# Korean Street Food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339 "2020-07-25T21:09:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/21 "2020-07-29T02:06:52Z")
Kimbap are rice and seaweed rolls that look like sushi. The BBQ box looks to me like the most “authentic” option, based on my somewhat limited experience. That’s what I’d recommend trying. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/22 "2020-07-29T15:45:07Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > 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! I’ve tried the silkworm! It was weird, and I have no desire to try it again, but I won’t call it “disgusting.” I sort of happened upon a Korean-American festival in the parking lot of a now-defunct K-mart. Wandering around the stalls, I came across a slow cooker filled to the brim with this strange stuff. I asked the vendor what it was, and she said she didn’t know how to describe it in English, but offered me a taste. I had my suspicions that it was some kind of insect, but thought, what the heck, expand my experience. It was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Not my favorite combination of textures, but it was tolerable. It didn’t taste terrible, but the more I thought about what I was eating, the more I kind of felt weird. Swallowed the remainder down with a bunch of Sprite. Asking around later, I found out it was silkworm. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/23 "2020-07-29T16:18:17Z")
The only thing I can add that I don’t think has been mentioned is what I call “walnut cakes” in English. > **[Hodu-gwaja](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodu-gwaja)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Hodu-gwaja (호두과자; "walnut cookie"), commonly translated as walnut cookies, walnut cakes, and walnut pastries, is a type of cookie originated from Cheonan, South Korea. It is also known by the name hodo-gwaja (호도과자; which is not the Standard Korean spelling but the name used by Hakhwa walnut cookies, the company that first produced the confection.) in and outside Korea. > It is a walnut-shaped baked confection with red bean paste filling, whose outer ... The best street food is found in tents and carts in the big cities. But we buy it more often at the expressway stops, especially where the buslines do transfers. Things are set up for getting pre-prepared hot food quick and reasonably priced. Personally, I always go for the o-ddeng; eat the fishcakes quickly, then slowly sip the broth while travelling. Kimbap is great. It’s the “traditional” outing food. It doesn’t spoil quickly and doesn’t require utensils to eat. Where Americans would pack a sandwich for later in the day, Koreans pack kimbap. We make it regularly at home, more than any other Korean food. I think of it as a type sushi, but in the Japanese sense of “preserved rice”, not the American sense of “raw seafood”. (And some googling reveals kimbap is the Korean version of the Japanese norimaki, first borrowed during the occupation.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/24 "2020-07-29T16:26:50Z")
I would seriously maim a bulgogi burrito. In the Very Spicy option. With lots of kimchi, either on the burrito or as a side. I fell in love with Korean food in, of all places, Anchorage, Alaska back in the late 70s. There was a place on Fireweed Ln. that had the most amazing food. My roommate and I were often the only round-eyes in the place, and we’d always get kimchi to go when we finished eating. Great stuff for camping food - the smell oozing out of your pores keeps the mosquitoes and bears away! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/25 "2020-07-29T16:51:01Z")
Man, I am craving some kimbop and Korean twice-fried chicken right now. Drool … ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/26 "2020-07-29T23:37:12Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Personally, I always go for the o-ddeng; eat the fishcakes quickly, then slowly sip the broth while travelling. In Korea, nobody “slowly sips” the broth; they slurp it quite loudly. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/27 "2020-08-04T22:53:14Z")
Inspired by this thread, last week I went for Korean carryout twice. The first time it was twice-fried chicken. The second time it was kimbap, which I learned about in this thread. More rice than I should eat, but pretty tasty. It came with a delicious miso-type soup. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/28 "2020-08-05T02:01:37Z")
I’m thinking I’m going to try this place out this weekend. I’ve been trying to get over there, but just hasn’t worked. Hmm soup sounds tasty. The Vaderling will probably hate it on concept alone, nevermind actually seeing smelling touching tasting anything. Thats ok, less to spend and more for me ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/29 "2020-08-20T08:28:15Z")
Ok, so it took me a bit longer than I thought it would, but I finally got over there. I tried the original kimbap. It was nice. I had them make it spicey for me. So the rolls were about 1 1/2 or 2 inches across and about 3/4 or an inch thick. They were firm and held together nicely when picked up with chop sticks. And they tasted exactly like what they were made from. The spicey was a sauce drizzled over the top. Maybe slightly sweet, but not really, it wasn’t hot right away. It took about 5 or so seconds after eating the first piece for the heat to build slowly. It was not an overwhelming heat by any means unless you have a very sensitive palate. I personally wouldn’t have minded, and was actually expecting a bit more heat. For a beverage I had two bottles of ginger beer, different brands, that I had picked up elsewhere earlier in the day. That was awful. Ginger beer is not a beverage I like, but my sister enjoyed them very much. Sisters are weird. Over all, not bad in my book. I will be eating there again. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/30 "2020-08-20T14:44:47Z")
For the record, sushi isn’t necessarily raw fish, either. Sushi is to sashimi as sandwiches are to cold cuts: Cold cuts are a common choice of filling for a sandwich, but you’d never call just cold cuts by themselves on a plate a “sandwich”, and an egg salad sandwich or a grilled cheese sandwich are both unambiguously sandwiches despite lacking cold cuts. And a bulgogi burrito sounds amazing, especially if you can get it with a non-cabbage kimchi. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/31 "2020-08-20T15:06:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For the record, sushi isn’t necessarily raw fish, either. Indeed. One of the most famous forms of sushi, one that is often used to test a sushi chef’s skills, is tamago (made with cooked egg; kind of an omelet). Unagi is quite popular too – cooked eel and cucumber with a sauce. Ebi is usually lightly steamed butterfly shrimp (there is a raw version, too.) Tako (octopus) is cooked. Then when we get to rolls we have a number of them: , there’s kappa-maki (cucumber), shinko-maki (pickled daikon radish), California rolls use cooked imitation crab, there’s rolls made with tempura shrimp, some rolls use smoked salmon, etc. The common factor in sushi is the vinegared sushi rice (which is also seasoned with sugar and salt, and sometimes cooked with kelp in the cooking water.) This particularly separates it from kimbap/gimbap, where the rice is flavored with sesame oil. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339/32 "2020-08-29T16:06:55Z")
Report #2 Korean BBQ Box, spicey version. I will start off by saying that ginger tea, cold with ice and sold by the proprietors of this food stand is not nearly as vile as ginger beer. In fact it added a surprisingly pleasant yet discordant note to the meal, not one I’m planning on repeating. I don’t like ginger tea. The entree, hooooo boy! The spicey this time around was way hotter, and instant. Must be something about rice that mitigates a LOT of the heat of whatever they put in their mixture. The bits of beef were just the right size for me and everything in the entree itself was delicious, but the heat. Wow, it wasn’t overwhelming for me, but it was a close thing. Very filling, and the spicey heat made it even more so. The kimchi. I dunno if its just that I haven’t had kimchi in so long, or the way they make their kimchi, or what. I didn’t really care for it. It wasn’t terrible, but not for me. The pickled yellow radish. Now, this was interesting. I’d never had pickled yellow radish before. I found it to be quite delightful. A slightly sweet flavor with lemon-like hints of citrus and cucumber. The half rounds were sliced about an eighth of an inch thick. The color was a pleasing yellow, somewhere between lemon and orange. These were a pleasing and refreshing, cool counter point the the main dish with its spicey heat. At some point I will try this meal again, in the non-spicey version and if possible, substitute the radish for the kimchi. Mom can have the tea, she really likes it [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-street-food/916339.md?page=1)