Date of Last Visit: Sunday, January  9, 2011

The Victim: Me

The Damage: $10

The Background: I do not have a car. Yet. So I’ve been renting Zipcars every so often to get all my errands done. This was fine and fun until that day in November when I had my first car accident ever in my entire life and managed to take the side view mirror off my Zipcar–as well as scrape up the entire driver’s side–as I tried to pull into the garage under my building. Whoops.

So $250 later (thank God for insurance) and I’ve been a little nervous about renting a Zipcar again. But my cupboards were bare so there really was no avoiding this. I reserved a car for three hours so I could fit in a trip to Costco (I’ve missed bulk shopping in America) and Jewel. (Seriously, there is no food in this store. Only cans and boxes.) Shopping complete and not wanting to return the car 45 minutes early, I contemplated my lunch options.

Belly Shack Art

Fellow Chicago restaurant blogger Chicago Food Snob had suggested Urban Belly, the noodle and dumpling emporium, via Twitter, but it was really too far for me to go. But I remembered that Chef Bill Kim had an outpost very unglamorously located under the Blue Line tracks at Western, and I figured I’d have just enough time to grab something to go. (Time shortened, however, by me trying to figure out where to park. Parking around Belly Shack did not seem particularly easy. However, the staff were awesome and told me if I parked out front with my blinkers on and stayed in the car, they’d run my order out to me when it was ready.)

Korean BBQ in hand, I returned the car (undamaged, thankfully) and returned home to dig into the deliciousness.

While not beautiful to look at, the barbecued beef was pretty deliciously vinergar-y, and combined with the kimchi, this all had a very nice kick to it. The kimchi was an excellent version thereof. The only disappointment to me was the pita-like bread which had me momentarily confused regarding what country this was all about. The bread was slightly sweet, which I was guessing was intentional. But sadly not my style.

The Verdict: I liked Belly Shack. But it’s again hammering home that $10 seems to be the magic number when it comes to a good basic takeaway lunch in Chicago these days. Hannah’s Bretzel and Grahamwich both came in at $10 ($15 for Grahamwich if you count the disappointing popcorn) and now Belly Shack too. I’d go back here again if I was walking or biking or taking the El. Or if someone lets me in on a parking secret.

The post Belly Shack, Bucktown first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

San Soo Gab San
5247 N Western Ave
Chicago IL

Date of Last Visit: November 18th, 2010

The Victims: Many. All from Grubwithus.com

The Damage: $30ish each

The Background: I wrote the other week about my very fun meal with Grubwithus.com. Although the sushi left me wanting, the concept of social (media) dining and the company had me quickly signing up for a second go. I was particularly interested in a second round because I LOVE KOREAN FOOD and San Soo Gab San was on the calendar. Regular readers are probably tired of me waxing philosophic about my two week trip to South Korea in 2004, but I could honestly eat Korean food every day. Twice a day.

The Entrance: San Soo Gab San is located on a miserable stretch of Western, a few blocks north of Lincoln Square. In a strip mall, no less. If you’re looking for an atmospheric location, this is not it. But the inside is nice enough and old-school enough, full of exposed-brick and lots of polished wood. Just a note though–if you have bad knees or a bad back, you might want to ask for one of the tables where you don’t have to sit on the floor as we did.

I love Korean food mostly for the ban chan, or the little plates of treats you get at the start of each meal. Restaurants in London always wanted to charge for ban chan. We had a set meal at San Soo Gab San, so I don’t know for sure whether the ban chan is included in your meal or not. But generally, I think that ban chan should be included in the price of your meal like it is in Korea. I thought SSGS’s  kimchee (included amongst the ban chan) was particularly good–the coldness and crispness of the cabbage contrasting nicely with the hot hum of the chilli.

I also really enjoyed the Korean pancake. This was called Hae Moul Pajun, and was a seafood, egg and green onion pancake served with a soy dipping sauce–chock full of sesame seeds, which are a Korean staple. This is one of those deceptively filling and hearty dishes.

The chop chae (stir-friend noodles with vegetables and beef) was perhaps the only really disappointing dish of the evening. The glass noodles were so soft that they were practically disintegrated and the beef was almost non-existent. Let’s put it this way…it tasted like it looked…gloopy.

