While out running errands today, I noticed a new venue for food. It’s a corner stand, rather reminiscent of a fireworks stand of all things, that sells “korean street food”.
I didn’t have time to stop today, but I am intrigued and will stop by sometime in the next couple of weeks.
So, not knowing anything about the menu, what can I expect to possibly find offered when I do get there?
I’ve been to a few Korean street carts in NYC. Generally, these are just a platter of items that you would find at a Korean restaurant. Beef, chicken, pork, combined with a type of rice. They may have a higher priced option with bulgogi or Kalbi. While not easy to make, I’ve had a street version of bimbimbap that was spot on. They will also throw in small sides that Korean restaurants are famous for, including kimchi.
Kimchi is their national dish, so try some of that. I’m not a massive fan of it but you might love it.
The few Korean restaurants I’ve been to in London are wonderful, it’s fast becoming one of my new favourite cuisines.
Korean spicy pork is about my very favorite food in the whole world. Try it if you can.
It seems to have become hip recently to name a restaurant “X Street Food” (or use it as part of the name for the restaurant), where X is a country, city, or region. Some names I know of are Bombay Street Food, Thai Street Food, Sri Lankan Street Food, Latin American Street Food, Egyptian Street Food, Asian Street Food, Berber Street Food, Colombian Street Food, Taiwanese Street Food, Italian Street Food, Venezuelan Street Food, Vietnamese, and Beirut Street Food. There are lots of others that serve street food although they don’t use that format for their names. I think this trend started with the proliferation of food trucks, which basically served street food of some area. Then someone said, “Hey, we can serve the street food of an area in an indoor restaurant too.”
In some cities and countries, what is commonly available on the street is different from what is typically available in a sit-down restaurant. Hot dogs in New York, for one, or the street food of India, which isn’t like what you’d expect if you were used to the typical Indian restaurant in the US.
Boy, I’m good at typing too fast and not proofreading. I meant to write:
Some names I know of are Bombay Street Food, Thai Street Food, Sri Lankan Street Food, Latin American Street Food, Egyptian Street Food, Asian Street Food, Berber Street Food, Colombian Street Food, Taiwanese Street Food, Italian Street Food, Venezuelan Street Food, Vietnamese Street Food, and Beirut Street Food.
Oh, so not nearly as exciting as it sounds. Eh, I’ll stop by anyway and give it a try. My favorite restaraunt in Radcliffe KY, the very short time I was there, was a korean place owned and operated by a vet and his Korean wife. They had cabbage kimchi (not fond of)and kimchi that wasn’t cabbage (cukes zukes etc) that I loved.
We have a few Vietnamese places, a few Thai and a very few chinese and lots of “chinese” restaraunts. This is the first korean place I’ve seen here that wasn’t a church. So yeah, I’m gonna try it
I’ll bet it winds up being primarily a fried chicken place. Korean fried chicken has become really popular in the last few years.
Nooooooooooooooooooo
It’s gotta be more than just chicken
Even if it’s mostly a chicken place, I’m sure there will be more than just that. Likely bulgogi rice bowls, kimchi fries, etc.
Let’s assume it’s actually what is known as street food back in South Korea. There are some really great things you can get, and of course some odd ones. My favorite is 토스트 (“Toast”) which is Korea’s take on grilled cheese sandwiches. There’s a lot to be said for a toasted sandwich made with spicy jam, lettuce, pickles, cheese, and a hard-fried egg. Of course you non-vegetarian types can go for the ones with spam, ham, or even steak.
Then there’s 호뗙 (“Ho-ddeok”) which is a sweet pancake.
Another one I quite like is 잉어빵 (“Eeng-eo-bbang”), which is a hot pastry shaped like a fish and filled with either red bean paste or custard. Waffles are quite popular at street stalls in Korea, too. You can get those with icing or jam as toppings.
You may enjoy 오뗑 (“O-ddeng”), which is various fish cakes boiled in water and served up on a stick. You pick out the ones you like with your own kebab stick. My wife quite likes those. AFAIK, it’s actually Japanese but still popular in Korea.
