Update: New Oriental Market

Can you guess the dish? It's leftover samgyetang broth with kimchi, gochujang sauce, and rice. The things we do with leftovers...

I recently visited New Oriental Market and they’ve updated themselves quite a bit. If you haven’t seen my review of the place from last time, please check it out here. It’s a Korean place I would definitely recommend that is very affordable and deliciously fair for the price. It’s a pretty long bus ride from campus, but a reasonable 10-15 minute drive by car. It is near Austin Karaoke, but be careful not to miss it as it is pretty deep inside the strip mall near the railroad tracks.

Slick and printed, but also higher prices

As for the update, it is still located at New Oriental Market and the grocery store is as nice as before. However, I was first surprised when I entered to see a nicely printed menu on the wall. Yet with the better menu, I felt a loss of their spontaneity of dishes and there were also higher prices. Now the average price of a meal is $5-6 (bibimbap is still $5!) instead of the $5 before, but it’s not that big of a deal to increase the price a little considering inflation and all. The bulgogi, in fact, has gone down in price by about $5 so there is definitely some streamlining of prices. It is also still cash only and $0.25 for a take-out box. Be Asian and bring your own Tupperware?

Over easy egg on delicious bibimbap. If only the meat was marinated...

This time, I tried out the bibimbap I was eyeing last time. It was really good and the vegetables were definitely fresh. However, I was a little disappointed that the meat is not very well seasoned. It tastes like beef, but I was kind of expecting a bulgogi marinade that was not there. Just FYI.

I come with rice to help soothe your burning tastebuds

One friend got the spicy tofu soup (#6, soon du boo bak pan). She enjoyed her meal, but it was definitely on the spicy side. However, as she was my discerning taster from A Love-Cake Relationship, it was important that she deemed it a worthy enough dish to entice her to come try out more dishes at New Oriental Market again.

Can you see the whole chicken in there? You can imagine the bowl took over the tray.

Another friend tried the samgyetang soup, which is basically a whole chicken, stuffed with glutinous rice in our case, in a slightly seasoned ginseng broth. It is supposedly good for you, especially in hot weather. However, I feel like it’s a hearty meal for anyone who’s hungry and apparently both my friends who have had it have been able to eat it all with rice. The soup is pretty good, but also more on the bland side as the ginseng is not a very strong flavor. Actually, the only flavor seems to be the chicken. But that satisfied my friends perfectly well and they enjoyed their meal.

Aren't you looking delicious? The sauce was a soy sauce with green onions that went perfectly with the pancake.

Also, tried the seafood pancake. They also have kimchi pancake available. It is just like the green onion pancake available at Coco’s Cafe (which I will do a review on next) in that it is a sort of flat bread that is fried with ingredients like green onion or squid inside. It is surprisingly delicious, but also on the oily side. It is a good appetizer to split among people and we saw many other parties doing the same thing. At $7, this is a dish you want to share, and the pancake was deemed pretty good. It was warm, tasty, with lots of squid (but no shrimp sadly). However, it was also quite salty and not well-seasoned.

Wait, where are my sides?

Finally, for extra info, the soups are still available and great as appetizer or to fill in any spaces in your stomach. I personally feel like you definitely get enough to eat and I usually have room to take stuff home. The sides also seem to be reduced to just kimchi now instead of the multiple sides they had before. And I never realized, but the New Oriental Market uses its resources well and uses ramyun from next door as well as its crockery. Want New Oriental Market dishes at home? You’ve come to the right place!

Rating: 1/2. I would still recommend the place for people interested in Korean food at the right college student price, but if you want the full Korean experience, you might want to go someplace else.

Come Out, Come Out Korea House

This is where my Korean food questing began

Of the Korean restaurants to try in Austin, it seems to be from hearsay and Yelp that Korea House is the place to go. It is also one of the few places in Austin that lets you grill your own meat. Eager to try someplace new and far from campus (sorry guys!), we decided to try the place and see if it lived up to the rep. However, it was quite an adventure to find the menu or even the place! I can solve the menu problem for you by clicking here. I can solve the location problem for you if you read on.

Whoa! There's a pond back here people!

When we first arrived at the indicated location, we were very confused by where to go. The address is on Anderson Lane, but we could not find the place as we drove up and down the road. Apparently, you have to drive into the Village plaza with the Alamo Drafthouse and walk behind the first front of buildings like Madam Mam’s and Yumilicious. After you do so, you stumble upon a peaceful and lovely Asian garden where stands an alternative medicine campus and Korea House.

See the hood and raw meats ready to be grilled?

The nice thing about Korea House is that there is the option of both grill and regular. If you pick regular, just pick what you want off the menu like bibimbap, bul go gi, or even sushi. You get a regular individual meal with side dishes. However, if you feel like grilling your own food, you get put at a special table with grill and vent and you get to grill your own! Minimum of two orders of meat with side dishes. Just to let you know, only 3 side dishes are refilled. So we didn’t want to get too oily today so we decided not to go with the grill this time. We ordered individual dishes and ended up with dolsot bibimbaps and tempura udon. However, it did look delicious as you can see from the picture so maybe next time!

