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Brown Tonkatsu – Gangnam, Korea

Nov29

I see the brown donkatsu dish in many Korean dramas so I’ve been wanting to try it! Well, there was a Brown Tonkatsu restaurant near our place so we tried it out!

Cream Soup

This soup was good! Very mild in flavor but didn’t taste too rich. I definitely dipped my bread in and enjoyed.

Bread

Brown Pork Cutlet Set (Sirloin + Tenderloin) | ₩11,500

They ran out of shrimp this day so that was a bit of a bummer especially since Chan likes shrimp cutlets. So we got this set, I really enjoyed it. The brown sauce isn’t really a gravy, it’s almost like a tangy steak sauce gravy thing. I liked it. Chan’s brother wasn’t a huge fan and said they have nothing on Tonkatsu Tamafuji. Haha, I agree that Tamafuji is winners but I guess I wouldn’t compare this dish to theirs because it’s a completely different dish? Anyway, I enjoyed it! Fulfilled my craving. 🙂

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Costco – Seoul, Korea

Nov27

Costco Korea is cool as heck and I would go back again if I could. We actually went twice during this trip lol. They have everything our costco doesn’t have and it’s much less crazy. They do not check membership cards going in (so yeah, definitely no scanner either). I was able to use my Costco credit card as membership and payment card perfectly! The dollar to won rate is amazing right now so anytime we made purchases, we selected the Korean won option when asked. Look at their Executive Membership price, that’s like $70 bucks? Geez!

Found these Nike belt bags which is all the rage with my brothers so I got two for a good price! Why don’t our Costco’s have good brands like this? Korea is really into UCLA branded clothing and…National Geographic is a huge brand here. Yes, that National Geographic. I have no idea why.

Man if I lived in Korea, I would be buying their fresh foods all the time!

Everything looked so good…!

Look! They even have ready to cook soups/stews. How perfect!!!

I don’t know why I took this picture. Probably just another thing we don’t have here in the States. Wish I took pictures of their fresh sushi platters, looked restaurant quality. I didn’t even get to try their food court…they sell tteokbokki and a pork bulgogi bake (opposed to chicken bake) but I just wanted to get their hot dog. I wanted to make sure they use all beef hot dogs and not the asian sausages. I guess I’ll have to return to try next time. Have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone!

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Soondae Guk-Bap – Seoul, Korea

Nov25

Sorry folks, I might not have the names of a lot of restaurants for these posts since I left it up to Chan to do the ordering from food delivery apps and it’s not very English friendly. This was a very nice and warm and comforting soup dish! Do you know what soondae is? Why, it’s blood sausage of course! I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it is mine.

Soondae Guk-Bap (sorry I didn’t take a picture of the innards!)

Delcious soup! Huge portion, I think it gave us 2-3 extra meals worth of leftovers!

Rice and raw onions and chili peppers to add to your soup! And of course a side of kimchee daikon!

Korean Wanja Meat Patties

I think that’s what these are called? They are smothered in like a sweet soy marinade and mayonnaise. Was very good!

Assorted Mandoo

I may be in the minority but I only like steamed mandoo or pan-fried mandoo. I don’t care for deep fried mandoo. Mmm…this mandoo was so good!

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bhc Chicken – Seoul, Korea

Nov22

One of the biggest bummers of my trip lays in this post. I was so excited to try bhc chicken. I’ve been watching Korean mukbangers eat their “bburinkle” chicken on YouTube for months on end. It looks like it’s dusted in like a cheesy ranch coating – and they dip it into this white sauce and just made it all look so good. I think you know where this is going…

Bburing Hot Dogs

Now that I look at the pictures, I can see that we went hard and fast on the bburinkle seasoning not knowing if we would like it. We didn’t like it. It looks so nice and cheesy and savory. IT IS NOT SAVORY. Here is a hard lesson we learned in Korea, any dish that is cheesy is also very SWEET. I don’t know what the obsession is. So yeah, this coating was making everything sweet. It was not good.

Bburing Cheese Balls

The cheese inside the balls were nice and melty but once again, this was coated with the bburinkle seasoning so it was too sweet!

