Wednesday, 28 July 2010
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SHIRA KIKU - My First Japanese & Korean Experience
I was very happy to oblige when my brother in-law suggested we go out to a Korean restaurant. I had yet to eat Korean food and I had been dying to try it. Okay so technically i twas Japanese and Korean, but I was excited because my sister, Kerri and her husband, Scott said this place was awesome and they didn’t mind going two weekends in a row.
We arrived at Shira Kiku on a Saturday night a little after 8 o’clock. I believe we had the same waitress as they did the previous weekend. She was extremely outgoing and friendly and made us feel very welcome! It was nice to have such an involved waitress who seemed to actually care that we enjoyed our time there and our meal.
After studying the menu for several minutes, we decided on some sushi for an appetizer and we were finally ready to place our orders for our entrees.

We didn’t order this, this is what is brought to you automatically, which is pretty impressive in my opinion. Okay I can’t remember what everything was, but I can tell you what type of food it was. Starting on the left, there were pickles, covered in something spicy, in the middle, was some kind of egg thing, on the right was tofu, on the upper right were black beans, then the top dish was turnip and on the left hand side were bean sprouts. It was all delicious and I couldn’t believe this was brought out complimentary.
We ordered two kinds of Maki Rolls for an appetizer and for the life of me I cannot remember what the first one was and of course I forgot to take a picture. Maybe it was spicy tuna? Anyway, our second rolls were YAMI YAMI, Japanese sweet potato & cucumber and they were freakin fabulous! Sorry for the blurry picture.

I, of course ordered a drink to go with my meal, since I just spent hours and hours traveling that day. I got a Hawaiian Mai Tai and it was so perfectly made! Mmm, I would go back just for that drink.
Miso Soup came with our meal, which is Japanese and it was the first time I had ever tried it. It was so good and light, I loved it! I drank every last bit.
My sister and I both ordered the same meal; STONEPOT BIBIMBOP, Bibimbop in hot stone pot. This was listed under the Korean Specials and it seemed like the perfect thing to get.

This comes with a barely cooked egg on top, you can barely see it underneath there, but apparently when they have time and aren’t busy, they will crack the egg fresh at your table. They then come around and stir your pot up, which allows the egg to cook completely and it becomes mixed in with the rest of the pot.

I can’t remember exactly what Scott ordered, but it was definitely one of the hottest things on the menu. I tried a bite and it was delicious, just like the rest of our food.

I was happy that my pot was filled with lots of vegetables! It also came with a sauce to pour over it and I ended up using the whole thing, it was definitely necessary. The Bibimbop had kind of a light flavor to it, it wasn’t super saucy or overwhelming with any one flavor. It tasted fresh and healthy, but it was also very filling. I feel like I barely made a dent by the time I called it quits. It was so good that I made sure to pack it up and bring the rest of it back to NYC in a cooler with an ice pack. I definitely wanted these leftovers!I can’t wait to go back to NH so I can bring Derek here, he missed out on this awesome meal. I am also proud to say I ate my whole meal with chopsticks, Ha!
Have you ever had Japanese & Korean food, what is your favorite dish?
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Comments (37)
Kalbi aka korean bbq, of course. Those pictures look really healthy!
Right so in NY, just head to 32nd st btwn 5th and 6th for Korean food.
The stuff they bring you is called ban chan. The red cubes are kimchi made of Korean Radish. The pickles are a kimchi as well. Anything spicy and pickled is kimchi. The last pile of black stuff is black beans marinated and sort of pickled in soy and sugar and some other things. That last picture looks like pork bulgogi, which is spicy marinated pork. Btw, you're supposed to put spicy paste in the bibim bahp.
Ew. Looks greasy
Stonepot bimbimbap is one of my favorites after Kalbi! Korean food is my comfort food when it comes to the winter.
minus the sushi and the mai tai, my mom usually whips those dishes out for dinner if my brother and i ask her :) dolsut (stone pot) bibimbap is good, but i still like samgyupssal the best!
Mmmmmmmmm. I am a huge fan of East Asian cuisine as a whole :) Glad you enjoyed your first encounter with Japanese and Korean food!
Asian food is awesome. Glad you enjoyed the experience.
of course sushi :) and i love jampong and korean bbq!
I love to have bibimbop or tofu soup in stone pot in winter. They taste yum and keep me warm.
I freaking love Asian food.
@supanamja@xanga - Thanks!
Food orgasm - ooohh yeahh...
My mom is Korean, so I get to experience the joys of Korean food often :)
I'm also moving to Japan soon (for the second time), so I'll be getting back to cooking Japanese food again :D
if you're in NY, and you're going to wait to go back up to NH to get korean food.... I don't think you're looking hard enough to find korean food in your neck of the woods...
I like Gamjatang! Japanese food is good all round.
I was just about to say what attgig posted - if you live in NYC, there are plenty of Korean options in the city.
Dolsot bibimbap (stone pot rice) that you had is always good.
Other options for the future could be galbi or bulgogi. I also like soondubu tofu, which is a tofu soup. So warm and filling.
Also for an experience, find a place that will let you grill your own meat.
that is so cool. nice photos!
mmm kimchi...i wonder if i have any hiding in the back of fridge! kimchi is great because it lasts FOREVER haha ^_^
@ShimmerBodyCream@xanga - believe it or not. asian's view of point toward american food are disgusted -- oily, fried, and unspeakable. nevertheless, they'll eat it and end up liking it. lol.
stephanie,
the first picture that you talked about is part of the korean traditional meal before you have your main order. when you go to a japanese restaurant, dont be surprise that they dont serve these "complimentary" dishes. i hope you had an interesting and knowledgeable experience.
In Korean culture, the more side dishes you have, the better you were. Many lords and rich people traditionally had up to 21 side dishes, while poorer folk had three.
I miss bimbimpap so freaking much. It was my favorite. That, and Dak Galbi (bbq chicken).I'm hoping here in El Paso I'll find some worthy Korean places.Sushi :D
You should go to Korean BBQ~ It's reallyyy good (: Or Japanese BBQ is good too if you have Gyu-Kaku or something else in NY. In Korean BBQ, you order raw meat, & you have a grill on the table & you just grill the meat! (: The meat is sliced thinly so it doesn't take like a half an hour like a steak, so you can just keep eating and cooking~ Good for groups of people (:Â
absolutely love japanese and korean food, everything!
Awesome!
Wow, I really wanna try Korean food, but why are so many things pickled? [still wana try kimchi tho, and I do like cabbage. Havent tried raddish o.o] > < I haven;t really seen too many Korean restaurants around here though...mostly Vietnamese and Chinese.
I haven't tried much authentic Japanese food either and really need to do this someday.