Wait until the hype dies down to visit Jagalchi - Review - San Francisco - The Infatuation

"Jagalchi is a massive Korean food complex in Daly City that has almost too much going on—there’s a grocery store with everything from seafood to Buldak, a sit-down restaurant called Pogu, street food carts, Korean beauty products, and a bakery. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. On an early visit, we took some errant elbows and had to dodge an endless onslaught of shopping carts filled with ready-made kimchi and Anua toner pads. Still, if you’re here for more than the groceries, there is a path to success. Skip the restaurant and focus on the hot food stalls—you’ll find more variety than at Pogu. Worth trying are the tteokbokki and mandu. The jeon is good but leans greasy, and you should avoid the dry kimbap. From there, spend some time at the Basquia bakery, which focuses on not-too-sweet pastries and breads made with rice flour (you can pass on the imbalanced drinks). Just be prepared to wait. The hype around this place rivals that of a Baggu sample sale, and lines snake out the door any day of the week. We wouldn’t go out of our way to spend 20 minutes in line for a takeout container of mandu. But in a few months when the hubbub dies down and we need to stock up on Korean products, we’ll happily make the trip. In the meantime, H-Mart and Kukje are nearby and have similar selections and hot bars (and there are tons of great Korean restaurants in the city), with less chaos and waiting involved. photo credit: Jagalchi video credit: Julia Chen photo credit: Jagalchi photo credit: Jagalchi Pause Unmute" - Julia Chen