Welcome to KOREATOWN! Welcome to KOREATOWN!
Located on just a single city block
in the middle of Manhattan,
this “town” is more like a micro-neighborhood,
because only a fraction of
New York City's 100,000+ Korean-Americans
actually live on the stretch of West 32nd St
known as Korea Way.
Now, a lot of people think of K-Town as a late-night party zone
full of barbecue spots, soju joints, and karaoke hideaways.
[Singing: “Don't stop, believin'!”]
And it is! It is all that stuff.
But there are HUNDREDS of businesses here,
all ingeniously stacked on top of each other
like a vertical Main St.
Bulgogi and bad singing are just the beginning.
So today, we're here to celebrate a totally different side
of Manhattan's iconic K-Town.
One that gets less shine,
but is arguably way more delicious:
Korean comfort food.
To get the lowdown,
we're meeting up with Seoul-born food photographer Minnie Kim
-- aka @eatingwithminnie --
for a homestyle Korean feast.
She knows K-Town and its cozy cuisine better than we ever could.
She's waiting for us right now at one of her go-to spots, Gammeeok.
- This is one of my favorite spots in K-Town.
I still consider Korea to be home.
Whenever I'm homesick, I come here.
- So there's an ingredient in Korean cuisine that means,
it sort of like means “home,” right?
- It's called “son-maht,”
and the literal translation is “hand taste.”
It's kind of the ingredient that makes
home-cooked Korean food that much more special.
- We have a Korean comfort food feast in front of us.
This is amazing, Minnie.
Before we dive in, is there anything that
Korean-Americans or Koreans traditionally do before they eat?
- So one saying that people usually say is “Jal meok ge sseum nida.”
It translates to “I will eat well,”
but it kind of means like, “thank you for the meal.”
- How do I say it?
- Jal,
meok ge sseum nida.
- Yeah.
- Yeah? Not bad? Alright!
Alright, I know that was painful, now let's dive in.
What should we get, what should we eat first?
- This is seolleongtang.
It's basically like bone broth, like stew.
- It looks like, almost creamy,
but there's no dairy product in there at all?
It's just from boiling the beef bones?
- This is really perfect for when it's really cold outside.
- Wow, yeah, that's amazing.
And this is something that Gammeeok
is sort of known for, right? This dish?
- Mmhmm, this is their specialty.
- Please eat!
Or is it weird to eat out of the same bowl? You cool with that?
- No, no! It's the Korean way!
You say you don't really get to know someone
until you drink with them,
or until you share a meal with them,
and you're like all eating from the same pot basically.
So this is jokbal.
It's pig's feet.
Usually this is more of like a late-night dish.
I grew up eating it, my dad loves it with a beer.
It's known for its collagen.
It's like really good for your skin.
- Nice!
This is like the fountain of youth here, pork feet?
- I personally like it,
but I also have like really traditional Korean taste buds.
I like the really old-school Korean dishes.
Honestly, when I go home,
I just eat rice and kimchi.
That's like my first meal when I go home.
- Alright, we can see this,
but the camera has gotta see this here.
Oh my God.
Look at this ridiculous hunk of meat.
I don't think I've ever cut beef with scissors before.
- It's usually eaten during the New Year,
or Thanksgiving... any holiday.
- It is really good. - Try it with the kimchi.
- Kimchi?
- I feel like everything tastes so much better with kimchi.
- Is that just like, the rule of Korean food?
Like, ‘everything needs some kimchi on it.'
- I'm like weird ‘cause I’ll eat like, Italian food with kimchi.
- No! Really? That's like, blasphemy.
- I'll eat like, pizza with kimchi and pasta.
- That's offensive. I'm going to have some kimchi.
- So that's naengmyeon, it's cold noodles.
This is the one with the broth in it.
So this is just like, super-refreshing.
Usually there are chunks of ice in it.
This is enjoyed during the summertime.
So every region, once again, has its own variation of this dish.
- Oh my God, it's so good.
Oh my God, it's so salty and sweet at the same time.
- It's my parents' favorite, so I would eat it all the time.
Whatever reminds me of home is like,
what I consider to be comfort food.
- I'm getting stage fright with my chopsticks.
I'm going to be banned from here.
Obviously it will never be like, the same as eating at home.
But it gets pretty close.
And I think just being with
other people who are also
the same in that we all come here to enjoy a good meal,
I think you just get to connect with different people over food
and there's no better way to get to know someone than over a meal.
So yeah, I think that's what makes Korean food special.