Thursday, September 20, 2012

Seoul Food Girl in Japan:How to make Takoyaki in true Osaka fashion

Forget spending a fortune in America or taking a trip to Japan, making your own takoyaki is easier than you think.
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How to make Takoyaki live video:




A takoyaki grill is needed.
      Bubbly balls of goodness shimmering with moving flakes and green sparkles is the best way to describe the famous Japanese dish takoyaki (た こ焼き). During my first trip ever to Japan, my friend and I stopped by the famous takoyaki restaurant in Dotonbori in Osaka. Osaka is the best place in Japan to try takoyaki as the delicious octopus fried balls originated in the coastal city in 1935. To be honest, I was very skeptical about trying takoyaki for the first time because of the crazy hype fellow travelers and friends expressed as they lost their minds telling me about it. Speaking from past experience trying popular food items in tourist locations usually turns out to be a let down and more of a tourist trap or experience rather than being popular for the actual taste and quality of the food. But all of my premonitions were wrong about takoyaki as I bit into a flaky and crunchy yet gooey ball of absolute joy and decided it was by far on the top 5 list of things I had eaten in Japan. Returning back to Tokyo to work 10 months after my short trip to Osaka, I found myself with a Japanese family making my own takoyaki for the first time. 

My great takoyaki teachers.
Takoyaki Ingredients:

-Batter
-Octopus
-Tempura
-Fish flakes
-Pickled ginger
-Green onion
-Seaweed flakes (kim)







Simply add all of the ingredients to the inside of the balls and turn them with a toothpick. Then season as shown in the video.



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  Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Seoul Food Girl: Mappo BBQ is the Korean BBQ restaurant in San Diego that never sleeps

Mappo BQQ in San Diego stays true to Korean night life every day of the week.

   This post can also be read at www.goneseoulsearching.com

The traditional round tables are just like in Korea piled with goodies.
    Six bottles of soju later, a free bill, and Korean Karaoke marked a wonderfully Korean night out on Convoy st. in San Diego. The small round tables at stools at Mapo BBQ Korean Cuisine keep the traditional Korean BBQ alive as many local California Korean BBQ's take a modern take Korean dining with Western style tables and chairs. Mapo offers both a traditional Korean experience with charcoal grills outside and a modern American experience with electric grills inside. Whatever you are looking for, the Korean cuisine will be delightful.
    After 2 kimchi jjigaes, bi bim bap, samgyupsal, gal bi sal, thin sliced beef brisket, shrimp, 2 steamed eggs, several bottles of soju and hite, my table was stuffed. We went a little overboard having a great Korean BBQ experience with my friends and their Korean students studying in California. One of our group members was also vegetarian so we ordered her the shrimp and vegetable bi bim bap. We ordered the set menu A which lets you choose 4 kinds of meat, 1 steamed egg, and 1 kimichi or tofu jjigae. We also ordered extras such as the shrimp and more jjigaes and rice to satisfy our appetite.
The grills outside in the traditional Korean section have charcoal.
     After a good two and a half hours of eating and playing Korean drinking games one of the Korean students got up to use the restroom. After a long departure, another one of our group members went to check on him only to discover that he had been sucked over to his Uncle's business meeting (drinking meeting in Korea) at another table. Our large bill over $200 was comped by the boys Uncle who explained that it was tradition for the oldest family member to pay the bill! The uncle had also encountered my blonde friend near the restroom which could have been another contributing factor to the free meal. Even funnier, we never saw our friend again as he was initiated into the business table and was stuck there until everyone had finished!

After Mapo head over to a local Korean karaoke room for some fun.


Price- Certain things on the menu seem outrageously priced for those of us that have lived in Korea. To see bi bim bap priced at $8-12 seems ridiculous when you can get a giant sizzling bowl with free side dishes in Korea for just $3. However, if you are going for BBQ the all you can eat is the best route to go. For $20 you get everything included. The set menus are also

Service- The service takes much longer than in traditional Korean restaurants. They serve you your side dishes first and the meat comes out much later. The trick is to not get so hungry that you eat all of your side dishes before grilling your meat as you should mix and match them along with the meat for extra flavor.