To make it taste the best, allow a little browning, then mix in egg with provided condiments

I first became interested in trying dolsot (stone bowl) bibimbap after watching Mario Batali make it on Iron Chef America. He described the dish, emphasizing how the egg gave extra flavor while the browning rice gave an added dimension of crunchiness and taste. Tantalized by this description, it has been my goal since to try it. After tasting this dish, I definitely felt Mario Batali was right and I think you’d enjoy this if you liked bibimbap. If you don’t know what bibimbap is, here’s a website I like for descriptions as well as the official visitor’s site for Korea. But basically, bibimbap is a rice dish with lots of vegetables and sometimes meat that is placed on top of the rice in a bowl. You then mix it together with gochuchang sauce and sesame oil at your discretion to make a kind of mix-your-own fried rice. Weird description, but a little bit like what it is.

For the dolsot bibimbap, it came out in a heavy iron bowl and was SO hot! It cooked the egg and browned the rice on the bottom. I even had to cool the food down before I could put it in my mouth, it was so hot and fresh. That also made it important to mix up the bowl quickly. Give half a minute to let the rice brown, then mix it up so the rice doesn’t permanently stick to the bottom. Definitely put on the condiments they give you because it makes the food taste even better! Go easy on the red hot sauce (gochuchang) though.  It was also a super big portion. If you’re starving, I’m sure the bowl would fill you up and if you have small appetites like us, it might be better to take some home or share with a friend. We were so full afterwards! I definitely enjoyed my experience of dolsot bibimbap and if you like bibimbap, you need to try it in a stone bowl.

Japanese udon at a Korean restaurant, you be the judge

For the tempura udon, it was deemed pretty good. It was also a huge portion with tasty broth and noodles. Lots of veggies like daikon or Japanese turnip and broccoli. However, there was only one udon shrimp and he looked a little lonely. However, it was tasty and fair for the price (~$8).

Hello sushi bar in Korea House

In terms of environment, there is obviously Korean touches, but there is more of a Japanese/pan-Asian feel to the place with a sushi bar right up front. There are LOTS of grilling tables, but be prepared for smelling like grilled meat when you leave. A little cramped, but more cozy than crowded with warm lighting and a relatively clean interior.

Aww, I thought you'd be unlimited refills...

Overall, a nice place to go get Korean food and especially if you feel like grilling your own meat. However, it was a bit on the expensive side (avg. $13-$15), but at least you felt full and it was pretty good.

Rating: for self-grill, limited side dish refill, and variety. If you feel like getting some Korean food that you can’t get at the usual Austin places, come here!

Come On Down To Coreano’s

Decide what you want to eat as you wait in line

Coreano’s has been on the front page of Austin’s Yelp for quite a while now, prompting me to want to try the place. I’d heard of it, but never been, having only gone to their competitor: Chi’lantro. Chi’lantro was pretty good, but I wanted to try Coreano’s too and see what the deal was.

Coreano’s is a circulating food truck that has a food theme of Korean + Mexican food. Similar to Chi’lantro, Coreano’s has Asian-flavored burritos, quesadillas, and fries. However, what seems to make this place different is their meat selection and fries in your burrito. Yes, you read that right: fries in burrito (think Big Bite). The food trailer is nice and airy as you can see at the bottom with a good drink selection and even some Asian snacks. The people are quite nice and can even take a credit card!

Quesadillas, available for those needing to eat on the run (like me!)

I know I should have gotten the burrito, but I ended up getting the quesadilla with marinated beef short rib. It was good, easy to handle, and filled with kimchi and cheese that did not overwhelm the dish. If you are shy about heat in your food, only the mildest will be affected. However, I wish there had been a little more meat and it was pretty oily. It was also a little on the salty side. Yet the quesadilla was definitely filling and I am determined to go back and try something else next time.

Sorry for the Saran wrap, but hopefully you can see the food size of the tacos

My friend decided on tacos and a good choice if you want to try the many different variations of meat available. In the picture, there is some veggies missing, but apparently they pile them on pretty high. The tacos are a little small and might not be enough to fill you up. That’s when you take the time for fries! Coreano’s is quite well known for their kimchi fries and especially the Three Wise Fries that has three kinds of meat on it. Sounds delicious.

The line gets long really fast so be prepared. Either get there early or be prepared to wait over half an hour. The food also takes some time to prepare. My friend and I got there before the food truck, but it took about 45 minutes for us both to get through the line and finally get our food. However, one must note that there appeared to be a fundraiser going on that day so that may have caused a significant increase in time. Also, be sure to understand there is one line to order food and another line to get food so make sure you’re in the right line!

And we got here before the truck got here

The food truck comes near campus at least once a week, if not multiple times. Check out their website or Twitter to find out the exact dates. Parked near the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs Mansion, you can’t miss it and the long line of people interested in getting the food. They ain’t stingy with the kimchi.

Overall, I think Coreano’s is pretty tasty and I have to say it’s a tie between Coreano’s and Chi’lantro. They just taste different. Chi’lantro is a little bit more Asian with the egg inside the burrito and smaller portions. However, Coreano’s definitely hits the junk food tastebuds with the fries and pork belly available. Food battle: tie!

Rating: for tasty food, long line, and taking credit cards!