I’m sorry to end this post with a photo of raw meat. I apologize profusely to my vegetarian readers. The sad part is that there were so many plates of raw meat, that I can’t tell you what this one is. It’s either Wang Kalbi (marinated beef short ribs) or Seang Kalbi (unseasoned beef short ribs) or Bulgogi (beef seasoned korean style) or Deung Shim Gui (rib eye steak) or Cha Dol Bae Ki (thinly sliced beef brisket), or Sout Tue Gung (sliced bacon–although I’m pretty sure this isn’t the bacon). It was such a parade of meat that I think I briefly passed out.  For those of you who don’t know how Korean food works, you’re given a barbecue at your table (a real coal barbecue at San Soo Gab San as opposed to the gas barbecues you get at some places) and you go to town, barbecuing all the meat that’s put in front of you. It’s fun, but hard work. I felt sorry for Jeong, who served as our Barbecue-meister, as it meant less time to eat. I would say that while all the meat was fine in its vinegar-y-ness, it all sort of tasted the same. (With the exception of the bacon.)

The Verdict: I like San Soo Gab San, more because of its setup and the endless parade of ban chan than because of the quality of its meat. (That being said, that Korean pancake was excellent.) It’s also a very good value, which makes it fun with friends. Lastly, for you night owls, San Soo Gab San is open until the ungodly early hours of the morning–5 a.m. EVERY DAY.

The post San Soo Gab San, Lincoln Square first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 19th

The Victim: Me

The Damage: $20

The Background: Truth be told, I was feeling a little fragile. I’d been out the night before with my friends Christina and Kent and before you knew it, it was 2 am and there were a lot of empty margarita glasses in front of us (me?). (LOVELY lovely Margaritas, for sure. Thank you, Gilt Bar. And more about Gilt Bar later.)

So on Saturday, I did a lot of nothing. Well, that’s not really true. I paid a man a lot of money to kit out my closets. And then I went shopping for bed linens. And then I got on eBay and saved a lot of money on said bed linens. Exciting, no? Welcome to middle age.

But by the time I got home from my shopping expedition, my bed (or, well, my corporate  housing bed) was calling me. And you know…going to bed at like 6 pm is not a good idea. So I did what everyone does, right? I got on a bus in search of some Korean fried chicken.

A healthy chicken is apparently a sexy chicken.

I feel like the Interwebs have been buzzing about Korean fried chicken for ages. Mostly in California. And New York. Chicago only has Crisp on Broadway. But will soon have Del Seoul on Clark, where practically every business I used to know has gone out of business. I’m a little worried about Chicago, really.

But I digress. I got the standard…half a chicken, with the Seoul Sassy sauce…ginger, soy and garlic. I was hoping for a deeply ginger-y and garlicky sauce.

Hmmm. Kinda mostly soy. A little disappointed.

But the chicken was good. And I liked that it was hormone free and obviously cooked to order. (They advise that you will have to wait at least 7 minutes for your order.) It was crispy. In short, it was nice. But I wasn’t like totally dying over it. Which is what I was expecting.

Better was the kimchee. Spicy crunchy kimchee. The only problem is that that you had to order a container of it, and that container feeds three people. I had kimchee for breakfast the next day. And the next day after that. This was a good problem to have though as kimchee and egg are an excellent combination.

The Verdict: Good. Not great. But maybe I’m just spoiled.

Bobtail
2951 N Broadway
Chicago

After I finished my chicken (and my kimchee), I figured I might as well go all out and have some ice cream. Funnily, when I was in business school, the guy that started Bobtail was in my class. So it’s nice to see it go from this idea on paper to a full-fledged ice cream parlour. (To clarify…Bobtail is right across the street from Crisp. That’s why I went.)

That being said…and this is me being not-so-nice…Bobtail was kinda dirty. I mean, there was this fan on the ceiling CAKED with dust. And the place had that lingering sour smell of spoiled milk that only comes from inexperienced staff who really don’t know how to close up at night. (An aside, but related. I remember reading this article about Delta Airlines and how to save money, they stopped deep-cleaning their planes regularly. You know…where they totally clean the carpets and the seat cushions and everything with those wet-vacs. They realized very quickly that this was a big mistake. BIG mistake. And it also reminds me of my flat in London. Even though I had a cleaning lady, it took four guys from somewhere in Eastern Europe two hours to show me what a clean flat really looked like. Clean Living in London, I thank you.)

So I had some peanut butter ice cream. With chocolate chips. Welcome back to America, huh? It was nice. I might even go back for some more. But I probably wouldn’t stick around. Too much clutter. Too much stuff. I want to relax when I’m at an ice cream parlour. That’s one of my big observations of life in America…there’s stuff everywhere. We’ve become this country obsessed with stuff. (Except for Gilt Bar. Which again, I’ll come back to.) No wonder there’s a show called Hoarders.