Atmosphere- At about 10 pm on a Thursday night Mapo will start to get really crowded. Interestingly enough my group was there at about 8:30 and the traditional BBQ tables were empty in the inner room. But the later it got, the entire room and outside portion with the charcoal grills were completely full. Mapo BBQ is like Korea at its best as it lives up to the night life in Seoul and every other Korean city. If you go to any big city in Korea the BBQ restaurants are at their full capacity at around 10 pm to midnight and even into the earlier hours of the morning. I'd say that Mapo is one of the most authentic Korean restaurants in San Diego.

Food- Once again, for those of you that have lived in Korea the quality of American beef versus Korean beef is non comparable. You can taste the difference in quality and the flavors are quite different. However, Mapo BBQ does a great job keeping all of its side dishes including its kimchi extremely traditional. The dipping sauces for the meat are perfectly made and if you are lucky enough to get a charcoal grill outside your meat will taste even more Korean. Cut those long pieces of kimchi up and throw them on the grill along with the garlic and mushrooms for added flavor.

Reviews- Most of the reviews agree that Mapo Korean BBQ can be quite expensive but well worth it for the quality of food and atmosphere. In relation to the well known Korean chain, Manna Korean BBQ, Mapo stays true to its Korean heritage without becoming too Americanized or mainstreamed.

Check out Mapo BBQ Korean Cusine's Facebook Page


If you have any questions or comments about "Seoul Food Girl: Mappo BBQ is the Korean BBQ restaurant in San Diego that never sleeps" please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com 
  Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Seoul Food Girl: Zion Market brings Korea to California

A photo of me so happy to see giant bottles of Yu Ja Cha citron tea and reasonably priced soju!
    
     Californians have easy access to a full Korean grocery store at Zion Marketplace. Stepping inside Zion, I felt like my body had somehow time warped back to Seoul. All of my favorite Korean snacks and vegetables were suddenly in front of my eyes but I was 6,000 miles away in sunny San Diego. Mul Naengmyeon buck wheat cold noodles 물냉면, kimbap, bulgolgi, and even my favorite pistachio ice cream bars were among my first purchases as I wandered around the store completely awestruck. After an afternoon spent searching for Korean grocery stores in Kearny Mesa and a lackluster trip to the massive Asian market "Ranch 99" I took a wrong turn near the freeway and suddenly saw a massive grocery store with Korean Hangul written in bright green letters.
     After returning home with all of my goodies I decided to do a little research on Zion. Why had I not heard of this Korean grocery from any of my friends in San Diego? As the website states, Zion was one of the first Korean markets in the San Diego area when it opened its small shop in 1979 on Convoy Street. In 2002, Zion expanded nearly 7 times at 32,700 square feet and remains housed in a modern building on Mercury Street. With a popular store in San Diego, the owners decided to expand opening a store in Cerritos, Los Angeles, and Irvine. Now Californians have easy access to the freshest Korean produce and brands making Korean culture easier to retain in America through its unique food culture.
     If you don't feel like cooking your own Korean food, Zion has plenty of pre-made food and several in-store restaurants that will cook up your favorite meal in traditional stone pots and metal serving bowls. The prices are extremely reasonable and there are weekly specials offered to customers by looking at their online website. A standard bottle of soju cost about $3 including tax which is only about $1 more than in Korea.
     Zion really made me feel at home in San Diego after a difficult acculturation process that left me wondering why I ever left Korea. I suggest stopping by the store and talking to people if you want to make Korean friends or meet other people that were former expats in Korea. Visiting the store may also be a great place to practice your Korean language skills and find a language exchange partner.

My Korean honey cookie obsession can live on in California!


I can finally make my own kimbap now that I have pickled radish!



Soju and meokgolli were on sale the day I visited the store!


A home goods section of Zion Market has all of the traditional Korean cookware.


One of the in-store restaurants has a menu full of Korean food as well as Japanese foods.


My Korean ESL students always gave me Bacchus-D when I was sick or tired.


Beef galbi will bring back Korean BBQ to your household.


I missed Koreans fresh pealed bags of garlic! At only $3 you cannot go wrong!


Don't want to make your own Korean cold noodle soup? No problem, this pre-made package has everything.


My favorite Margaret cookies from Lotte.


The inside of Zion Market reminds you of any standard Korean grocery store piled high with boxes!


If you have any questions or comments about "Seoul Food Girl: Zion Market brings Korea to California" please leave them in the comment box below or email goneseoulsearching@gmail.com

Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.