love Gogung (pictured above). The original location is in Jeonju. It’s a case of franchising out and collapsing. It’s hard to find a Gogung in Seoul anymore. Thankfully, there is one in the Starfield Mall in Gangnam. This is classic refined royal Jeonju bibimbap served in brass bowls.

Naengmyeon
Chilled. Buckwheat. Noodles.
It’s in my top ten of favorite Korean foods. All the chilled buckwheat noodle dishes are. Naengmyeon itself comes from North Korea. The classic Pyongyang style is light with a clean sophisticated broth. Can you believe that before the 20th century, northern Korea was known for more fancy artistocratic cuisine than the south?
Naengmyeon always hits the spot at the end of a barbecue meal, with a few squirts of vinegar and hot mustard from the bottles sitting next to you. That may be why places like Woo Lae Oak are famous for the naengmyeon. Fancy BBQ must follow with refined naengmyeon.
There are usually two types available, noodles in soup (mul naengmyeon), and noodles mixed with a spicy gochujang sauce (bibim naengmyeon). Of course, there are many more varieties, like there are of bibimbap. Baby steps.
Where to eat Naengmyeon
If you’re in Korea for a short while, just order a bowl at the end of your BBQ dinner. The one pictured above was just a W5,000 (~$4.25 USD) lunch special at a little BBQ joint near my regular jogging route. Otherwise, try these places.
Woo Lae Oak 우래옥
Famous, famous place. Almost too famous for being too famous. I like it, but it feels a bit stodgy. It’s where you take your grandma after church. The prices are premium, but it’s worth it for the naengmyeon.

Dongmu Bapsang (Comrade’s Table) 둥무밥상
He used to cook for officers in the North Korean army before defecting to the South. Now his cozy shop serves dishes that he misses from home. Yes, definitely eat the naengmyeon here. Also try the soondae sausages.

Jeongin Myeonok 정인면옥
Watch out for the lunch lines here. It gets crowded. The naengmyeon is great, but it may also be because it’s one of the few good restaurants in Yeouido.

Street Food
When in Asia, tourists want street food. Seoul has good street food, but don’t expect what you’d find in Southeast Asia. Street food in Korea primarily acts as a snack and late night starch filler for an alcohol-laden stomach. Most carts serve the same exact thing. There are variations, but those are in areas that cater to tourists and college students.
Tteokbokki
Don’t call it “topoki!” That was some hare-brained scheme concocted by a government agency ten years ago. They’re chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce. I personally think the stuff on the street is sweeter because it’s more suited for kids. Tteokbokki in bricks-and-mortars, like Jaws Food and Mimine (pictured above), tend to be better. Spicier and more savory.
Odeng/Eomuk
Fish cakes on sticks soaking in MSG-saturated broth. Just go and grab a stick, brush on a few happy dabs of sauce with the brush Bob Ross style, eat, and pay. The proprietor counts the number of sticks you have left over.
Hot Ba
Or Hot Bar? It’s fish dough shaped into logs on sticks and deep fried like a corn dog. In fact, they come with hot dogs and other ingredients in them. That’s one of my favorite street foods.
Twigim
Fried stuff. Usually sweet potatoes, shrimp, sesame leaves. It’s like tempura but heavier.
Soondae
The proper romanization is sundae, but I don’t want you to confuse this with ice cream. They’re blood and glass noodle sausages. The traditional version uses rice instead of noodles, but the street version uses the glass ones, giving them a bouncy texture. It’s served with pig liver and offal. What I like to do is make Kim-Tteok-Soon. Mix the Twigim and Soondae together with Tteokbokki sauce. It’s what Harold and Kumar would crave if they lived in Korea.
Hotteok
Fried dough stuffed with brown sugar, nuts, and other goodies. They are delicious and make great hand warmers. They emerge in high numbers during winter.
Bungeobbang
Sweet cakes stuffed with sweet red bean or custard. Another great hand warmer and quite good.