The Verdict: Good.

The post Crisp, Lakeview and Bobtail, Lakeview first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, April 25

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £12

The Background: I woke up, feeling like some dolsot bibimbap. Regular readers know that this happens to me sometimes. That new place in Soho is closed on Sundays, so I settled on Corean Chilli.

This was a mistake.

Because the place smelled like pee. My table was next to a dark and dank and dirty staircase that looked like it might have been the entrance to a really bad nightclub.

The dolsot bibimbap was served with "minced beef." It was like bacon bits. More like beef seasoning than actual beef. I was (not surprisingly) disappointed.(Sorry not to capture the before photo. Sometimes I forget about my hobby.)

The bowl was very hot.

I had some plum tea with my meal. That was nice.

The Verdict: Skip it. Unless you want some plum tea. (Pricey though, that tea. £2.50? £2.75? I forget.)

The post Corean Chilli, Chinatown first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Soju, Soho

Soju, Soho

32 Great Windmill St
W1D 7LR

The Victim: Me

The Damage: About £15

The Background: Sometimes, a crazy urge grips me. The urge for dolsot bibimbap. This was one of those days. So as I was wandering around Soho, I got out my phone and Google Maps and started searching for my nearest Korean restaurant in Soho.

Soju was the answer. But it’s also known as Korean Kitchen. Don’t let that fool you.

The Entrance: The ground floor of Soju is very tiny. There are a couple of tables full, some with Koreans, others with tourists. The Norwegian couple next to me have stepped into Soju specifically because they’ve never had Korean food before and they are up for an adventure. I admire this.

The Food: My sweet server brings me my dolsot bibimbap and before I can snap a photo of it in its loveliness–the raw egg on top is glistening–she stirs it all up for me. So forgive the photo. (To see a before photo of dolsot bibimbamp, check out  my Han Kang review.)

This is good bibimbap–better than Han Kang’s–but the beef is still tough and leathery. There’s no juice. This doesn’t stop me from eating. I’m just saying. Someone’s got to be able to make me a dolsot bibimbap with some nice juicy beef.

The Verdict: Good. But really just good.

The post Soju, Soho first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Han Kang
16 Hanway Street
W1T 1UE

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, April 4

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £10

It's never a good sign when I can't remember the name of the restaurant I had lunch at. I can remember the name of the restaurant I wanted to have lunch at–Kikuchi–because Q. and Nuno were giving it rave reviews the other night at dinner. So I trekked all the way over to Kikuchi on a Saturday afternoon, only to find out they were closed.

And I was starving.

So the Korean next door it was.

The Entrance: It's not a big restaurant. Two tables are full, and one table looks like they might know the owners. Service is prompt and efficient. The waitress brings me the lunch menu, I pick the bibimbap, and within five minutes, the dish is in front of me.

That always makes me the tiniest bit suspicious. Five minutes? Hey, in some ways, I'm not complaining. But really, it suggests a level of pre-preparation that I'm not sure I want.

And I'm right. The beef is stringy and gray. The rest of the dish is cold as in "I've been sitting in a refrigerator for ages, waiting for you to order me." Only the egg is fresh.

The redeeming quality is that mysteriously delicious red sauce. Packed with what I think is sesame oil. I dump that all over my dish, stir it up, and yaozah! Great stuff.

The Verdict: Serviceable. And a good deal at £10. But my review is just…eh.

The post Han Kang first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

KJ Restaurant
65 High Street
New Malden
KT3 4BT

The Victims: Oonth, Limster

The Damage: £8 each-ish, again!

The Background: Our Korean restaurant crawl continues. We’ve been to Hamgipak–my favorite–and You Me. And I’ve been very impressed with our restraint. In our previous two stops, we’ve shared just two dishes among(st) three people.

I ordered at Hamgipak. Limster ordered at You Me. So we put Oonth in charge of ordering here, our third and final stop. (We may have done a fourth stop if anything else had been open!) He picks out some nigri and some hand rolls…just a few and just enough to fill us up.

Part of me wants another Korean pancake.

The Food: The nigri is cold. Very cold. Too cold. The unagi–eel–is great, but it feels high margin. They’ve cut it very thin. It looks very graceful there, across its bed of rice. But it doesn’t feel fat and generous. Hmmm.

