Gloria H.
Yelp
Kong Pocha is a new Korean snack food restaurant in the original Kong Dog restaurant space. The restaurant looks very different from before -- they definitely tried to bring the Korean pojangmacha experience with the red tarp, signs, metal tables, and cylindrical chairs. I heard that they opened on January 15, so they seem to still be figuring out some things -- when we came in around 12:50pm, half of the tables were empty but many people were waiting to be seated. I think they were understaffed. We ended up waiting ~30 minutes to get seated, with 2 parties ahead of us.
The staff are really nice and helpful, they were just overwhelmed by demand. It's nice that they have a call button on the table -- it's an efficient way to get service. We used it not only to order but to correct some of our orders. We tried a couple of classic Korean street food items.
Kimchi jjigae ($16) - It came without tofu or green onions, so we asked and got tofu and green onions added. Overall I really liked the flavor of the soup -- tasty savory kimchi pork flavors, and the pork and kimchi were tasty. The tofu didn't really have the flavor of the soup in it, probably because it was added late. For the price, the amount of food inside the soup was pretty lacking -- at that price, it should be a full meal, so I would want more tofu, kimchi, and pork.
Fish cake soup ($16) - doesn't look like much but tastes great. The fish cakes do taste like they have a bit more flour/starch than i would like (diluting the fish), but the soup has great flavor. Again, pretty overpriced -- I would want at least 2 skewers of fish cake for that price.
Ddukbokki ($25) - It's a very pretty dish. The fried dumplings and seaweed rolls that come with it are good, as are the noodles. The sauce is tasty but a little too salty, and the fish cakes ended up being really salty after absorbing the sauce. I liked the rice cakes, but I wish there were more. Given the amount of sauce, and the price, I would expect and want more rice cakes.
The haemul pajeon (seafood pancake, $23) was pretty good. I did find a shrimp shell/tail in it. I thought the texture was solid. But again, it's really expensive, even for a seafood pancake, and I don't think it has enough seafood to justify the price. I would pay $15-18 for it.
We didn't receive the chicken wings ($19) in time, but took them to-go and tried one piece each. These were quite good -- hot, fresh, and crispy. Comparable in texture to bbq chicken. I'm not sure what sauce they ended up giving us, but it was quite sweet, but at least they give it on the side!
Overall I think the flavors at Kong Pocha are great! I really enjoyed the flavors of the kimchi jjigae and fish cake soup, and the fry on the chicken wings was great. I just wish there was more food for the price. I know I shouldn't compare it to Korea, but seeing $16-$25 price tags on snack foods that are at most $10 in Korea gives me sticker shock. This is basically the only Korean restaurant on this side of Cambridge, so it's definitely nice to have! I can see myself coming here for comfort food in the future. They also seem to have some really fun cocktails that I'd like to try sometime.