AppleSister's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
Giant Kimchi Buns from the borders of China & korea
Yes, it's awesome that Korean-Chinese and Chinese-Korean and curious chowhounds can get food they're homesick for :) I don't know if there is a Chinese version of potato pancakes, but there's definitely a Korean one--gamja-jeon. Whenever I make it, my friends say it tastes like a latke with scallions. Some people grate the potatoes more, which makes them chewier and less like a hash brown.
I'm amazed they're serving pine mushrooms at that price--are they truly pine mushrooms?
Thanks to everyone for the tips! When I get to Guh Song, I'll post a menu translation in return.
Chowhound Post
Giant Kimchi Buns from the borders of China & korea
Thanks, this is such a fascinating subject to me. I know many of the Chinese restaurants in Seoul are run by ethnic Chinese. There's apparently even a Chinatown in the city of Incheon. I'm sure the influences run both ways--ethnic Chinese in Korea, ethnic Koreans in China. I recently read an article about Dongbei food that describes a version of kimchi that's less spicy than in Korea, which makes sense given North Korean kimchi is generally less spicy as well.
Anyway, any recommendations for a good Korean-Chinese ja jang myun in Flushing? And for a good zha jiang to compare?
Chowhound Post
Giant Kimchi Buns from the borders of China & korea
Yum! I can only read the Korean, but I see a bunch of stir-fries, more Chinese-sounding than Korean (stir-fried frog!) as well as some intriguing more Korean-sounding dishes. Corn naengmyeon, which are the North Korean cold noodles--I've never had it with corn. The Zha Jian Mian, I wonder if that's like 짜장면, the black-bean Korean-Chinese noodle dish that's a delivery staple in Korea.
Can't wait to try this place!
Chowhound Post
Asian markets in Flushing - your favorites?
Hmm, must try it! Love the name--it means "party party," though you probably already knew that!
Chowhound Post
Great places to eat in Seoul, Korea (long)
I probably won't be there in April 2010, but keep me posted on your trip and I may have better tips, as I'm leaving for Seoul in a week, with a long Jeolla-do-focused road trip as well. Hmm, stir fry chicken in spicy sauce--are you thinking of la-jo-gee, the Korean-Chinese dish?
Chowhound Post
Shanghai Asian Cuisine on Elizabeth Street
I just ate here this past Saturday for "Shanghainese dim sum," as described by my Cantonese-speaking friend. It was delicious! I especially loved the cold pork hock, which you dip in a funny, syrupy sauce that you would never think would go so well with gelatinous cold pork. The xiao long bao had lovely, delicate skins, the pan-fried wontons kept their crisp long after they arrived, and the sweet bean filled pancake we had for dessert was simple and satisfying. She says that it's been around forever but that it recently got a lot better. A Shanghainese friend of hers says, "The food is better than my grandmother's but I can't tell her!"
Chowhound Post
Asian markets in Flushing - your favorites?
My favorite Korean market is now Han Yang, mentioned by Joe MacBu above. I've shopped at HMart and Assi Plaza, and I've now decided to go out of my way (from Brooklyn, no car) to shop at Han Yang. The seafood section was sparkling compared to the one at Assi Plaza. I haven't shopped frequently enough to know for myself, but I've been told that HMart isn't very careful with expiration dates, and that the meat at Han Yang is better. I also generally just find it easier to navigate a smaller, well-stocked store than the cavernous Assi Plaza, but that's just personal taste. I also love that they stock banchan and tteok from Hansol Party House, which is located so far down on Northern Blvd., it would be really hard for me to walk there from the 7 train.
Chowhound Post
Looking for a good ice shaver
Just wanted to report that the Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver is MUCH closer to Hawaiian shaved ice texture than the Hamilton Beach Icy Treats machine. It's still not able to do what a commercial machine would do, but the shaved ice is quite soft and flaky. Can't wait to make patbingsoo!
Chowhound Post
Looking for a good ice shaver
That is very good to know!
I just ordered the Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver from Amazon, based on cyberoo's comment about shaving blocks versus crushing cubes. Will let you know how it goes.
Chowhound Post
Looking for a good ice shaver
That is an excellent point. The machine we had growing up in Korea worked with frozen blocks that were shaved. Thank you for the link!
Chowhound Post
Looking for a good ice shaver
That's what I was afraid of. But some have got to be better than others!