The Verdict: I thought the service at KJ was sweet and the decor is pretty clean and modern. But the fish was so very cold. Almost as if it was still defrosting when they served it to us.

The post KJ Restaurant first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

You Me Restaurant
96 Burlington Road
New Malden, Surrey
KT3 4NT

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, November 9th

The Victims: Oonth, Limster

The Damage: £8 each-ish

The Background: Well, you’ve got the background on my last post. We’re on a Korean restaurant crawl. And I’m really ridiculously excited.

We wander down Burlington Road and peer in the windows of a few restaurants. You Me looks good, and Oonth thinks he’s heard of it before. We enter and are immediately shown a table in the back.

The Loos: Yuk.

The Food: We order the jap chae–glass noodles with vegetables–and some ox tail soup. The jap chae is full of ginger which is nice. But I’m not totally enamored. I keep thinking of the pajun at Hamgipak–the spring onion and cuttlefish pancake–and this pales in comparison. It’s just ok.

The ox tail soup is interesting. Full of egg. But again, not my favorite.

Oh, and the banchan? We have to pay for it!

The Verdict: Eh.

The post You Me Restaurant first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Hamgipak
169 High Street
New Malden
KT3 4BH

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, 9 November 2008

The Victims: Oonth, Limster

The Damage: £16 for the three of us

The Background: Some people look at me like I’m crazy when I suggest a trip out to New Malden for Korean food. I’ve been wanting to go since my absolutely amazing trip to South Korea in 2004, where I never once had a bad meal and everything was really more than excellent. Oonth and Limster had both mentioned separately that they’d be up for the field trip, so we made plans to meet at New Malden Station at 12 for a little food crawl.

The Entrance: Hamgipak comes highly recommended by Su Lin so we made that our first stop. And it would prove to be the best stop of the day. Hamgipak is very small–we laughed when Limster asked where the toilets were and was given directions to the alley. When we arrived shortly after 12, it was already more than 1/2 full and the tables would turn twice if not three times before we departed.

The Food: We’re pacing ourselves, so we go with just one Korean pancake and a bowl of spicy soft tofu soup. Both are really really fantastic. Oh, and the banchan–little dishes of kimchee and assorted vegetables–are FREE and plentiful. (I hate it when people charge me for banchan; they’re normally complimentary in Korea.)

The Verdict: I wish there were a central branch. I would go here. A lot.

The post Hamgipak first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, January 5, 2007

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £10, exactly. 

The Background: Why do we make the decisions (or take the decisions, as you say here) that we do? I really don't know what prompted me to get up on a Saturday morning and go out for Korean food. I was going to Selfridge's to get my eyebrows done and buy some facial cleanser, if you must know. And I had this idea about hitting Polo for lunch at some point during the afternoon.

But then…as it does tend to happen…I ended up getting on the 243 bus instead of the 55. (No coffee. Not thinking.) And the 243 lets you out at Holborn instead of heading west to Oxford Circus. So I was really mad at myself and I was standing on High Holborn, thinking. Thinking thinking. I'm sure people thought I was crazy. Crazy American tourist blocking their way. (There is something about my teeth that betrays my nationality.) And then I saw Asadal and I thought…hmmm…not Polo…but it's Korean…

The Entrance: It's empty. I'm empty. And I want some tofu soup. I explain this to my very kind waitress who looks at me funny and tells me that I can't possibly want the tofu soup because it has a very strong taste and I won't like it.

At which point I look at HER funny and tell her that I am sure I WILL like it and that I LIKE strong tastes. I also challenge her to further define "strong" (and to provide a specific example) but we seem to have hit a language barrier. I sit and wait and contemplate the obviousness of my dislike of being told what I will and will not like. I need to confirm for myself. (Apparently my two favorite sentences as a child were "Are you sure?" and "How do you know?")

Now I know that Korean restaurants in London are challenged by their traditional notions of providing "little dishes" complimentary at the start of the meal. They are challenged because Londoners are cheap and will gladly eat all the free food, swizzle a beer, and leave. So many a Korean restaurant in central London will charge for the free stuff, although apparently if I go to New Malden, I won't have this problem.

The Food: So I am pleased and delighted when the little dishes arrive…there's kimchee, of course, plus some spinachy looking substance that looks better than it tastes, and some sprouts, which are just okay. But hey, I wasn't expecting anything and life is good when your expections are exceeded.

