Tag: ktown

  • My Korean Culture Day in Washington DC!

    My Korean Culture Day in Washington DC!

    I’ve been to Washington DC for K-pop before, but this time I wanted to make an entire day out of it! Before heading to Capital One Arena to see aespa, my aunt and I spent the afternoon exploring Koreatown in Annandale, Virginia, just outside of DC.

    I knew there was a Korean community in the area, but I had no idea just how robust it was. There are Korean restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, shops, cafés and businesses everywhere. We ended up turning an aespa concert into an entire Korean-culture-themed day.

    It was also extra special because this was my aunt’s first K-pop concert and really her first big introduction to Korean culture. I basically threw her straight into the deep end, complete with matcha, bulgogi, lightsticks and concert freebies!

    Cute K-Pop Shopping at Lil’ Thingamajigs

    Our first stop was Lil’ Thingamajigs, which was pretty much made for me. The store had a little bit of everything: K-pop albums and photocards, stationery, collectibles, character merchandise, accessories and plenty of other cute things. There was even a whole wall of K-pop merchandise, plus rows of Japanese-style capsule toy machines.

    And because I obviously couldn’t leave empty-handed, I picked up a Miffy keychain, a pink pen and an adorable cat notebook. It was such a fun first stop and set the tone for the rest of our day.

    Matcha & Treats at Shilla Bakery

    Next, we headed to Shilla Bakery, an Asian-style bakery and café.

    The bakery cases were filled with all kinds of treats, including beautiful fluffy Japanese cheesecakes. I ordered a sandwich, a butter mochi and what ended up being one of my favorite things I ate all day: a pistachio iced latte. It was SO good!

    My aunt chose a coconut macaroon and a strawberry matcha, which was particularly exciting because this was her first time ever trying matcha! The drink was gorgeous. Bright green matcha layered with strawberry at the bottom and pieces of strawberry on top. Introducing her to foods and drinks that I love was honestly one of my favorite parts of the day.

    Lucky Cats at Wellbeing More

    From there, we stopped at Wellbeing More, a Korean department store filled with housewares and all kinds of miscellaneous finds.

    Apparently I had unintentionally decided on a cat theme for the day, because I came away with a lucky cat ramen spoon, a pair of chopsticks and a cute cat chopstick rest.

    My aunt joined in on the lucky cat shopping too and bought some lucky cat dish sponges along with a little spoon for her sugar bowl. I love stores like this because you never quite know what you’re going to find… and then you inevitably leave with several things you had absolutely no idea you needed!

    Korean Food at K Market International

    At this point, it was definitely time for a proper meal. Our next stop was K Market International: a huge Korean grocery store with an attached food court.

    I ordered kimchi fried rice topped with a sunny-side-up egg, which is just the kind of comfort food I love. Spicy, savory fried rice with a runny egg on top? Immediately yes.

    But the big milestone belonged to my aunt: she tried beef bulgogi for the first time and loved it!

    So within the span of a few hours, I’d gotten her to try both matcha and bulgogi for the first time. Luckily, she was loving everything I introduced her to!

    Finally, after an afternoon of shopping and eating our way around Annandale, it was finally time for the main event.

    Off to Capital One Arena for aespa!

    We headed into DC for aespa at Capital One Arena, and I was SO excited. I’ve been following aespa for almost my entire K-pop journey, going all the way back to their debut with “Black Mamba.” It’s always so much fun and so surreal to see a group in person when you’ve watched their career unfolding for years.

    I also made sure my aunt was properly prepared for her first K-pop concert. I got her an aespa T-shirt and her own lightstick, so she wasn’t just coming along as an observer. She was participating!

    Before the show, we handed out bracelets and unofficial photocards I’d brought as freebies to other fans. In return, we ended up receiving some seriously cute freebies ourselves, including little handmade drawings of a couple of the aespa members, keychains, a phone charm and more.

    My aunt absolutely loved this part of K-pop concert culture. She thought it was so cool that fans make bracelets, photocards and little gifts to hand out to complete strangers at concerts. By the end of the night, she was already talking about making bracelets with me for the next time.

    Finally Seeing aespa!

    And then aespa came onstage!