Bburing Bburing Sauce

Here is the dipping sauce I told you about that goes with the kitchen. So what is the white sauce? Well, it’s basically sweet plain yogurt. Gross.

Chicken Radish Pickle

Radish pickle, look…how can you go wrong with pickle? It was fine.

Bburing Fries

Sigh…yup, fries seasoned with bburinkle.

Bburinkle Chicken

I am ppurinkled out just from these pictures. The chicken was fine…but sweet. I really hated the seasoning. Sigh…we learned the hard way.

Spicy Choking Rice (LOL)

I can’t help but laugh at the name of this dish. I enjoyed it since it was the one thing not ppurinkle. Hahaha…and I didn’t choke! I don’t think I did. Anyway, this meal was kind of a tester for Chan to learn how to order food delivery because Korea is known for it. It was a bit of a struggle at first but he got a full handle on it and well, a lot of our meals were food delivery which is all good with me! Disappointing experience with bhc but at least we know now.

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Golden Dragon – Seoul, Korea

Nov20

First day in Korea! We went to the National Museum of Korea. I didn’t take much pictures inside because I didn’t want to be one of those tourists…hehe. But it was a very nice museum and definitely worth a visit if you are interested in Korean history.

The museum also has Namsan Tower as a backdrop so if you don’t plan to go up Namsan Tower, I recommend coming here and taking pictures. Admission to this museum is free! Warning, many school trips here so…many kids!

Lunch was Northern Chinese food from Golden Dragon, it was a restaurant located close to where we were staying.

When ordering Northern Chinese food, gotta have the raw onions, daikon and black bean paste!

Tangsuyuk (Sweet and Sour Pork)

This is a must order dish anytime you get jjamppong or jajangmyeon. We had the sauce on the side and was dipping it at first and then just poured the sauce all over it. It was fried very crispy!

Seafood Gan Jajangmyeon

Gotta love jajangmyeon. Gan (dry) just means it’s like a less soupy sauce – I like the more concentrated sauce and of course I love seafood. Was delicious!

Jjamppong

This was Chan’s dish. He enjoyed. I think it would be too spicy for me, I tried some of the soup. Hehe…

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Korean Airlines – HNL –> ICN

Nov18

I’m back! Just got back on Tuesday and wow jet lag is real. Moreso like, I haven’t been able to sleep even though I am severly lacking in sleep! The trip was very nice and I really enjoyed meeting all of Chan’s family members! I relied a little bit too much on Chan and his Korean skills, woohoo. My favorite part of the trip was definitely in Chan’s hometown of Hamyang. The homecooked meals were amazing – best Korean food I ever had in my life.

Weather was a bummer, I was hoping for 40’s or at least 50’s but man it was basically high 60’s all the time. We brought cold weather clothes with us but it wasn’t needed and I was so sad. This happened last year in Japan! Same kind of weather in DECEMBER. Well Koreans must be like the Japanese because a lot of folks were dressed in puffy jackets, heck if I know why. Chan and I was basically walking around with a tee and jeans on. Chan said they tend to dress for the season and not the weather, I say…the weather report is there for a reason!

Anyway, first post will focus on the food on the flight over. We rode in Korean Airlines and wow, it was wonderful. Sorry to say this but it was much better than Japan Airlines. Here we go!

Seared Tuna Slices with Oriental Sesame Dressing

The salad was good, but too much ruffage for me. I just ate the cucumber and tuna. Gotta focus on the good stuff you know.

Korean ‘Bibimbap’ offered with minced beef and seasonal vegetables, accompanied by sesame oil and ‘Gochujang’ (Korean hot pepper paste)

Their famous dish! I don’t know what was up with me but I was not at all hungry. It was such a waste, I ate maybe 2 bites and stopped. I felt awful but I wasn’t feeling that great so I didn’t want to continue and get sick you know? I even passed on dessert and went straight to sleep but that worked in my favor because…

Ramen with Side Dishes

I could wake up hungry and order the ramen! I never get to try the side snacks so I was happy I was able to this time! It was good, nothing spectacular. It’s honestly just Shin Ramen. But I ordered their cookies along with this and she asked if it’s okay that they heat up for different times. Yes…sure?