Gyeranbbang
Literally, “egg bread.” Sweet pancake batter cooked in a cup like a muffin with an egg cracked inside. Sweet and savory. Protein and carbs. It’s the breakfast you never knew you needed.
Where to eat Seoul Street Food
You can get it most anywhere. Here are some areas that have a unique touch.
Myeong-dong
It’s one of the few times I’ll say Myeong-dong has better food. The street food scene there is competitive. But Myeong-dong is like Times Square in New York. There are more tourists than locals. It’s here that you’ll find the Frankenstein creations, like lobster with cheese. The Tornado Potato was born here, as well as many street food staples and flashes in the pans.
Insa-dong
It’s another touristy area. Here you’ll find the famous Insa-dong Hotteok, which puts a bit of cornmeal in its dough, giving it a super crunchy texture. Other highlights are the fire-grilled chicken on a stick and my beloved egg breads. Insa-dong’s street food scene took a bad hit from both COVID-19’s tourism dearth and the relentless bulldozing to make way for bland shopping malls.
Hongdae
Carts with the basics camp outside Hongik University Station, exit 9. Further down, past the buskers, you can find what I call Crazy Street Food Alley. It’s a series of stalls that are always rotating with new street food ideas. It’s like a market research lab throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks.
Noryangjin Cup Rice Road 컵밥거리
Now this is food that is meant to be eaten like a meal. These stands cater to young adults studying for professional exams. The cram schools to help them prepare for these career tests congregate here. Cup Rice Road sprouted as a bunch of carts to feed these poor hungry young professionals-to-be.
Here’s a map of all the places I’ve mentioned.

Patbingsu
Dessert! We don’t really have desserts in the Western sense in Korea. We do have this shaved ice treat. The competition each summer with Bingsu makers gets more intense each year.
It’s a war!
The goal is to shave ice so perfect it’s fluffy fresh fallen snow. The ice itself usually comes from frozen milk, but I’ve seen other ice sources, including coffee and makgeolli (Korean rice ale).
Where to eat Patbingsu
The margins make this lucrative, so everyone is trying to get into the game. Most all bakery chains, like Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours, get all into this. Most coffee shops do this. There are some places that specialize in it.
Sulbing 설빙
Sulbing is a franchise that popped up a few years ago. I wondered how risky such a venture would be–as in, who would order bingsu in winter? But they’ve done well. They’re crowded in the summer. Sulbing specializes in Instagrammy bingsu, and that’s a good thing. They’re showstoppers. Don’t worry about how large they are. Remember they’re just shaved ice. When melted the liquid would fit into a grande Starbucks cup. If you’re traveling with kids this is the treat they’ll remember.
Since it’s a franchise, just copy and paste 설빙 into your map app of choice to find your closest location.
Mealtop 밀탑
Odd name. Odd location. It’s hidden on the 5th floor of Hyundai Department Store in Apgujeong. Well, not really hidden. It takes up a lot of space. But you have to go up a bunch of escalators to get there. They have a big variety of bingsu. What I like is that the portions or smaller, so you can try different flavors in one go. They are starting to franchise out.

August 23, 2023
A Tale of Two Tongues: Pairing Wine with Hansik
Asian cuisine, and Korean food in particular, is notoriously difficult to pair with wine. Even wine-lovers agree that beer is easier on the palate, as it combats the ever-present chilli peppers and compliments the potent flavours without neutralising them. What’s more, wine doesn’t play a large role in Korean dining culture. Even locally produced wines (such as Majuang) are not always on offer in restaurants, and are usually enjoyed alone or with snacks. Most restaurants that serve Korean food don’t even keep wine glasses. That’s not to say that Koreans don’t drink wine. Western restaurants offer wine and wine bars are now cropping up in every city. At first glance, it seems that people either go out for western or eastern food and drink, and never the two shall meet.
With a closer look, however, it’s clear that the wine scene in South Korea is small, but thriving. There is also a growing global interest in pairing wine and hansik (Korean food), particularly in the US – where the large Korean/American community has fostered the spread of Korean restaurants. In South Korea itself, there are some wine-pairing pioneers that hope to educate wine connoisseurs about hansik’s potential as a great companion to some of the world’s favourite wines.
