Korean Job Discussion Forums

[maitaidads]

Feel free to post any K-town experiences you've had outside of KR.

Last weekend, I flew into NY (Laguardia) for a 24 hour visit with my brother. The airport is right by the massive Flushing Queens Koreatown, so i directed him that way since he had a truck (rare for living in BK), we were close, and I hadn't had any decent bbq since being away from Korea for 2 years.
Went to the best bbq in the area according to Yelp, and we parked on a residential street that was blockaded for construction (will make sense later).

Went to the restaurant. Samgyeopsal was average, but the bulgolgi they cooked up was great. No "bing bongs" on the table which was disappointing, but the bathroom did have a sign begging patrons not to put paper in the toilet. Definitely did not expect that trend to wind its way to Flushing.
I ordered us a couple of OB Golden lagers, and it's definitely the first beer my brother has ever left standing for so long. After two sips, it stayed the same level for the entire semi-spicy meal. I forced him to drink it before we left, and he wasn't happy about it.

After the late lunch, I wanted to take a look and see what kind of weird stuff had made its way from KR to the US. We had plans but walked about 30-40 blocks, and I saw no PC rooms, one business club that looked shady, no neon crosses, maybe 8 barber poles, at least 5 of seemed legit, and a few massage places.

We rallied at the Paris Baguette. I had always wanted to visit one of the few in the US, and here we go. Pretty much jammed up with Koreans. All the workers are Korean it seems but many sound like they're from Queens. They wear the same striped shirts and berets, and my brother picked out a few pastries while i got us americanos.... BOTTOM LINE: the americanos were horrible, my brother bit into a pastry that was all hot dog (classic paris baguette), and we had our front tire slashed by accidentally blocking a korean apartment in a confused construction street. They left a vicious note and set race relations back 7 years in Flushing. Tell your K-town tales....

[optik404]

Been to KTown in LA. I think the Korean food tastes better in the US. Was decent, heard Ktwon is really trendy these days. I went about 6yrs ago.

[Died By Bear]

The only K-place that sells shabu shabu in the entire Austin area is located off of the I-35 exit 239B turn left at the first light, go over the expressway and make your first left on Roland Jackson drive. Go straight until you dead end into the small outdoor commercial spot. It's a galbi place, but they recently added shabu shabu to their menu.

Don't expect shabu shabu like you had in Korea though!

[Stan Rogers]

[Who's Your Daddy?]

When I visit home the last thing I want is to go to a Korea town and eat Korean food.

[Drew345]

I stayed near the Oakland Koreatown last summer. It's on the boarder of Oakland and Temescal. I had a couple of Korean meals, wandered through the Korean market. Unfortunately, it is also a seedy part of town. And I don't mean in a racist kind of way, there just shouldn't be 3 people on average sleeping inside the fast food restaurants.

[Yaya]

[Drew345]

Oh, that reminds me, there is a Koreatown Market building in Bangkok. It's actually in a great location on Sukumwit, across the street from the new Terminal 21 mall and a little past the Times Square building. Quite a few restaurants, and even a Korean sauna there. Restaurants are fine, but I never tried the sauna since I never got used to the whole make yourself hot and sweaty to feel cooler on blazing hot days idea.

[cdninkorea]

I went to Koreatown in Toronto once. In terms of shops, it was like the countryside: a medium-size supermarket (수퍼, not like Emart or anything), an ajumma beauty salon, that kind of thing. No coffee shops, no cell phone stores, no Baskin Robbins, or anything that represents modern Korea.
Also, there's a big grassy park nearby, something you only see in a few places in Korea like Yeouido.

[PatrickGHBusan]

We tried both K-towns in Toronto, many K-restaurants in Montreal and the K-town in NYC (Manhattan).

In Toronto, the Korean food was very good, in Montreal it varied from excellent to downright bad, in NYC the food was decent but the price was ridiculously high (then again, it is NYC!).

However, while some places in Toronto came close to what we ate in Korea, none were as good.

[Jarome_Turner]

Haven't visited any K-Town in Canada, but have tried lots of different Korean restaurants in multiple cities - Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton. All except one served mostly "fusion" style foods. One that we visited in Banff was excellent & authentic - top notch galbi, and also very good gamja-tang as well. Was pleasantly surprised to find it opened at 10am to get a helping of the latter to help with the hangover cure.

[northway]

I would argue that on average the Korean food you get in the Atlanta area is better than the Korean food you get in Korea. The meat is generally of much higher quality, and there seems to be more attention to quality control.

Every Korean restaurant I've ever been to in Montreal was pretty crappy, but maybe that was just bad luck.

I've always been disappointed by the Korean street in Manhattan. Overpriced, touristy, not bad but not worth what you pay for it.

[Mr. BlackCat]

[northway]

[jvalmer]