Chowhound Post
Looking for a good ice shaver
I tried out the Hamilton Beach Icy Treats ice shaver, but the texture of the ice is more like a granita/slurpee than the Hawaiian shaved ice/Korean patbingsu I'm going for. Is it impossible to get ice that flaky from something that's not industrial-sized? Any recommendations?
Chowhound Post
MSP-Restaurants open Fourth of July?
You all are incredible! I love Midwestern hospitality! Thank you so much.
Chowhound Post
MSP-Restaurants open Fourth of July?
Much thanks for your suggestions! I think we are going to buy some stuff for a picnic instead. We're staying in St. Paul in an apartment swap near the College of St. Catherine. Are there any groceries you'd recommend in that area for picnic supplies?
Chowhound Post
MSP-Restaurants open Fourth of July?
Six college girlfriends and I are convening in Minneapolis-St. Paul this weekend for our annual reunion from various points all over the country. We're really excited to try MSP's specialties (and much thanks to this board for the great suggestions--can't wait to try a Jucy Lucy) but I'm having a little trouble figuring out where to eat Saturday night. We'd like to see the fireworks from the Riverfront District or possibly at TASTE on Harriet Island, and if we're downtown, we thought we'd grab dinner somewhere around there. My first choice was 112 Eatery--they're closed. Will a lot of restaurants be closed on the Fourth? Any suggestions for 7 women in the thirties to gather? None of us have ever been in the Twin Cities before, and we'd like a place where we can sit and talk, nice but not too expensive ($50 per person is "special" to me, and I'm from NY).
Much thanks!
Chowhound Post
smoke joint: what the ?!?!?
The catfish sandwich, if I remember correctly, isn't exactly the same but I think they use the same tangy sauce. I'll have to try General Greene again. I haven't gone back since I had brunch there and paid $12 for two little eggs in a skillet. I don't know why it pissed me off so much--I don't mind paying for good food--but something about it really rubbed me the wrong way.
Chowhound Post
smoke joint: what the ?!?!?
I live in the neighborhood also, and I've been a couple of times over the years. Living here, I think of it is as a neighborhood place, a nice place to eat out without spending a lot of money, but not as must-go BBQ place. Recently, I've enjoyed the catfish sandwich and the collard greens and LOVED the corn on the cob slathered with spicy mayo and scallions. Seriously, I am considering eating that corn once a week this summer. But given that my favorites are not BBQ, I'm not voicing a strong dissent.
What I REALLY miss is Lil' Pig, the place they used to run next to Smoke Joint. The menu there was top-notch--high-quality ingredients, fresh flavors, great soups, salads, sandwiches at great prices. There was nothing else like it in the neighborhood. That space now also only serves the Smoke Joint menu :(
Chowhound Post
The General Greene ice cream cart
Yes, thank you! Ha ha, so glad I wasn't too far off. I remember her saying something about some sort of special coffee drink.
Chowhound Post
The General Greene ice cream cart
I tried something called bulot chip, at least that's what I think it was called, though the only thing I'm sure of is that it started with the letter "b." Sort of like coffee chip. Definitely a grown-up flavor, not that sweet and a little bitter (in a good way). The texture was super-soft. Good but not so good I'd go running back.
You should also check out the ice cream at Bittersweet down the block. It's been awhile, but I remember really enjoying their Jamaica grapenut.
Chowhound Post
Bon Juk, Flushing
I'm not sure how Bonjuk serves their jook, but the way my mom made jook growing up, it was definitely blander than Chinese congee, if only in that we seasoned it at the table with roasted sea salt. And ate it the way E Eto describes, the way Koreans eat rice, with bits of banchan. I LOVE wrapping roasted seaweed around jook. Obviously, it doesn't really maintain its form, but the saltiness of it goes so well with rice porridge!
Chowhound Post
Korean food OUTSIDE of Seoul
We never made it to Daegu, but the regional specialty there is a spicy braised short rib, like galbi-jjim, but super spicy!
Chowhound Post
Arirang - New "must try" restaurant in ktown (kal gook soo)
I really really wanted to like this place, as kalguksu is one of the foods I most miss from Seoul, where I grew up, but at least the night I was there, the noodles were not really chewy and "al dente." I've actually been to the branch in Flushing and had felt similarly, but was wiling to give the new branch a try. I did really like the flavor of the anchovy broth, though. It made me miss my favorite place in Seoul more than ever.
It does make me happy, though, to see more "specialty" Korean restaurants coming into Ktown. Gives me hope for this area.