With this in mind, I decided to try my hand at pairing a new love – hansik – with an old – red wine. I thought it best to start modestly, following the advice of those who had gone before. Wine experts usually pair hansik with an off-dry Riesling or a Pinot Noir, the latter of which is more versatile than most reds. Picking up a 2009 Agustinos Pinot Noir Reserva Privada, I headed off to a restaurant in Daegu that specialises in Soondubu Jjigae.
As with most Asian food, hansik is usually shared. The table ordered four varieties of the jjigae: kimchi jjigae, mandu jjigae, beegi jjigae (with okara) and kopjang jjigae (with chitterlings). If pairing a wine with four dishes wasn’t difficult enough, Korean meals are always served with side dishes known as banchan. Our table was adorned with ramekins that offered intense flavours, as most banchan are very salty, sweet or spicy, and many are fermented, such as the ubiquitous kimchi.
While awaiting the jjigae, we opened the wine. The Pinot’s nose offered sweet aromas of vanilla and cherry, and so I was surprised when it tasted thin, albeit with a pleasant, slightly astringent, finish. My South African palate was longing for the Hermitage/Cinsault in the Pinotage hybrid, but I reserved final judgment until the end of the meal.
A spoonful of kimchi jjigae blasted over my tongue and erased all memory of the banchan or the wine. Uh-oh, I thought. This experiment may fail. The next sip of wine only confirmed these fears, as the tannins only enhanced the gochujang (a chili-pepper paste omnipresent in hansik). I felt like there was a battle for dominance being waged on my taste buds. Perhaps I had chosen the wrong wine?
Thankfully, the beeji jjigae came to the rescue. The dubu was smoothly mixed with okara, producing a nutty and creamy flavour which toned down the gochujang and yet retained a strong edge. After a spoon of this, I sipped the wine again. This was a far better pairing: the wine wasn’t lost, nor did it eclipse the jjigae. With a bite of japchae (a noodle dish) to cleanse my palate, I was ready to pair it with a new dish. The wine stood up to the mandu jjigae beautifully, and I began to appreciate the Pinot’s versatility. Overall, the wine’s tannins boosted the spice of the jjigaes and added to the warmth of the meal, which makes it a great pairing for winter. I wouldn’t recommend this pairing in the humid Korean summer, but it was a hearty combination in the icy January weather.
One of the best things about Asian food is that there is always a variety of combinations available on any given table. You are never stuck with a single pairing of tastes and textures, and can always cleanse your palate with a bite of mulkimchi (a milder, watery kimchi) or danmuji (pickled radish) and start again. A host of variables awaits the diner, who is free to customise their meal and select flavours that suit the wine. Who says Korean food doesn’t like wine? Next time, I’ll ditch the Pinot and get more adventurous. Hansik can handle it, of that I’m sure.

For more information on Korean food and wine pairing, see:
WineKorea
Asian Palate
May 11, 2013
Seoul Garden, St. Louis
I haven’t visited St. Louis in 18 years, and I certainly don’t remember the city for its Asian food. So it was a treat to eat at a Korean restaurant there during a recent 20th high school reunion trip to rural southern Illinois.
St. Louis is the nearest major metropolitan area with a sizable airport to my little hometown, located more than an hour east. After a long flight, my husband and I were hungry. On my asking about nearby Korean restaurants, the hotel clerk directed us to one about a mile away in the suburb of St. Ann.
The first thing we noticed at Seoul Garden was the full parking lot on a Friday night. This was the first good omen; the second, a dining room full of Korean-speakers. Many were feasting on the $20 all-you-can-eat beef, chicken or pork Korean barbecue.
More tired than hungry, we chose lighter meals. I ordered chicken fried rice (닭복음밥 dak bokeumbap) made with peppery grilled chicken, Chinese restaurant–style peas and diced vegetables (carrots, corn, green and red bell pepper). I was a little disappointed they didn’t sneak any kimchi into the fried rice. The dish came with a small salad.
