A couple of weeks ago, Irene at TJ’s Tacos LA brought our attention to a taco pop-up event (2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month) being held at a local bar. The name may not say much, but the headline, Vietnamese-style tacos, sure caught our attention. The word Vietnamese immediately piqued our interest, because of our shared love of Southeast Asian flavors. Viet tacos, say what?
Continue reading TJ’s Tacos LA: where Viet style tacos are a thing
Cafe PappaRich is a recent addition to LA Koreatown’s dining scene, serving Malaysian fare, alongside signature baked “roti” pastry buns. It’s actually the first American location of a Malaysian restaurant chain by the same name (papparich.com.my). If anybody knows me, Southeast Asian food is my favorite, so I was excited to try this place out.
My House Korean BBQ & Hot Pot
3465 W 6th St
Los Angeles, CA 90020
$19.99 for AYCE Kbbq AND hot pot!? NICE. Parking at this plaza is valet, which is $2.00 with validation from the restaurant, or you can try your luck with street parking, but we went on a weekend. This plaza has a bunch of restaurants and nightclubs, so it’s very popular. This restaurant is new, very roomy and decorated with a modern lounge feel. It wasn’t too crowded when we went at 8pm on a Saturday evening. The owner is the same owner as the club Belasco, so the music and vibe of the place feels like a club. Except with all you can eat food!! The service is exceptional, we had a waiter named Steven who was the best waiter I have ever had at any Korean restaurant. There were also some other staff who helped us, and everyone spoke English fluently, were polite, and didn’t rush us at all. I couldn’t believe how wonderful they were and how quickly they brought out the food, always checking on us and changing our grills constantly.
The $19.99 kbbq and hot pot deal works this way: your table has to eat kbbq first, and when you’re done, you can switch to hot pot, but there is no going back. That was probably the only pitfall of this deal, because it’s hard to enjoy hot pot when you’re already so full.
The KBbq choices came with the standard beef brisket, marinated beef, pork belly, short rib, spicy pork, and some other bbq marinated meats, and baby octopus (which I can’t eat). These meats were very high quality, with little fat on and it melted in your mouth, the marinated choices were very yummy, super tender, and not salty at all. I asked for 2 slices of pork belly to try, and unfortunately it was 90% fat, so that is one item you should not get here. The meat choices that stood out to me were the Vietnamese marinated shrimp and the Vietnamese lemon grass beef, since I’ve never been to a Kbbq place that served this, but I was pretty disappointed since the shrimp didn’t taste like anything but shrimp, and the lemon grass on the beef was not infused enough, so it wasn’t anything special to me. We also tried the beef tongue, which I didn’t like, it had a really weird kind of leathery taste to it. Not appetizing to me. We didn’t get to try the wine pork and the pork neck, but judging from the fat on the pork belly, it was probably a good thing we didn’t try it.
The hot pot comes with two broths, a spicy Thai-style one, and a miso-style one. The Thai one was very spicy for me, but we all know how horribly my tolerance is. It kind of tasted like instant ramen broth, a little too salty. The miso broth was very good, I mixed some of the spicy broth in it and added a lot of the peanut dipping sauce, which I loved. We got spinach, tofu, imitation crab, beef balls, fish balls, inoki mushroom and sliced catfish for the hot pot. Everything was standard and nothing too special, but the catfish was really tender and fresh, no fishy smell. I know it’s one of the cheapest fishes to get, but it was still nice to eat fresh fish.
We got a complimentary bottle of beer and plenty of banchan and rice paper to keep us full, so we didn’t need to order rice. This place does not give you free steamed egg, they charge $2.99 I believe. I didn’t walk out feeling like my pores were sweating oil and bbq because this place has very good ventilation. We sat in an area that was inside, but the windows were just screens so it let the smell out and didn’t leave us with teary eyes from the smoke. Overall, it’s a pretty good place if you want kbbq and hot pot, but I do wish they had a sauce stand or something so we can mix our own sauces like at the bbq & hot pot restaurants I go to in NorCal. The choices are plentiful if you want to splurge a little, and the services is amazing. It was worth trying just to see, but I think I will just stick to $9.99 kbbq when I visit SoCal from now on.