Chowhound Post
Where can I find some fresh Korean/Japanese green plums?
I'm assuming they won't be for awhile, but where have you seen them in the summer?
Chowhound Post
Where can I find some fresh Korean/Japanese green plums?
They're called maesil plums in Korean, ume in Japanese, I think. I really want to pickle some in a Korean-style I tasted in Jeonju. I've also heard there are Middle Eastern fuzzy green plums that are similar. I know they're not at Han Ah Reum in Manhattan or at Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ, except in the already pickled form. If anyone has any tips for where I can find them, I'd be so happy!
Chowhound Post
Korean food OUTSIDE of Seoul
I just spent two weeks eating very purposefully in South Korea, including a 7-day road trip, and wanted to share some of what we ate outside of Seoul, since I know there’s not that much information in English out there. (There is a TON of information in Korean—books, websites, etc. This is a very food-oriented country.) Directions are hard because as most of Korea doesn’t use street addresses, so I’ve included phone numbers. We drove around with a GPS, and were really impressed how many of the restaurants we were looking for could be found. It would be pretty hard to do this trip without someone who speaks basic Korean, but if you tried, you would be rewarded with amazing food. A lot of these dishes can be found in Seoul, but a lot of them can’t.
Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do (North Jeolla Province):
Gwajok Hoegwan, www.jeonjubibimbap.com, serves only one dish, the famous Jeonju bibimbap, which is a special version of bibimbap, the mixed rice-vegetables-meat dish everyone knows. I can’t begin to describe how amazing and particular this restaurant is in a short Chowhound post, what a labor of love it’s been for the owner for the past 30 years. Basically, imagine your basic bibimbap elevated to the highest level. Also fantastic banchan, even though bibimbap normally doesn’t even need to be served with banchan. If you drive into the city, pretty much anyone should be able to tell you how to find it. 063-284-0982.
Jeolla Hoegwan, a restaurant that’s now run by the third-generation of the same family, serving hanjeongsik, a set menu of 30 different dishes on one traditional, low table. I told my mom they served a mountain trout, and she said the fish is so rare there are many Koreans who have never tried that fish in their lives. The restaurant itself only serves it when it’s available. I think the smallest group you can go with is four, since the 120,000 won menu serves four, which is an incredible value, about $20 per person at the current exchange rate. A showcase of the incredible culinary care and skill that Jeolla-do, the province, is famous for throughout Korea. 063-228-3033.
Jeonju Whoengi Kongnamulgukbap, a 24-hour joint that serves one and only one dish, kongnamulgukbap, which is beansprouts and rice in a soup of anchovy broth. Not so unusual, but a dish that came out of this area, which grows a lot of bean sprouts. Very comforting, a great dish for a cool night. 063-287-6979.
Busan, Gyeongsannam-do (South Gyeongsan Province):
Tongrae Halmae Pajun, famous for its green onion pancake, though what I was really impressed by was a seafood dish, tiny sea squirt-like seafood mixed with beansprouts, fiddlehead ferns, bellflower roots, and other vegetables in a nutty, sesame-based porridge, called godongjjim. Incredibly flavorful and delicious. Also a good place to try chueotang, a stew made from the loach fish, a tiny eel-like fish. 051-552-0791.
Gyeongsanbuk-do (North Gyeongsan Province)
Samgwanghoe, the best steamed crabs of my life! These are king crabs caught off the eastern coast of Korea, and even hard to find in Seoul, especially for the prices you can pay there. Incredibly sweet and succulent, a joy to eat even for someone like me who normally finds crab more trouble than it’s worth. Gyeongbok, Youngdukgun, Chuksanmyeon, Chuksan-1. 054-733-2121. The coast is also just worth a drive.
Unyang Traditional Bulgogi, serving, you guessed it, Unyang-style bulgogi. The sirloin (I think) is chopped fine, seasoned and shaped into a flat patty, like a giant hamburger, and grilled between two grills over wood charcoals. I don’t really love bulgogi, but a very superior version. Also serves a tasty non-seasoned galbi, or short ribs for grilling as well. In the town of Unyang, 052-262-0940.
Gyeongju Whunjo Kongguk, www.gjsoybeansoup.com, serving soybean soup and noodles in soybean soup. Sort of an unusual taste, maybe, for someone who’s not Korean. Soybean soup is light, creamy, and faintly nutty. You usually add a little salt to make the sweetness bloom. This place serves 3 kinds of warm soybean soup that are outrageously good, at least to me, filled with sticky rice cakes, sesame or perilla seeds, and a bit of honey or brown sugar. 054-743-9644.