Kimchi Jjigae at Seoul Garden (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
My husband ordered a hanshik (Korean food) standard, kimchi stew (김치찌개 kimchi jjigae). This one contained enoki mushrooms, a couple of slices of fish cake as garnish and hidden slices of rice cake (가래떡 garae tteok). It had the expected spiciness and sourness as well as welcome warmth for that cool fall evening.
Thanks to the mealtime custom of multiple side dishes (반착 banchan), diners at many of the more traditional restaurants can sample the multiple personalities of Korean cuisine. Every time I visit a restaurant for the first time, I get more excited to discover the banchan than my main course.
Among the banchan at Seoul Garden was a bowl of Gyeran Jjim (계란찜), which is a Korean egg custard. This was the first time on either side of the Pacific I’ve had it served as banchan. It was as comforting a dish as it was simple — two scrambled eggs and one cup of a simple broth (such as anchovy or dashida), baked or steamed until set.
Yongeun Jorim as banchan (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
Another side dish surprise was marinated sliced lotus root, called Yongeun Jorim (연근 조림). It was pleasantly crunchy, sweet and salty.
It’s a pity we had to leave the next morning for my reunion. It’s even more of a pity the early time of our return flight precluded our stopping there for one more meal.

Seoul Garden
10678 St. Charles Rock Road
St. Ann, MO 63074
(314) 429-4255
Hours: Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.

November 12, 2011
Recipe: Simple Kimchi Jjigae
Hurricane Irene came and went. It felt so biarree to think such a strong hurricane would come through New York, I wondered if this is something similar to how Californians feel about snow. The scene outside of my window looked just like the usual heavy rain from other days, if not for so many damage scenes of New York on TV. By 10 this morning, heavy rain turned into light drizzle, then no rain at all in my neighborhood. It’s still quite gray and wet outside with strong wind, but I am grateful for no disruption in electricity and water, and more importantly, relatively little damage to the city.
Learning that the worst has passed, I started craving for the usual rainy day comfort food for lunch. I didn’t have much in the refrigerator since I was away for a few days and didn’t have time to stock up on food (which just means I have enough to feed myself for days).  Based on the ingredients I had on hand, I opted for a simple version of kimchi jjigae (찌개; stew).
Kimchi jjigae is known as a no-fail food, because you rely so much of its flavor on kimchi. Even the simplest cabbage kimchi is already mixed in the seasoning of perfection, with gochugaru (고추가루; red pepper powder), fish sauce, onion, garlic, ginger, and various other ingredients depending on your family recipe or your favorite brand.  Plus, usually the kimchi used for jjigae is very tart, tart enough that it’s considered past its prime as a side dish. At this point, kimchi and its seasoning have become strong enough that not much additional seasoning is necessary to turn it into a deep, hearty stew within minutes. I can only imagine kimchi jjigae making more frequent appearances on my dinner table as the days get colder.
The laziest form of kimchi jjigae is just boiling kimchi, whatever kimchi juice you can squeeze out from the kimchi jar, and water to make it soupy enough.
What I made is not too far from it, but an extra step of sautéing kimchi, onion and potato pieces with sesame oil helps bring out the rich flavors in stew without adding pork, which is a common, and usually an important ingredient in kimchi jjigae.
<Sautéing kimchi, onion and potatoes. Ready for stock!>
TIPS!
Variations – Of course the most popular version of kimchi jjigae is to start with pork, to cook vegetables in flavorful pork fat and have some meaty bites in jjigae as well.
Another version is chamchi (참치; tuna) kimchi jjigae, in which a canned tuna – with its juice and oil and all – is added and boiled together.  Chamchi and kimchi are a surprising match made in heaven.