~Nicole
Heyri is one of those fancy Korean coffee houses, with tall Korean waiters serving you at your beck and call, like in the dramas. Not exactly, but the coffee is indeed expensive ($5+ for a cup), even though it’s your average run-of-the-mill brew (I prefer McCafe’s). The coffee house comprises a building that resembles a single family home, with an extended patio area for outdoor seating. It’s a cozy affair, really. Tea lights and a water fountain in the back, and picnic tables laid out.
Since we had just eaten at Mr. Pizza (review here), we weren’t too keen on filling ourselves some more.
The mochi ice cream ($5.50), with green tea flavored mochi bits looked enticing. But the portion size was so measly. It was good, but nothing to write home about.
I thought the coffee ice cream ($6.25) was watered down and totally overpriced. A scoop of ice cream should not cost as much as a lunch special…
In spite of my criticisms, I suppose what you pay for is the ambiance, not the food. Heyri is a good place to come with friends and chat on a Friday night, but be prepared for pretty high prices.
Heyri Coffee House
755 S Hobart Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Peace,
Justin
Mr. Pizza Koreatown
A few weeks ago, Nicole, Justin, Alvin and I went to Koreatown for dinner. Nicole chose Mr. Pizza, the first and only of its kind in America. Mr. Pizza is apparently a well known pizza company in Korea.
The restaurant is big and very open, with high ceilings. It wasn’t too crowded on a Saturday night. We were seated right away, next to the window facing Wilshire Boulevard. There were a lot of choices on the menu. There were only a couple of “Korean” pizzas, including a Bulgogi pizza. Other than that, the other pizzas seemed like any other typical pizza.
We ordered the regular sized barbecue chicken pizza, the gold sticks, and this large pizza that was a combination of four different pizzas. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the pizza, but I think it’s a combination of the Secret Garden Pizza, the Potato Gold Pizza, the Shrimp pizza, and the last one is the supreme pizza (I think).
The barbecue chicken pizza was really good and straightforward as usual. The gold sticks were something new to me. They were these bread sticks filled with sweet potato. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that in the combination pizza, they used the gold sticks as the crust. Definitely different from your usual cheese stuffed crusts.
My favorite of the combination pizza was probably the Secret Garden pizza. I didn’t like the shrimp pizza all too much. I think seafood and pizza makes a weird combination. It just doesn’t suit my palette. PLUS, on a personal note, one of the things I consider when eating pizza is whether it’ll taste good cold.
I love cold pizza. Yes, as strange as that sounds, but definitely it’s a deciding factor for me.
But anyway, just to give you all a heads up, Mr. Pizza is pretty pricey. The combination pizza was $36 from my recollection. That is a lot for one pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much on a pizza before, but it was worth the one time try.
Overall I liked the restaurant. The food was good, but the prices were not.
Check it out.
❤ josie
3881 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Western Doma Noodles is one of those hole-in-the-wall restos, located in a pretty shady strip mall, but serves hearty meals. Apparently the ahjummas who service the tables liked our group, so we got a complimentary appetizer of ddukbokki, spicy rice cakes with gochujang sauce, along with an array of other banchan, or side dishes.
As the restaurant’s name implies, their name to fame are their handcut noodles, kalguksu, served with a broth of your choosing. We shared the seafood and kimchi kalguksu, which came in pretty large portions. I’d say that these are among the best noodles I’ve had.
We also ordered a side of mandu, steamed dumplings with pork (or beef?). I remember being confused by the mystery meat inside, which smelled like beef to me, but looked like pork. Ah well..
Definitely recommended, for a cold winter day!
Address: 429 N Western Ave Ste 10, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Peace, Justin
Sanya: Koreatown
So the other day, Saba (old roommate) really wanted to eat at BCD. Nicole and I went to go pick her up and somehow decided that we needed something more—so we opted for AYCE korean bbq.
I can’t remember whether Justin wrote a review on Sanya before, but this was my first time here.
We went on a Monday night, not too early or late. We actually beat the crowd and was seated within a few minutes. We ordered the brisket, the marinated pork, the pork belly, and I think the marinated beef. The quality of the meat is much better than most places I’ve gone. I’m a huge fan of marinated pork, so when I got it, I was happy to find that the pork wasn’t overly seasoned.
