After my long flight, I was still extremely hungry. The last full meal was about 9 hours before and the snack had only made my shakes go away. I needed real food, stat. And some groceries, so we headed out to H Mart to take care of both. I keep telling H/A that he should break out of his mold and get something besides bulgogi or galbi when he eats korean. But then he ends up ordering bulgogi, like in this case, and then regrets it. I mean this wasn’t bad, but it was fairly boring. And it really wasn’t the best gulgogi out there. It was just super sweet. The banchan wasn’t that great either.
I can also be a creature of habit when it comes to eating. A few weeks ago I had eaten the jjamppong by itself. And a few weeks before that I’d eaten the chajangmyun by itself. This time, I wanted both, so I got both. I love these little dual compartment bowls. I love trying everything, so this is one of my favorite dishes at the good ol H Mart food court. I wish all restaurants would let you have two half portions of all dishes instead of just one.  I’ve never ordered anything from the japanese/sushi spot at H Mart. This was from awhile back when I was at H Mart with my mom and she got the udon. Look how beautiful it is! Next time, I’m eating this!

I had dinner with my mom the other night, and instead of going to a proper sit-down place, I just kind of wanted to go to the H Mart food court instead. I was definitely feeling korean, but wasn’t sure what kind, so I wanted all possible options to be available. I wanted noodles. Typically, I would get the jjamppong. It’s just what I do. But I wasn’t feeling it that night. I wanted chajangmyun instead. Now, I could have actually gotten a combination of both. They have these bowls with two chambers, and you get chajangmyun in one half and jjamppong in the other.  But I wanted to go pure this night.  So I got chajangmyun instead. But then as I was waiting for my food, I saw some others eating these enormous bowls of jjamppong and I got jealous. And I began regretting my decision.

The particular one that my mom made me order had the noodles and the sauce come out separately. For that, you pay an extra dollar, and my mom said this one tastes better.  Sure mom. She also said it had lots of shrimp in it. Or so she thought. It ended up not having any shrimp in it at all, just the normal beef, but it tasted great. I didn’t regret my decision at all.

My mom got dolsot bibimbap. There was something off about this dish on this particular occasion. Neither of us was sure what it was, but there was just something that tasted funny. In the end, we think one of the veggies was just not right. And we don’t mean rotten or anything, just off. And that kind of made the whole dish taste off. We still ate it anyway, but it’s been much better before. We’re hoping this was just a one time deal.

I live real close to an H Mart, but the first ever H Mart that opened around this area is in Elkins Park. My family headed up that way to do some other shopping, and we stopped at the newish food court there to check it out. It’s called More Food Court and it’s actually pretty interesting. There are 6 food spots (i think) – vietnamese, korean fried chicken, chinese, traditional korean, japanese, and sushi (or something like that). You order in one spot, and then you get a number, and when your number shows up, you go to the particular window to pick up your food. It’s all computerized and shizz. Fanciness.

Your receipts have the order number. Then you go to your window when your number shows up on the numberboard overhead. It’s kind of brilliant actually. The food stations don’t need to worry about taking money, they just take care of making the food.

My sis-in-law wanted to try some korean style fried chicken. None of us were sure if this was indeed korean style fried chicken (really, what is it, exactly?) but it sure seemed like a possibility. So she got an order. It’s made to order, so this took the longest. She didn’t realize that it would be proper fried chicken that would need to be eaten with the hands. She didn’t want to make that much of an effort, so she didn’t end up eating it. She swapped her food with my bro, but my bro and I ate this. I liked it! It’s hard to describe the taste, but it’s sweet and spicy and savory.  The batter reminded me of the taste of tonkatsu batter. I would definitely eat this again, but I think it’s easier to order the boneless nugget version.

We’re all so random. My mom got a salmon teriyaki bento box from the japanese outfit. A nice piece of salmon, seaweed salad, a couple pieces of california roll, some veggie tempura, rice, and miso soup. Quite a bargain if you ask me.

My brother got the chajangmyun, as is very typical for him. He got to eat some, before he was forced to give it up to his wife.

And in the same way my bro always gets chajangmyun, I get jjamppong an awful lot. Sometimes, I can be very predictable. It always looks like red fiery death, but it’s not always super spicy. This one was spicy, but not overly so. It was a bit heavy on the veggies, but still good, with lots of seafood. I don’t know why I love this dish so much, I just do. I can eat this all the time!

Oh, and happy 2010!