Other popular additions include glass noodles (당면; dang myeon), soaked for 30 minutes, added after stock comes to a boil and cooked thoroughly. You will need to add more stock or water since glass noodles soak up quite a bit of water. Flat oval rice cakes used for tteokguk (떡국; rice cake soup) can be added for soft chewy bites.  Spam, in replacement of pork, is also a popular addition.
Not in the majority, but some also add a small amount of gochujang (고추장; red pepper paste), doenjang (된장; bean paste), even butter. I found this mouthwatering recipe of kimchi jjigae from Marc of norecipes, which I think you’ll also enjoy.
Make Ahead – Stews and soups often taste better the next day, and kimchi jjigae also benefits from some time to rest. While it can be a very quick recipe, you can also make it a couple of hours ahead except the sesame oil and scallion garnish at the end, which can be added right be
By the way, here is a shot of my clueless preparation for Hurricane Irene. I took some pictures of the neighborhood yesterday afternoon, when people were still out and about but stores were already closed, creating this eerie feeling of not knowing exactly what’s coming. Anyway, I saw some storefronts with taped windows, so I figured it couldn’t hurt for my windows.

I plan to thoroughly enjoy the rest of this uneventful Sunday evening, eating the leftover kimchi jjigae from lunch and catching up on my blog posts.

KOREAN WORDS
potato 감자 (gam ja)
tofu      두부 (du bu)
August 29, 2011
Tuna Kimchi Jjigae
This has been my go-to kimchi jjigage recipe for more than 10 years. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)

Northern Californian winters are all about cold dampness — rain, lots of rain. For me, the only purpose for winter is to get the full benefit of a hot bowl of 김치찌개 kimchi jjigae, or kimchi stew. That’s a dish Koreans commonly make to finish off a jar of kimchi that has become too sour and mostly “juice,” the tangy, spicy, flavorful remnant of pickling.
Kimchi jjigae with 돼지고기 dwaegi gogi (pork), Spam processed ham or 두부 dubu (tofu), are common variations of the dish. Avoiding pork for religious reasons, I was pleased to find 참치김치찌개 chamchi kimchi jjigae, or kimchi stew with tuna, on the menu of a restaurant near Kangwon National University in Chuncheon, a lakeside city in the mountains northeast of Seoul. I first tasted that version in the mid-’90s and have been making it ever since.
Korean grocery stores sell canned tuna specially made for kimchi jjigae, marinated in 고추장 gochujang (Korean red pepper paste). Because tuna is usually chunk light tuna, which has a smell and flavor, albacore canned tuna is my tuna of choice. (But I may have to reconsider after reading this Epicurious article about mercury in albacore.)
Since most canned tuna isn’t packed in gochujang, I add gochujang or 고추가루gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes or powder) to the stew. Gochujang will make the stew thicker; gochugaru, thinner.
A tasty low-fat version of this Korean classic
April 12, 2011
Tov Tofu, Santa Rosa
Tov Tofu in Santa Rosa opened in late 2010 and is the latest Korean restaurant to open in Sonoma County, a winegrowing region about an hour north of San Francisco. Bear Korean in Cotati opened several years ago, followed by the now shuttered Nha Bee in Santa Rosa and Honey Cuisine in Rohnert Park in 2008.
My husband and I visited Tov Tofu for the first time on Dec. 24 for a late lunch with a couple of our friends and their two children ages 2 and 4. It’s good to invite, cajole, plead or drag your family and friends with you to a new restaurant, so you more can sample more dishes and get a variety of opinions, from the expert Koreaphile to the first-time 한식 hansik (Korean food) diner.
The dipping sauce was beautiful, but it was the pajeon itself that kept the children happy. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
Our menu included vegetable 판전 pajeon (egg and flour pancakes), 오무라이스 omurice (fried egg omelet over fried rice), 꼬리곰탕 ggori gomtang (oxtail soup), 비빔밥 bibimbap and 냉면 naengmyeon ($9.95). Both the pajeon ($8.50) and the fried egg omelet turned out to be a kid-pleaser.