    The concert was incredible. Our seats in the lower bowl (section 109 to be exact!) gave us a great view of both the members themselves and the enormous screens and visuals behind them, which were such a huge part of the production. I love everything that goes into creating the atmosphere of a K-pop concert. The staging, outfits, choreography, lighting, visuals and, of course, the sea of glowing lightsticks throughout the arena really create a truly immaculate vibe.

    Seeing aespa perform songs I’d been listening to for years was amazing. And seeing them in person made me giddy with excitement. They even performed a couple songs that I had previously slept on, but hearing them live made me fall in love with them! Camouflage and Bite are great examples of this.

    After the show, I stopped at the merch table and bought myself an overpriced aespa T-shirt as a souvenir. Obviously. It’s part of the experience!

    A Little Slice of Korea Just Outside Washington DC

    What surprised me most about this trip was how much there was to explore in Annandale. I previously had no idea just how established the Korean community in the DC area was, and our few stops barely scratched the surface. We went from browsing K-pop albums and cute stationery to drinking matcha, shopping for Korean housewares and eating bulgogi and kimchi fried rice. All before heading into the city to see one of my favorite K-pop groups!

    One of my favorite parts was getting to share the whole experience with my aunt. I got to introduce her to this little slice of my world! She started the day having never tried matcha or bulgogi and never having attended a K-pop concert. She ended it waving an aespa lightstick, exchanging freebies with other fans and already planning to make bracelets with me for the next one.

    I’d call this a successful introduction to K-pop. And considering how much of Annandale we didn’t get to see, I have a feeling this won’t be our last trip to DC’s Koreatown.

  • Everything I Ate in NYC: Asian Food Edition

    Everything I Ate in NYC: Asian Food Edition

    It would be very easy for me to plan an entire trip to New York City around food alone.

    As someone who especially loves Korean and Japanese food, I was in heaven getting to spend so much of our weekend eating our way through Koreatown, with a little Chinatown dim sum and conveyor belt sushi thrown into the mix. We managed to fit a surprising number of delicious things into just three days, ranging from casual late-night noodles to a Michelin Guide-featured Korean restaurant.

    Here’s everything I ate!

    1. Kimchi Cream Udon at Mew Izakaya

    After seeing a concert at Kings Theatre, my husband and I headed back to Koreatown in search of a late-night meal and ended up at Mew Izakaya. I ordered the kimchi cream udon, and it was exactly what I needed after a day that had been book-ended with a 6AM flight and a pop music concert. I needed carbs!

    The noodles were thick and chewy, and coated in a rich and creamy kimchi sauce with just enough of a kick. It was hot, comforting, and incredibly satisfying. This was one of my favorite dishes of the entire weekend.

    2. Okonomiyaki at Mew Izakaya

    Tim went with the okonomiyaki, and naturally I had to steal some.

    Okonomiyaki is a wonderfully comforting Japanese savory pancake that’s full of different flavors and textures and then covered in sauce. It’s usually made with batter and cabbage but sometimes it has noodles in it as well. Between his okonomiyaki and my giant bowl of creamy kimchi udon, Mew Izakaya turned out to be an excellent spontaneous post-concert dinner choice.

    3. Conveyor Belt Sushi at Kaiten Zushi

    We also managed to fit in conveyor belt sushi at Kaiten Zushi.

    Conveyor belt sushi is such a fun experience. You get to choose a whole array of sushi and side dishes from a tablet and wait for it to travel to your table via conveyor belt. Instead of committing to one big entrée, you can keep trying different plates and get a lot more variety for a reasonable price than a traditional sushi restaurant.

    This was a casual meal compared to some of the other restaurants we visited, but that’s okay! Sometimes you just need to sit down, watch sushi come by on a conveyor belt, and see how many plates mysteriously accumulate in front of you!

    4. Spicy Octopus with Bori Risotto at Seoul Salon

    One of our more elevated meals was at Seoul Salon, a Korean restaurant featured in the Michelin Guide.

    I ordered the spicy octopus with bori risotto. Bori means barley in Korean. The dish paired tender, spicy octopus with a creamy barley risotto. I hadn’t eaten anything quite like it before, and I loved the combination of spicy octopus with creamy and comforting risotto.

    It was flavorful, beautifully presented, and definitely one of the more unique things I ate all weekend.

    5. Tteokgalbi Wagyu Sliders at Seoul Salon

    Tim and I also shared the tteokgalbi sliders at Seoul Salon, made with wagyu beef, garlic mayo, and soft potato buns.

