Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Asians love theme restaurants, and Mongolians are no exception. I’m not sure how it compares to Tokyo’s bikini girls in gundam suits, but this is still intriguing… Anand Erdenebileg spotted this in Ulaanbaatar. A new Korean restaurant that kept the old facade, but stuck a brand new meme on the roof. Do they loop PSY’s one international hit from open to close? Do they offer private dining in a sauna? Do they “horse dance” when they bring the tab? I’m tempted to find out.
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I share a bittersweet moment with you all… the preparation and consumption of my last bowl of instant ttuk guk. It was a precious moment, and good things are always even better when shared. This is the object of my obsession, Ottogi’s instant rice cake soup, or Ssal Ttuk Guk. Ottogi is the maker of many fine instant foods, but this has to be their best. The have lofty goals to make delicious, healthy and easy to make food. One of their mottos is “Ottogi fills ALIVE TASTE and Nutrition of nature to all products”. They create classic instant food products that try to recreate Korean comfort food, like burnt rice crusts, and ttukbokki (spicy rice cake) flavored ramen. They make weird trendy food too. Pizza flavored rice cakes? No thank you. I don’t care about any of that though, I just want this. Every day. All day long. In an unlimited supply. I found these on the cup noodle shelf at the Apollo Market – the neighborhood market just across the parking lot from my first apartment here in Darkhan. It’s a popular market because they stock a good variety of products, everything is clearly priced, the staff if friendly, and with the Russian embassy across the street, they try to stock “international” foods. Korean food is popular in Mongolia. Korean restaurants are everywhere, and you can find Korean products on even the tiniest country mini-market’s shelves. This though… this precious food, I had never seen before, and on instinct, I bought 4 of them that day. I spent the better part of my young/ not-so-young adult life as a strict vegan. Mongolia makes that a daily challenge. If I lived in Ulaanbaatar, I’d have access to all kinds of food in grocery stores, and vegan friendly cuisine at dozens of restaurants around the city, but I live in Darkhan. That means everything available here is what grows (or grazes) around here, and what comes in from distributors in Ulaanbaatar. In the winter, much of the produce selection disappears, and you want to eat seasonally to avoid Chinese produce that is over priced and chock full of chemical preservatives. I try to eliminate as much meat and dairy as possible from my daily diet, but as soon as I settled here I caved on Korean comfort foods. These are foods that I would make vegan versions of at home, and rarely ever found vegan versions of outside of veggie/vegan Korean restaurants in Seoul. Ttuk guk is a childhood favorite. With fresh rice cakes, it’s melt in your mouth delicious. Totally filling. It makes you feel like you’re being hugged by a polar bear wearing an electric blanket, and that polar bear just wants you and your tummy to be happy and full for forever.The soup usually comes with some ground or sliced beef in it, and the soup is a beef based broth, so this is one of those comforts I gave up over 17 years ago. The beauty...
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A restaurant consulting company says that kimchee and Korean food will be hot in 2012. It’s a fair guess. Here’s why we think it can happen. 1) Chefs like Kogi’s Roy Choi wins Food and Wine Mag Best Chef of the Year. 2) Trucks serving Korean have brought Korean food to the most non-Korean folks around and they lap it up. 3) Kimchee is working on burgers, hot dogs, and more. 4) There are a lot of Korean folks and many say that Korean food in the USA is better than Korean food in Korea. 5) Koreans do business and are taking chances in the restaurant industry. It’s not just Koreans making sushi anymore. The next generation are fusing everything. (NY Daily News – Kimchee)
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