The waitress brought out salt and pepper shakers to spice up the oxtail soup. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
The oxtail soup ($12.50) was a mellow and non-spicy option, which ties into its reputation as a health tonic. Some who are not familiar with Korean cuisine might be put off by the milky-white bone broth, but it is full of minerals, including calcium, iron and potassium.
As part of his repeated challenge to K-pop and now Hollywood star Rain, Stephen Colbert said, "I'm all over it like egg on bibimbap." This bibimbap was garnished with strips of scrambled egg. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
Tov Tofu’s bibimbap ($12.95) was the first such dish I’ve seen that didn’t have a large fried egg placed on top, but I enjoyed the sliced egg omelet homage to the fried egg as well as the pile of kimchi, beef, mushrooms, shredded daikon radish, seaweed (김 kim) and spinach.
A surprising discovery for newcomers to Korean cuisine is 옥수수차 oksusucha (roasted-corn tea), because corn often is not thought of as a tea ingredient. I’ve found that it has to be requested at a number of Korean restaurants I’ve visited in the U.S., rather than being automatically served as green tea is at Chinese restaurants. The hint of corn in a hot beverage is a welcome way to warm the insides while waiting for the food to arrive.
We went back to Tov Tofu on my birthday. This time, my stomach drew me toward the Korean cuisine stalwart 불고기 bulgogi. Tov Tofu’s version was served in typical fashion, layered on a bed of onions and sizzling on a hot iron plate.
Bulgogi and its grilled onion bedding. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
The savory side of bulgogi was more prominent in this interpretation than the characteristic sweetness, which is usually imparted by a Korean pear-forward marinade. Yet the grilled onions added a little sweetness and were just as tasty as the bulgogi itself.
My husband ordered the beef version of 김치 순두부 찌개 kimchi soondubu jjigae (kimchi stew with silken tofu) ($9.95). Those who may be averse to kimchi may want to give kimchi jjigae a try, because cooking gives kimchi tames the tang. Also, the tofu soothes the fire of this spicy dish. The broth had a slight fishy flavor, which likely came from either a fish broth or the fish paste used in many versions of kimchi.
Tov Tofu
1169 Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa, Calif.
www.tovtofu.com
Hours: Six days a week and closed Mondays. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner, 5 to 9 p.m.
Customer reviews: Yelp pages 1 and 2
Maps (Bangkok Villa closed at that location in July 2010): Bing, Google, Yahoo
February 11, 2011
Korean cuisine rolls into Eat Real Festival 2010, San Francisco Bay area
Chef Gordon Xiao of Ark Chinese Restaurant in Alameda making pulled noodles. (Photo by Jeff Quackenbush)
Among the more than 80 caterers, mobile and brick-and-mortar restaurants, and food-related vendors at the second annual Eat Real Festival in the San Francisco Bay area were two Korean “taco trucks,” a nouveau hanshik restaurant, a ramen restaurant serving kimchi and a food-preservation specialist teaching how to pickle the popular version of it.
Did I mention the live demonstration of making Chinese pulled noodles (lai min)?
Intensely craving some Korean yumminess, I attended the festival, held Aug. 27 to 29 at Jack London Square in Oakland, Calif., to snack on selections from Santa Clara-based MoGo BBQ and Seoul on Wheels of Emeryville. Reviews of those rolling restaurants will be posted in coming days.
Seoul on Wheels parked under the palms of Jack London Square in Oakland, Calif. (Photo by Jeff Quackenbush)
One newcomer to Korean food took celebrity chef Guy Fieri's advise to pick the longest line for the best food, which led him to Seoul on Wheels. (Photo by Jeff Quackenbush)
San Francisco neo-Korean restaurant Namu also was was among the “street food” vendors, but I already had sampled Namu’s Korean tacos at the restaurant’s stall at the San Francisco Ferry Building.
Jack Birdsall of SF Weekly called this year’s Eat Real Festival, a “county fair in a parallel universe.” Giving that vibe to the festival were food-making performances, classes and contests.
