Koreatown

Last Friday, we decided to head to Shin-Okubo to explore our roots.  This area near Shinjuku is considered somewhat of a Koreatown.  Okay, so we aren't Korean...but we have eaten a lot of Korean food in our lives.  In high school, my friends had kimchi in giant jars on their porches.  My family Memorial Day BBQs always included marinated galbi right alongside the hot dogs.  One of our best restaurant memories is all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ in Los Angeles.  I can still taste those cold noodles in that big metal bowl.  Some of our best friends live in Annandale, VA (according to Wikipedia, Annandale has more Koreans than Tokyo!).  My whole life, people have come up to me and assumed I was Korean anyway- so we clearly have some Korean in our blood, right?

Anyway, Koreatown was really cool.  After strolling around for a few hours, we decided we could definitely move to this part of Tokyo and feel at home.  From the moment you got out of the station, you knew you were somewhere different.  There was Korean writing on street signs, and you heard people speaking Korean all around you.  We immediately spotted a frozen yogurt place- a true import from Korea.

There were lines of people everywhere.  What were they waiting for?  Street food of course!  Stands selling rice cakes, noodles inside buns, and sweet pancakes.  In true Japanese fashion, people stand right there and eat their food.  It is considered a bit of a faux pas to walk and eat at the same time.

Sweet pancakes with your choice of filling.  We opted for honey and chopped nuts- yum!

Somehow we ate two of those sweet pancakes.  It seemed impossible after the amazing lunch we had.  We spent a lot of time walking around and looking at menus before deciding on Ozakukyo.  We knew we made the right decision as we admired the huge wooden outdoor oven used to cook giant chunks of pork.  Once inside, that familiar smell of grilled meat intoxicated us.  We ordered a lunch special that was advertised at serving two people for 1500 yen each.  The usual panchan came to the table- lotus root, seaweed, bean sprouts, and kimchi.  And then came the heating element.  Most of the Korean places around DC use little portable grills.  These are just fine, but behold: charcoal.

The beautiful coals await their meat.

When we get Korean BBQ back home, we almost always stick to galbi.  Why mess with a good thing?  But this lunch special was all about the pork.  I've had pork belly at Korean restaurants before, and I've always found it a little blah.  Sure you can dip it in salt and sesame sauce, but its still a bit boring.  Not this pork.  This pork had personality.  It was partially cooked already.  It came out looking like ham.  I was hesitant, until those little slices hit the charcoal.

The pork awaits.

The flavor from the charcoal combined with whatever flavoring the pork already had was out of this world.  Those little slices of pork practically melted in your mouth.  Combine that amazing meat with some kimchi in a piece of lettuce or shiso leaf- brilliant.  We ate and ate and ate.  We didn't even ask for rice.  Who has room for rice when there is all that glorious meat?  The best part of the meal was when we paid.  We thought it was 1500 yen per person...it was 1500 yen total.  I paid quickly and guiltily as though they made a mistake.  But they didn't- it really was that cheap!  Feeling content with my free stick of Korean gum, we ventured back out to the streets.

Besides meat, what do you think of when I mention Korea?  Boy bands.  Lots of them.  There were entire stores dedicated to selling some of the cheesiest merchandise I have ever seen.  Pens, mugs, stickers, framed pictures- all of boy bands.  The stores were obviously full of giggling tweens, but I also caught several grown women in line with their mugs.  Crazy.

I didn't know any of the bands.  It seems H.O.T. (High-Five of Teenagers) is no longer popular.  Gosh, was that really that long ago?  Shin-Okubo was full of other Korean stores too- selling cosmetics, sparkly jewelry, and metal chopsticks.  It was nice to feel like we got away from Japan for a bit.  Anyone want to meet us in Seoul?