April 26, 2006 5

Haejangchon Dolgooi (Koreatown)

//// By in 07: Mid-Wilshire

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We ventured into this very neat and designy stone grilled place when walking around the neighborhood. The walls are full of Korean celebrities’s framed autographs (so I figure this place is quite famous!?). But we were not really hungry, in fact we needed a light cleansing meal. ^^;; Thankfully the menu has soup~ Turns out our stomach still got so stuffed with soooo much food!

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Tasty and flavored Beef soup with lots of thin slice of beef and bean sprout, and a lot of dried for tasting. We also got the Kimchee Pancakes, VERY GOOD! (it has green bellpepper in it).
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Very light Beef Brisket soup and the sauce and paste that you can seasoned your soup. I accidently dropped too much black pepper in the soup so I had peppery heat inside my body for days (too much “yang”). They also gave us two huge pot of Kimchee and radish.
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As if the huge bowl of soup weren’t enough, we had stone pot red (?) rice and the ‘burnt rice soup’. Very good, very full! 😀 I’d love to come back here to try their stone grilled BBQ.

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April 24, 2006 5

Kappo Seafood (Torrance)

//// By in 17: South Bay

DSC09677.jpgI always crave experiences like this or this once awhile, the Kaiseki cuisine — Japanese full-courses cuisine consists of small delicate dishes and appertizers in fine aesthetic presentation. This place at Torrance always have big color page ad in Japanese newspaper. They have many private rooms as well.

Unfortunately I forgot to write down the menu.
I got the Kappo Seafood set $42:
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1. Shrimp Salad, 2. Sashimi set
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Forgot to write down the menu: 3. a ? soup with an egg + veggie 4. Tempura
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5. Chawanmushi (steam egg custard) 6. Tofu skin wrap and a yam-like plant.
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7. The main dish is chosen between baked or smoked fish, I got smoked fish. Turns out it was a bit dried even though it is very tasty from the sauce, I was a little underwhelmed. I wished I got the baked fish instead. the 3 ball shapes are the yam-like plant again (a bit repetitive?)
DSC09710.jpgThe dessert is a jelly-like thing with very yummy malt glaze, very good! I think I got bitten by a “Japanese sweets” craving bug!

Joan got the $30 Lady Set, many dishes are same as mine except for the sashimi and fish.
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1. Plum wine 2. very yummy fish paste (?).
DSC09686.jpgSquid Salad. Overall we’re dazzled but not one dish particularly stood out as unforgettable. The dishes were served very fast, I always ended up piled up so many dishes. ^^;;

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April 24, 2006 5

Gaam Tea Gallery (Koreatown)

//// By in 07: Mid-Wilshire

We’ve been doing some exploring in K-town. We found this fancy cafe at Chapman Plaza.
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The high ceiling, French antique (as in an Asian’s romantic notion of French cafe decor) interior is quite a wonder. Pretentious yes but cozy~ The music playing that night was good Bossa Nova and French pop (like my iPod), and a John Lennon tribute film was playing on the screen (David Bowie on my picture). Though when Joan went back there another night the music was so ridiculous bad that it’s almost had to be ironic (‘Chariot of Fire’ and Kenny G. ^^;;). There’re a decent selection of tea and coffee. But the dessert menu is disappointing…they only have 2 kinds of cake: Tiramisu and Cheesecake (both are alright). We had Honey Ginger tea and Plum Tea, both good sweet tea though I think ultiamtely it’s more about the atmosphere and antique sofas. Nonetheless a good hang out place it is .

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April 24, 2006 4

Gui Rim (Koreatown)

//// By in 07: Mid-Wilshire

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These thinly sliced beef are so easily burn (still a novice).
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Marinated boneless rib, DELICIOUS! So good!

DSC09662.jpgThere’re so many BBQ restaurants in K-town, to find a good lcoal neighborhood one (not the big name famous ones everyone goes to) is to try one by one yourself. I found this newly opened one on 6th street. They use good traditional charcoal grill, and good variety of dipping sauce. It is about $15 per person, quite good. The choice of meat is basic, but there’re many other parts (tongue, brisket, etc).

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April 23, 2006 4

Lemon Basil Pasta (My Kitchen)

//// By in Food: Kitchen

DSC09639.jpgI got the Lemon Basil Pasta recipe from magazine. It is extremely easy to make. The secret ingredient is a teaspoon of grounded nutmeg. The aroma compliment the basil leaves very nicely. 😀