Gangwon-do (Gangwon Province)
Bongpyeong, a little town devoted to buckwheat—buckwheat noodles (makguksu), buckwheat crepes (memil bongpyeon), and buckwheat jelly tossed with buckwheat sprouts (memilmuk-ssak-muchim). We ate at a restaurant called Migayoun (www.migayoun.com), and the food was had a very clean, wholesome, and completely delicious flavor. But you have to like sesame seeds and sesame oil. 033-335-8805/6.
Chuncheon is famous for dakgalbi, spicy chicken with sweet potatoes cooked on a giant griddle on your table. They’re all over the city, but we ate at Oosung Dakgalbi, 033-262-0043. A lot of fun, the kind of food to eat with a crowd and bottles of booze.
Chodang Sundubu, Gangneung, a city by the sea. There’s a little row of restaurants that all serve this dish, and I think they’re more or less the same. The sundubu is made with the local seawater, so it has a wonderfully slight but salty flavor. A very clean, straightforward dish, well-worth trying. 033-644-3516.
Chowhound Post
Korea CNY Food Journey: Summary of my Trip...
Really impressed by everything schung ate in Seoul. Amazingly, I don’t think I’ve been to any of schung’s places, despite years of living in Seoul, though I also might not remember since a lot of restaurants have similar names. I just got back from two weeks of intense eating in Korea, one week in Seoul and another road-tripping outside of Seoul. I'm writing up the outside-of-Seoul stuff in a separate post, but I thought I'd add just two Seoul recommendations here.
I’ve listed phone numbers rather than addresses, as you’re better off having someone who speaks Korean call and ask where it is than try to follow any directions I might give you.
평양면옥, Pyongyang Myeon Ok, a restaurant that serves the best specialties of Pyongyang (as in the North Korean capital), like cold noodles in broth, dumplings filled with mung bean sprouts and tofu (but not kimchi), steamed fatty pork, mmmm… Been around forever. The noodle broth here is different from Hanwoori, sort of lighter, but just as good. Kangnam-gu, Nonyundong, 02-549-5500, 02-549-5378.
이궁, Igung, in a beautiful traditional palace-style building run by Paradise Hotel. http://3pp.co.kr/restaurant/r-01.html . A modern presentation of traditional palace-style food. Expensive set-menus, but still moderate by NY standards, given the presentation. Three of my favorites were the abalone, the sprouts-mushrooms-bamboo shoots in persimmon sauce, and the rare, thinly sliced beef. Samcheonggak, Seongbuk-dong. 02-765-3700.
Chowhound Post
Oaxaca for dummies
It's really not very hard to get to Tlamanalli. I wandered around nearly all the pueblos taking colectivos by myself, leaving either from the Abastos market or from north of the Centro near the baseball stadium, and I was a single woman alone. I generally concur with everyone else but would also suggest Zandunga, the isthmus restaurant on Garcia Vigil, and also the street empanada seller on Garcia Vigil outside the Iglesia de Carmen Arriba. The mole amarillo! The only chile relleno I've ever really loved! Seriously, it is so good. I was told by locals the stand is "muy limpia," and I never had any problems, though I have a very strong stomach. I am really really jealous.
Chowhound Post
Oaxaca fresh and natural
Thanks for the recommendation of my blog! I was also very pleasantly surprised by 100% Natural. My absolute favorite thing at El Pochote's market is the tostada that you can customize--I think my favorite combo was half spicy nopales, half hongos with corn, spicy requeson (Mexican ricotta) with salsa and guacamole. Que lastima, I am so sad to be in cold New York right now. I really really miss that tostada.
Chowhound Post
The 2008 NOT List: 647 Dinner Club, Buenos Aires
Agreed. You can see the response I got when my friends and I, who went in November, said the same thing:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/575821
Chowhound Post
Unpretentious, traditional food in BA
Thank you so much! We went to Lai Lai last night and had a fantastic meal. The first really beefy-flavored mapo tofu I've ever had, but it was absolutely delicious. I've loved eating traditional Argentine food, but being Korean, it was a bit of a relief to eat food with a ton of garlic and chiles after 2.5 weeks here. I'm going to try more of your recommendations.
