Sunday, March 11, 2012

Korean Firsts

Sometimes I think that I post too much about Asian stuff, but quickly dismiss myself because I remember how much I am in love with all of the food (the girls are cute too!)

I went to Koreatown on W. 32nd st. because I had never been. There were several foods on the agenda, Korean Fried Chicken, for one, because I've heard a lot of people buzzing about it, and various other things, including, but not limited to: kimchi, delicious snacks, noodles, and spicy any-thing.

Let's just say, mission accomplished.

Korean Fried Chicken is delicious. Double fried for fantastic crispiness, tossed in a garlic-soy sauce, these wings are really good, and definitely worth repeating, but with plenty of beer next time.
These particular wings came from Bon Chon, but it's not the only name in the game.

There are three places for Korean fried chicken in this short stretch of streets: Kyochon, the L.A. chain and originator of Korean fried chicken; Bonchon, producer of the wings pictured and claim to five NYC locations; at last but not least, Mad for Chicken, which is supposed to be delicious but at least a 30 minute wait for wings after ordering.

The fries at Bonchon were really good too. We also ordered the kimchi coleslaw which had just enough of the characteristic tang and spice of kimchi but rounded out with mayo.  Sweet dance music was playing.

This is definitely a place I will go back to as the bar looked formidable and the chicken was damn good.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Before the fried chicken spot, I wanted to go to a food court to properly whet my appetite.


 I started off with onions and noodles in black bean sauce. This was supposed to be pork and onions in black bean sauce, but there were barely half a dozen stamp size pieces of the protein I hold so dearly. It was good though, and came with pickled daikon and kimchi. I only ate about half of this, as I knew there were many more things to come. The joy of sharing!


Next up, I had to try this "Chinese Tamale," as it was advertised, because I pretty much knew what I was getting, and I like to set my self up for success.
This was good, and had so many things in it that I love! A strip of sweet Chinese sausage, half a shittake mushroom, a shrimp, some roast pork, beans and onions all call this rice-stuffed banana leaf home. I put hot sauce on and chalked it up as a win.





Here's the 'tamale' split open, revealing it's delicious innards. It's pretty much lo mai gai, but bigger, and with beans and peas and such.


If you're going to go to Koreatown, I would definitely suggest going to H Mart, a well stocked Korean and Asian grocery store. This place has all sorts of cool stuff in it, as well as hot snacks and weird sodas!

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