Fresh Cookie

I understood why she told me the heating times now. The cookies took WAY longer. But MY OH MY was it worth it. They are freshly baked. FORREAL. Like so soft, ooey gooey and melt in your mouth. I don’t even usually like the plain cookies but I gobbled up all three. It was that good. I was dreaming of this cookies after the flight. I guess they used my cookie order to bake up a whole batch of cookies cause I saw them offering cookies to the rest of the passengers.

Salad and Bread Selection

Second meal starter. Oops, I got two breads. I picked the regular roll at first and then noticed there was a taro roll and asked for it too. LOL. The pineapple dressing was not good.

Grain mustard sauce with braised beef served with pasta and vegetables

Chan’s main dish – he enjoyed!

Seafood pasta with herb cream sauce served with broccoli and cherry tomato

Another risk for me, a cream sauce seafood pasta dish. I was fine tho! And it tasted good! I didn’t eat the tomatoes lol. Nice final meal.

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Carversteak – Las Vegas, Nevada

Jun28

Final dinner and final post for Las Vegas. It has been nice salivating for the last two weeks but I am pretty pau with these posts already. This last one is a doozy, PLENTY food as you’re come accustomed to. Oh man, this wrapped up a week of just eating everything. Carversteak was a recommendation from Chan’s colleague and it was a great pick!

Everything Spiced Brioche | $6.00
with blue cheese

Oops, I thought this was complimentary. It’s listed on the menu so I guess not. It was a dang good brioche and yes, you can definitely taste the blue cheese in the bread. Nice butter with sprinkles of salt too. NICE.

Jumbo Prawn Cocktail | $32.00
espelette dijonnaise, horseradish cocktail sauce

When they said jumbo, they weren’t kidding. I love shrimp or prawn cocktail and this was delicious. Yummy!

Korean Glazed Pork Belly | $24.00
pickled mustard seed, scallion

Nice sweet gochujang type glaze, it worked really well. This was a nice starter.

Green Beans | $18.00
slivered almonds, lemon butter

We did not order this side dish and as they dropped it, I told them so that they could just take it back. The waiter told us it can be complimentary. That was very nice of him. The dish sucked (LOL), sorry I didn’t enjoy it.

Potato Gratin | $19.00
layered potato, parmesan cheese, chive

Asian person’s nightmare, look at all that dairy! Tasted good though. I usually prefer a mash with my steak.

Roasted Mushrooms | $19.00
madeira, parsley

Good, not memorable.

Asparagus | $22.00
simply roasted, lemon, olive oil

Haha I just remembered thinking, how come my asparagus is naked lol. Like why did they peel it. It was fine, nice and tender.

Beer-Battered Onion Rings | $15.00
smoked chipotle aioli

Nice and crispy. It was enjoyed by the table!

Striploin (14 oz) | $77.00
wet aged 21 days / creekstone farm

Filet Mignon (8 oz) | $72.00
Add Black Truffle Butter | $6.00
allen brothers / chicago

I can only really comment on my steak and here it is! I got it rare and it was good. They cook it right and it was melt the mouth tender. I don’t think I need to add any truffle butter next time.

Rib Cap (8 oz) | $88.00
Add Black Truffle Butter | $6.00
snake river farms / eastern idaho

Chan was told to order the rib cap, I never heard of that cut before. Chan enjoyed it a lot!

Assorted Sorbet | $10.00
mango/passionfruit and yuzu/lime

Cheesecake | $14.00
strawberry gelee, graham sable, strawberry cremeux

I didn’t have room for dessert but I didn’t want Chan to eat dessert alone (lol, I know you’re thinking that’s an excuse). It was a nice tasting dessert but seriously I couldn’t eat more than a bite. We had a lot of leftovers from this dinner.

I’ve been to Vegas a handful of times and I think this was my favorite visit yet. I had a really good time, my only complaint was of course the hot weather. Just gotta go when it’s not summer time and it would be perfect. Thank you Vegas, see you next time!

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IKEA – Las Vegas, Nevada

Jun26

Yup.

Swedish Meatballs Plate (12 pcs) | $9.99
Served with Mashed Potatoes and Lingonberry Jam

Classic. Can’t go wrong. I’m wondering if I can ask for the mixed vegetables next time because I am not a fan of the peas.

