David Jung
Google
The kimbap at this restaurant is exceptionally delicious for its price. The generous fillings in all their kimbap varieties make it a truly delightful experience – I almost want to try every single one! By now, I have tried 5 different kimbap at this restaurant.
Because the kimbap was so satisfying, I also ordered the assorted fried food. To be honest, twi-kim ("튀김" "fried items" in Korean) was just average. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly outstanding either; simply a standard fried selection.
Following that, I decided to try the tteokbokki. Kimbap,twi-kim, and tteokbokki are classic Korean foods that are loved by young people, sold at steet restaurants, so I wanted to sample all three. However, I was extremely disappointed with the container the tteokbokki was served in, rather than the dish itself.
It came in a small aluminum pot, the kind known as 'yang-eun naembi' (양은냄비) in Korean. While these pots are sometimes well known in Korea, they are actually unsuitable for cooking or serving food because toxic aluminum can get into the food. This particular pot was quite small and, to make matters worse, the coating was completely worn off, therefore, toxic aluminum can easily get into the food. Knowing that the toxic aluminum was likely dissolving into the tteokbokki and its sauce, I simply couldn't bring myself to eat it. I tried a couple of bites, but the thought of ingesting aluminum made it difficult for me to properly assess the taste of the tteokbokki.