The pork belly was really good, too. Unlike most places where they give you more fat than meat, Sanya gave us good cuts of meat with little fat and more meat.
This was Saba’s first time at a AYCE korean bbq place, so to celebrate the occasion, I asked the manager/waiter to take a picture of us. haha, he was so amazed by my Hello Kitty Cheki instax 25s mini camera, and was even more surprised when the polaroid came out.
Anyway, this place was so good, I came back a second time the following week.
$13 korean bbq after tax and tip was a sweet deal.
I would totally come here, again.
Josie
AYCE Korean barbeque has got to be one of the greatest American/Korean fusions out there. The American “all you can eat” tradition combined with the Korean love of barbequed meats, all for the miraculous price of $9.99 (unlimited side dishes included). I’m not even kidding.
I went with my roommates on Tuesday, since we’d been craving Korean bbq for a while, and because it was the perfect weather (a cold and rainy night). The last time I had eaten this stuff was at O Dae San (review here) next door, during graduation. So I was more than ready to chow down. I love AYCE meals because I ALWAYS eat more than what I pay for. Mind over matter.
The service was prompt and efficient. We were quickly seated, given an minimal assortment of banchan (ranging from kimchi to Korean potato salad and the ubiquitous rice paper). We mostly reordered the potato salad, because the kimchi was way too salty. On a side note, Korea is experiencing a national kimchi crisis right now because of rains in Asia that destroyed napa cabbage crops this year. Anyway. the waitresses also dropped off gyeran jjim (steamed egg) midway through the meal.
Anyway, the selections are limited (8 choices, half beef and half non-beef) but still plentiful. I can’t comment on the beef selections, but I became very acquainted with the pork and chicken served. The marinated chicken was very lightly marinated, and not very flavorful. So I invented my own marinade, consisting of vinegar soy sauce (for rice paper) mixed in which Korean chili sauce, which made the cooked chicken much more appetizing.
The pork, however, was heavenly. The marinated pork was succulent, sweet, and spicy. Just the way Korean bbq should be. It was sort of fatty, but still fresh. The pork with beansprouts had a much subtler flavor, but still tasty.
All in all, we probably ordered 9 to 10 plates of meat. A truly satisfying meal for $13, tip included. Life doesn’t get any better than this. It’s just the aftermath—the smell of meat in your hair, clothes and skin, is pretty darn hard to remove. My suggestion: leave your sweater in the car.
Score: 4.25/5
– Justin
BCD Spicy Seafood Tofu Soup
I really really love this place ever since Nicole took me here the first time freshmen year (or was it sophomore year?) There’s two of them in Korea Town, or at least, I know of two places in Korea town. One of them is located on Wilshire and the other is located on Western. The Wilshire restaurant is definitely more popular and a lot larger than the Western location. It serves quite a multitude of customers.
The Western location is less noticeable and is a lot smaller. Probably seating only around 40-50 occupants, in comparison to the other one which is around 100+ occupants if I’m correct.
There’s a difference between the two when it comes to the food though. Although both are really good, I definitely prefer the Western location because of one reason: the spicy seafood tofu soup.
It is definitely a lot spicier here when I ask for extra spicy than the Wilshire location. I absolutely love it! I’m totally craving this right now…
one of my friends is totally intolerant to spiciness, so after one sip of my soup he started sweating profusely and started coughing.
I know a lot of people would probably say to me, “how can you enjoy eating spicy foods when all you taste is the spice?” I honestly don’t know why, but I just really love it.
I’m addicted to spicy foods. Might as well eat it while I’m young, right?
Last night, after a failed attempt to catch the premiere of 71: Into the Fire in K-Town, my friend and I walked 2 blocks to Myung Dong Kyoja so that the bus ride there wouldn’t have been a total waste. The restaurant is open 24/7, really clean and spacious. It’s located on the corner of Harvard and Wilshire. At midnight, there was a small but steady stream of customers coming in and out.
The menu is relatively simple, offering a handful of noodle choices along with mandu or Korean dumplings. The items are also relatively reasonably-priced, ranging from $8 to $12.