I pay a quid for tea and it is hot and so it the cup it's served in–so hot that I can't hold the cup. So I have to wait about 10 minutes before I can quench my thirst. Why would they serve tea in a cup that conducts heat? I don't understand.

Here comes the tofu soup and it is just tofu soup. There is nothing "strong tasting" about it, except for a few green chillies that I am wise enough not to eat. Perhaps others have eaten the chillies and complained. I can not guess at the eating habits of those that have come before me. The soup is nice. It's a good, warming lunch.

The Service: Sweet. Low scores on the TOEFL though. No automatic service charge is added to the tab. Even sweeter. But I leave £1.25 anyhow.

The Verdict: It was good. But I still like Polo better.

The post Korean: Asadal first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, October 20th

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £8.50

The Background: It's Saturday, so I'm on Oxford Street shopping, getting my eyebrows done, looking at shoes, etc. And now I'm hungry. I really feel like sushi, but after racking my brain for quite some time, the only sushi options I can come up with are Yo! and Itsu. I vaguely remember that there are some Japanese restaurants north of Oxford Street on Wigmore or something, but after wandering for a while, I can't find them. So I head to Centre Point.

I forget now if I told the story about Team China from the office who used Centre Point as their landmark for everything. And now it's mine too!

Polo looks closed, but that's okay because I've been there before. (I am not, unlike some people, a creature of habit. K&A, for example, can go to the same restaurants all the time. Not me.) Woo Jung is open and has a decent crowd, so I step inside.

The decor, to be honest, is nothing to look at. And the service, also to be honest, doesn't seem to speak much English. Asking where the toilet was took forever. And toilet shouldn't be a hard word. (The toilets, by the way, were not the best.) But the crowd–in the maybe six tables–is mainly Korean, which I suppose says something.

They come and take my order and I go for the recommended Korean pancake (there are two on the menu and they recommend the first one).

The Food: It arrives and it's sorta red. It's served with a side of soy sauce with scallions and maybe even some chillies in there. I take a bite and it's GREAT. Nice and crispy on the outside, a little spicy, a little doughy, a little vegetable-y. I like it.

Until I get to the middle, and it's a bit undercooked. It's like eating raw dough. Delicious raw dough, but dough nonetheless. Hmmm.

The Bill: £8.50 for free cold tea (barley tea), a pancake, and a beer (Hite). Not so bad!

The Verdict: Maybe I'll go back. I don't know. I wouldn't send people here. They would think I was weird. Maybe I am a little.

The post Korean: Woo Jung first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, September 5, 2007

The Damage: £10

The Victim: Me, myself, and I

The Background: Tube strike. Hair appointment in Central London. Bus not moving. Too many people on street. Keep. Bumping. Into. People. Arrrggh. Must get away from madness. Must get out of the way until city calms down.

Well…now it is 7 p.m….I could have dinner somewhere…

And well…Team China did tell me about Centre Point and the restaurants around there.

Hmmm…Korean. I love Korean. Did I mention that I love Korean? This place looks fun…

The Entrance: Hello! Hello! Welcome! Welcome. Where would you like to sit?

I take the bar. I ask for tea and they bring me COLD tea in a 1/2 pint glass. This wasn’t what I was expecting but it is PERFECT. Because I am all hot and worked up from the madness on the street. And they keep bringing me refills. It’s fantastic.

I like my seat at the little bar. There are about 8 seats that wrap around. I can’t really see what’s going on behind the bar, but I can talk to the server and otherwise observe. The place is packed with a student crowd. (All two other tables, that is. Maybe three tables. I forget.) I hear lots of Korean. (Or well, I hear lots of “chuseyo”s and “gamsamnedas.” Maybe they too, like me, just like to throw around the random “chuseyo” and “gamsamneda.”)

The Food: I debate the pancake. I love love love Korean pancakes. But I sorta want some spicy tofu soup. The guy behind the bar tells me both would be too much, so I stick with the soup. It arrives in a cool eartheware type of bowl. And it is indeed spicy. It’s got a good amount of tofu in it and a great amount of seafood. There’s a whole little crab in there. And two shrimp. And 5 clams. I am somewhat regretful because it’s a bit hot out and this hot and spicy soup is just making me hotter, and plus I learn later that I’ve got the flu so I’m even hotter than normal. (And hence all the extra crankiness.) But that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the deliciousness.

The Verdict: My new post-Oxford Street hangout. Love it. Love them. Gamsamneda.

The post Korean: Polo first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.