Garlic Lemon Cod | $8.99
Served with sustainably-sourced lemon garlic cod, served with mashed potatoes

If they had fish and chips, I would have gone that route. They didn’t so I tried this. I liked it! Nice seasoning and nice piece of fish.

French Fries | $2.49

Ah, just whatever. Not good not bad.

Strawberry Shortcake | $3.29

They didn’t have their chocolate cake slice. 🙁 So this is what I had to settle for. I was already full so I didn’t enjoy this cake as much as I would have liked. Was good and not dry!

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Trader Joe’s Haul – Las Vegas, Nevada

Jun24

A trip to the mainland and mean one thing and one thing only. Okay, one of two things. A must is always Trader Joe’s. Just gotta. Gotta get your own snacks and of course omiyage to bring home. On our second shopping trip, the cashier knew we were from Hawaii without even asking. Haha! Their mini cooler bags also came out while we were in Vegas but there was no way we were going to get one. The cashier told me they were sold out within minutes of opening – that’s crazy. I don’t need a mini cooler bag.

Anyway, since our hotel had a kitchenette, we bought some frozen foods to try! Yay, I finally get to try their ready made foods!

Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice | $4.49

Love me a good butter chicken and love basmati rice! Chan’s friend told us this one was good so we tried it! I am happy to report that it was good!

Steamed Pork & Ginger Soup Dumplings | $3.49

Ehhh, wouldn’t get this again. This was exactly like the ones they sell here in Costco. Is it the bibigo brand? Exactly the same only this one doesn’t even come with the sauce on the side. Boo. Tastes fine but nothing special.

Kimbap | $3.99

Biggest bummer of the haul. I mean I knew it wouldn’t be good as fresh, how could it be right? Well, I followed instructions on how to heat it up and it was just awful. The rice was super hard and the taste wasn’t even good. What a bummer. No buy this. Just go to the Korean market and get the fresh ones! The one I got from Longs here was better.

Longs had this Japchae frozen kimbap on sale the other week for like $5.99 I think, it was pretty good to me! And heated up nicely so the roll was nice and soft. Still, I would just go to the Korean market to get fresh rolls. Glad to have tried, wouldn’t get it again.

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Hell’s Kitchen – Las Vegas, Nevada

Jun21

Always hear about how good Hell’s Kitchen is so I am happy to report that I finally got to try it. And I’ve always wanted to try beef wellington and sticky toffee pudding so where better to go?? It was hot as heck this day. I feel like I am burning just looking at this picture.

Hell’s Red Infusion (mocktail) | $12.95
apple, strawberry, rhubard puree, simple syrup, fever-tree ginger beer

This drink was as good as it sounds. I loved it! And I don’t know if you can see but the skewer holding the strawberries – what is that called? A devil’s staff? It was pretty cool.

Steak Tartare | $26.95
piedmontese beef, dijon mustard aioli, black truffle caviar, sous vide egg yolk

The steak tartare was delicious. The big pringle chips went well with it (lol)!

Lobster Risotto | $33.95
butter poached lobster tail, truffle risotto, crispy onions

This was Bryson’s dish but he shared a bit with us and it was delicious! Yum!

Pan Seared Scallops | $30.95
english pea puree, bacon lardons, pickled fennel, chicken jus

The scallops were cooked and seasoned well but I am not a big fan of pea purees. I am listing the ala carte prices but we actually ordered the HK Signature prix fixe menu so it was three courses for $105.95.

Beef Wellington | $73.95
potato puree, glazed root vegetables, red wine demi-glace

Look at how perfectly that meat is cooked. It was perfection. The meat is perfectly red and rare and tender encased in a buttery flaky pastry. I get the hype. And the mash potatoes? SO GOOD.

Sticky Toffee Pudding | $15.95
speculoos ice cream

OH-MY-GOD. I’ve seen this dessert on many British cooking shows and finally got to try it. It is so incredibly bad for you. I just know it. There is no way this could ever be a health food. But did I ask for health food? No. So good. I absolutely loved our meal here and would definitely demand a return visit. They were also so quick bringing out the food but even as quick as they were, the food quality was amazing. Great restaurant!

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