This one’s also actually Japanese and popular in Korea: 타코야기 (“Ta-ko Ya-ki”), “tako” being the Japanese word for octopus. It’s a pastry ball filled with some paste and diced octupus.
떡볶이 (“Ddeok-bokk-ee”, spicy rice cakes) are extremely popular. For those not initiated into Korean cuisine, when the locals say something is spicy, they are not fooling around! It’s various shaped rice cakes slathered in Korea’s spicy sauce.
계란빵 (“Gye-ran-bbang”, egg bread) is something I was introduced to within the last few years. It’s a regular bread roll cooked aroundd a boiled egg (minus the shell, of course).
김밥 (“Gim-bap”, seaweed rice) is good and you can have it made-to-order. I get mine without the imitation crab meat and without the tuna, ham, and/or spam that is so popular in Korea. An interesting twist on this is 누드김밥 (“Nu-deu Gim-bap”, nude seaweed rice), which is not served by naked wait-staff, but rather is simply the gim-bap rolled backwards with the rice on the outside. Another note: gim-bap absolutely is not “Korean sushi”; there’s no raw fish in it.
참외 (“Cham-oi”, yellow melon) is absolutely delicious, IMHO! The first time a friend tried those, we almost missed the last bus back to our town because he could not stop eating the things.
One thing I find rather disgusting (and so does my wife, who is Korean) is 번데기 (“beon-de-gi”, silkworm pupae). It’s boiled, not raw, so you adventuresome types might want to give it a go.
There are other things usually depending on where you are. Each locale (city, neighborhood) has their own take on a lot of these. Also if you happen to know Korean Sign Language, you might make the waffle-stall’s operator’s day since quite a lot of those are operated by the Deaf.
Now I’m hungry and it’s not even close to lunchtime here!
The local Korean street food kiosk around here has the red bean fish waffles, seafood balls on a stick, and rice cakes with hot sauce as mentioned by Monty above.
Yee-ess!
That’s the sort of stuff I’m hoping to find
Please report back on the menu and quality. I’m always interested in how the carts vary from city to city.
From my last trip tp Korea - you missed the common ones I saw in Seoul: variations on hot dogs, usually skewered. The most USA-like were on waffles.
They were spiral sliced, battered, deep fried and various other variations / combinations on that with sweet to spicy sauces available. Wouldn’t be on my everyday list, but they were great to taste test.
I left out the hot dogs, crepes, spiral-cut potatoes, and other western items because those aren’t “out of the ordinary” street foods one would find in the US, say, in New York City or San Francisco.
Korean street food in LA is usually in the form of a taco.
When we were in Korea in February we ate these fishcakes. My wife still talks about them.
Ok, so, I went by the place and as luck would have it, missed the closing bell by " that much! But the proprietor kindly gave me a take-home menu. And now I know the hours he is open.
Ahem,
Original toast
Egg cabbage carrot ham cheddar cheese
Original kimbap
Egg yellow picked radish ham carrot crab
Tuna kimbap
Egg yellow pickled radish carrot crab lettuce tuna
Bulgogi kimbap
Egg yellow pickled radish carrot crab lettuce beef
Bulgogi burrito
Rice bean sprouts carrot cabbage pepper onion beef
Chicken burrito
Rice bean sprouts carrot cabbage pepper onion chicken
Bulgogi sandwich
Swap french bread for rice on the burrito
Chicken sandwich
Swap french bread for rice on the burrito
(Burritos and sandwiches have spicy and not spicey options)
Korean BBQ box
Rice bbq pork bean sprouts carrot onion pepper cabbage yellow pickled radish kimichi (comes with spicy/not spicy option)
Ginger tea(hot or cold)
Cinnamon jujube ginger honey
So, not really interested in the chicken stuff as of yet, the bbq box has my attention for the kimchi (depending on what sort of kimchi), beyond those items, what do those of you familiar with korean food think I should start with?