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!

Christmas for my family is all about eating. Ok, any get together with my family is about eating. On this particular christmas, we pretty much ate from 2pm until we left. It’s non-stop grazing, from beginning until end. My aunt loves to make spinach dip.

Kimchi pajeon… regular pajeon is good, but kimchi pajeon is so much better! This particular batch was amazing.

We had regular non-spicy pajeon too. We’re a small peoples, but we eat lots!

My aunt always makes shrimp tempura, so we had more of these freakishly large shrimp from the costco.

She had proper tempura batter this time, instead of the chicken batter she used last time. Who doesn’t love deep fried shrimp? My mom eats the shrimp tails. So does my uncle. I do not! She says it’s full of calcium. I’d rather drink milk or take supplements!

I made a special request for these chinese dumplings. My aunt buys them at a local chinese restaurants, and she can buy them frozen. They are shrimp and chive dumplings. These were still super tasty, but they had transformed from shrimp and chive dumplings into chive and shrimp dumplings. Whereas they were mostly shrimp with a hint of chive before, these new ones were mostly chive with a couple of tiny miniscule shrimp in them. It was seriously disappointing, but still delicious. I guess it’s just a sign of the times!

Since I have an unhealthy like for ddukpokki, my mom had picked some up the day before and heated it up. It was pretty good for store bought stuff.

After all the grazing, we did have a proper “dinner” later on. We had some japchae, some random veggie banchan, kimchi, of course, and a whole crapload of meat.

These shortribs really should be grilled, so grilled they were! Snow was still all over the place, and definitely on the back deck, but my uncle had shoveled himself a little path to the grill. And with full snow garb on, he cooked these babies up. And they were particularly good!

My cousin brought a pie! Not just any pie folks, but a sweet potato pie that had a layer of pecan pie on top! Whoo! Super sweet as all get out, but I still enjoyed it.

For a proper meal, we headed back to koreatown, because we had both been wanting to go back to KumGangSan. We had gone here together a bunch of years back and had remembered how good it was. We had a bit of a wait though, but it was worth it. The place has two floors and lots of tables, but it was absolutely packed. And you’re talking about a street that is chock full of other korean restaurants. Yet on a tuesday night at 7, this place was still packed. You know that’s a pretty good sign. Oh, and the thing I love about koreatown is that so many of the restaurants are open 24 hours as day! It’s a dream!

Holy banchan! Marinated spicy squid, which almost seemed raw or nearly raw. Two different kimchis, one was regular, but was a bit watered down, and the other one was an actual watery style kimchi. Broccoli and imitation crab meat, and some mystery fungus dish at the bottom. We’re thinking it’s a mushroom of some kind.

Spicy squash, a savory eggplant, two different types of tofu (one was bluish?!?), some type of mystery sliced root, and a salad.

I really loved this salad! It had some kind of dressing that I absolutely fell in love with, yet I can’t really describe what it tasted like. I couldn’t distinguish its main flavor. But it was awesome. I wish they’d bottle it.

We got some kimchi fried rice. Kimchi fried rice isn’t nearly as kimchi-y as you’d think it would be. It’s actually quite mild, not at all spicy, and a bit nutty. It’s basically just a fancy rice, in case plain old rice doesn’t do it for you. This one had meat in it, but it was tiny little bits of meat and there was barely any in it. You can get it with chicken or veggies too. It was good and as you can see, a huge portion.

The dish that we came back for – the ojingaboekum. I’m all about this squid dish at most korean restaurants I go to. And I remember coming here before and absolutely loving and devouring it. As before, it didn’t disappoint. There’s tons of hunks of meaty squid in a spicy, sweet, and savory sauce. Yes, it’s all three of those flavors. There was also a few slices of rice cake in there, as a little added surprise. But it was only a few, as in maybe 5. I wish there had been 50! This dish is just particularly good here. Can’t describe why, it just is.

For dessert, we were given complimentary samples of this ice bean thing. The placemats at the tables were hocking a few different products that KumGangSan makes, including this ice bean stuff. What is it? Well, as A described, “it’s like science in your mouth.” That’s what it is. It’s fruity and icy, and then in your mouth, it turns into a creamy yogurt type consistency. Very sciencey indeed. Made by the power of sugar and chemistry. So it has the word bean in it, and it does have a slightly bean-ish aftertaste, so it must be made from something involving beans, and not regular dairy.

The service here is ok, nothing stellar, just standard korean restaurant service. One thing to note, you will stink like korean bbq after you eat here. The smell is everywhere and it will seep into every crack and crevice on you, and of course, your clothes. So you will smell like this until you wash yourself and your clothes.