After we ordered, the waiter dropped off 3 banchan dishes, cabbage kimchi and daikon. There’s not much to say about the daikon. By contrast, the kimchi was really powerful. It is reasonably spicy and didn’t taste as fermented and sour as kimchi usually does. It also has a strong garlicky kick. As testimony, I woke up this morning and my breath still reeked of garlic.
I ordered the bibim guk su ($7.95), which are cold cut wheat noodles in a chili sauce, garnished with really thin cucumbers, cucumber kimchi and topped with half a boiled egg. It was served with a small bowl of broth, which was pretty bland. So I just dumped a few spoonfuls of kimchi to temper the kimchi’s taste. The bibim guk su tended toward to the sweeter side and tasted more like a dessert dish to me. Upon closer inspection, I could still see a few sugar crystals lining my bowl. But as a whole, the noodles were flavorful, although they were drowning in chili sauce. The cucumbers did give the noodles a nice crunchy texture.
My friend ordered the signature kal gook su ($7.95), which are hand cut wheat noodles in a soup of mandu and ground meat of unknown origin (it tasted like pork but I guess ignorance is bliss.) The broth was really meaty-tasting but perfectly salted. I often find that Korean soups tend to be saltier, but this one was perfectly balanced. The pork-filled mandu were likewise tasty.
Rating: 3.75/5
– Justin
P.S. I have several resto reviews to do, but I think I’ve learned my lesson of not delaying them because by that point, I’ve forgotten much of the dining experience. 😐
Haha am I behind on Food Coma or what? Even Nicole has updated! Thought I’d never see the day. J/K. 🙂
We were planning to celebrate the graduation of Ting Yee (that’s your name now, Rosalie) by eating all you can eat Korean bbq at Sanya (only $10) in K-town. But lo and behold, there was a long line when we arrived. I tried going inside to ask an employee how long the wait was, only to be rudely shooed away and told “I don’t know! Wait in line” in a thick Korean accent.
Since we didn’t have a Plan B, we just ended up indecisively wandering around Olympic Blvd, pingponging from one side of the street (a Japanese resto called Wako) to the next before finally deciding to eat at the Korean bbq restaurant next door, O Dae San.
We finally got a table at 9:45 pm upstairs and decided to get the $17 all you can eat deal, 3 meat plates at a time.
See the full gallery on posterous
The banchan (side dishes) was very sparse, bland (steamed brocolli, kimchi, flat rice noodles, ice cucumbers and boiled bean sprouts) and not refilled. And where was the potato salad? =( After our first round, a waiter dropped off fried kimchi pancakes, but all of us saw right through that ploy, because carbs fill you up faster, limiting your intake of meat. Also, we got mixed and steamed egg in a clay pot.
See the full gallery on posterous
I forgot the order of meat plates we got, but it was basically chicken bulgogi, pork belly, beef brisket, beef belly, and baby octopus. I don’t know what the beef dishes tasted like (maybe Michelle and Laurie can contribute), but the chicken bulgogi wasn’t flavorful enough. I think the pieces were too big. The pork belly was delicious though, easy to cook and well-soaked in the sauce. The baby octopus (4 of them, in a sea of leeks, sauce and what have you) came in a tin foil, which was cooked on the grill. Unfortunately, we overcooked it and it ended up being really tough to chew. The sauce, however, was really tasty and used to cook the other meats. The grilling took such a long time, because half of the grill didn’t function properly and cutting the meat was painstaking.
The service was just unacceptable. It seems like none of the staff were responsive at all. At one point, we asked to have our water refilled, but the waiter instead delivered it to another table. I feel like places like this should provide customers with a whistle or something. And it seems like most of the staff do not speak English competently. I had great trouble understanding the Korean and Hispanic waiters there. We even asked for our third round of meat dishes several times and ended up waiting a lot longer than necessary. It wasn’t until the last half hour that one particular staff member, an amicable Korean guy, partially redeemed the dining experience. Maybe he noticed how annoyed I was, but he said that we didn’t need to leave a tip because bringing more people next time would mean better business. He also brought out leftover soft drinks, since we were the last customers in there.
I don’t know if I’d come back here again, since I’ve had better kbbq (although my palate may be biased since all I ate were the non-beef meats) and better (and unlimited) side dishes. Plus, the service is subpar.
Score: 3/5
– Justin
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