I attended the festival on Aug. 29 also to take in the noodle-pulling demonstration and kimchi-making class. Chef Gordon Xiao of Ark Chinese Restaurant in Alameda showed how fresh dough is kneaded, rolled, twisted in mid-air, stretched, slapped on the table and pulled to make noodles of various thicknesses. He said it took him two years to learn the technique.
Chef Xiao was a little concerned that the watermelon was "too ripe" for carving. (Photo by Jeff Quackenbush)
Xiao also showed the Thai melon carving technique, taking 10 minutes to show how to carve a flower in the side of a watermelon rather than the few minutes in which it is normally completed. He finished the demonstration time with a quick sculpting of a carrot into a bird.
At a stage in the “urban homesteading zone,” Delilah Snell of Project Small spent 19 minutes going through the ingredients and steps in making the commonly recognized spicy Nappa cabbage kimchi (called baechu kimchi in Korean). In highlighting the natural Lactobacillus fermentation that goes into making kimchi, sauerkraut and other pickled foods of simpler times, she had an appropriate backdrop, a miniature rough-hewn log cabin with a grassy sod roof.
Delilah Snell shows a small finished batch of kimchi. (Photo by Jeff Quackenbush)
During the question-and-answer period, Snell and I had a minor disagreement over what to do with “old” kimchi. I noted that Koreans commonly use it to make kimchi stew (김치찌개 kimchi jjigae), but she suggested that kimchi more than a few months old could be unhealthful.
September 3, 2010
Super Probiotic Lunch
Eun Jeong had made a batch of yogurt the other day. It’s funny that for all our complaining that you can’t find unsweetened yogurt in Korea, they finally started putting it on the shelves when we had gotten into the habit of making our own yogurt. We also had a particularly tart batch of Kimchi Jjigae we were finishing off. Topped it off with some of the yogurt. So, yeah, I had two of the most probiotic foods on the planet in one bowl. Maybe it helped me a bit–but my insides were talking to me a few hours later.
Accompanied it with a good ole Gochujang Tuna Melt.
March 17, 2010
Zen’s Kimchi Jjigae
Recipe: Zen’s Kimchi Jjigae
Summary: After tasting other people’s Kimchi Jjigaes and introducing some of my more western preferences, here’s my latest recipe for Kimchi Jjigae. Like my chili recipe, it’s constantly evolving.
Ingredients
1/2 lbs. Bacon or Samgyeopsal (fresh pork belly), thick sliced, salted or unsalted
1 Onion, sliced
1 Tbsp. Ginger, minced
Handful of Garlic Cloves, smashed and whole
1/2 lbs. Kimchi, preferrably old
2 Tsp. Sugar
Salt to taste (depending if you have salted or unsalted bacon)
Fresh cracked Black Pepper, lots of it
Rice Vinegar (optional)
1/2 bottle of Soju (Korean traditional liquor)
Instructions
Brown the Bacon in a hot wok. When it is brown, move it to the side.
Brown the Onions in the bacon grease.
Add the Ginger, Kimchi, and Garlic. Stir fry for a while.
Fill the wok with water until it’s covered the ingredients. Boil for five minutes. You will end up with a rich red broth.
Add the Sugar and Black Pepper and taste. Adjust the Sugar, Vinegar and Salt until a nice balance of salty, sweet, and sour is achieved. The Kimchi should give it enough sourness, but vinegar should be at the ready just in case.
Throw in 1/2 bottle of Soju to give it that extra kick. Drink the rest with due caution.
Let it boil for a few more minutes. Serve it hot or boiling (if possible) with steamed rice to balance the strong flavor of the stew.
Variations
You can also substitute a can of tuna for the pork. Not only is it healthy, it’s a surprisingly good tasting alternative. Something magical happens with Chamchi (Tuna) Kimchi Jjigae. It’s sweeter and has good depth.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
My rating 4 stars: ★★★★☆ 1 review(s)
Culinary tradition: Korean
Calories: 399
Fat: 27
Protein: 8
Microformatting by hRecipe.
September 25, 2005