    These were SO good. Tteokgalbi is traditionally made from ground, seasoned meat formed into patties, and turning it into a tiny wagyu slider was an awesome way to serve it. The beef, garlicky mayo, and fluffy bun worked very well together.

    They were playful and approachable while still feeling special enough to fit the restaurant, and they ended up being one of my favorite things we ordered.

    6. Korean Fried Chicken at Seoul Salon

    Tim chose the Korean fried chicken as his main dish, which of course meant that I also got to try some!

    It’s easy to see why Korean fried chicken has become so popular. When it’s done well, the crispy exterior and spicy chicken combination is hard to beat. Seoul Salon’s version fit right in with the rest of our meal and gave us something a little more familiar alongside dishes like my spicy octopus and the tteokgalbi sliders.

    Between all three dishes, Seoul Salon was easily a standout of the weekend.

    7. Black Sesame Ice Cream at Food Gallery 32

    After dinner, we went back to our hotel for a couple of hours before somehow deciding that we needed dessert. We headed back into Koreatown and stopped at Food Gallery 32, where I tried black sesame ice cream for the first time.

    I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but it was surprisingly mild and easy to eat. The flavor was subtly nutty and with just enough sweetness, and I ended up enjoying it. It was one of those little things I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to order at home, which is exactly why I love trying things like this while traveling.

    8. Dim Sum at Jing Fong

    We saved Chinatown for our final day in New York and started the morning with an early dim sum lunch at Jing Fong.

    The food was delicious, but I also love the experience of eating there. Servers periodically wheeled carts loaded with freshly prepared dim sum through the dining room, stopping at the tables so you could see what was available and choose whatever looked good.

    We ended up with an assortment spread across the table, making it a perfect meal for sharing and trying different things. I had been here before, and I was eager to introduce this place to my husband, who loves dumplings and pork buns and basically all things dim sum.

    It was also a great way to end the food portion of our trip before spending our last few hours exploring the city.

    Basically, I Ate Very Well!

    If there’s one thing this weekend confirmed, it’s that I could very happily spend an entire NYC trip bouncing between Koreatown and Chinatown to eat everything in sight.

    I loved that we got a little bit of everything: comforting creamy kimchi udon after a concert, casual conveyor belt sushi, an elevated Korean dinner at Seoul Salon, a new-to-me dessert in the form of black sesame ice cream, and a table full of dim sum in Chinatown.

    As much as I love sightseeing when I travel, food is such a huge part of how I experience a destination. Some of my strongest memories from trips are tied to specific restaurants or dishes, and I already know that several of these will be things I think about when I remember this trip.

    And considering how many restaurants in Koreatown and Chinatown we didn’t even get to try, I clearly have an excuse to go back.

  • 3 Days in NYC: Koreatown, BINI, & Incredible Food

    3 Days in NYC: Koreatown, BINI, & Incredible Food

    I will apparently travel to another city for a concert at the slightest provocation. This time, the culprit was BINI. After discovering the 8-member Filipino girl group from videos of their Coachella performance earlier this year, I quickly became a fan. So, when I had the chance to see them at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, that was more than enough justification for me and Tim to turn it into a full 3 days in New York City. And, sure enough, the concert quickly became 3 days of spending time in Koreatown, eating at Michelin-recognized restaurants, Japanese book and toy stores, dim sum, tourist attractions, and a cable car ride over the East River.

    We stayed at the Virgin Hotel with an incredible view of the Empire State Building, and we managed to pack a ton into 3 days! Here’s how I spent my weekend in NYC.

    Day One: Koreatown, Our First Michelin Star Restaurant, & BINI

    After arriving in New York, our first stop was the Virgin Hotel to drop off our luggage. From there, we immediately headed to one of the places I was most excited to visit: Koreatown.

    First, we got lunch at an all-you-can-eat conveyor belt sushi restaurant called Kaiten Zushi. I love conveyor belt sushi restaurants. No notes!

    As a huge K-pop fan and lover of Korean food and culture, I could happily spend hours exploring K-town’s shops, and that’s basically what I did! We checked out K-Popsy, K-Pop Nara, and Ellicor, but Koryo Books was probably my favorite of the bunch. I absolutely love being surrounded by shelves of albums and K-pop merchandise among tons of fellow K-pop enthusiasts. There is only one K-pop store in Pittsburgh (the city I live in), and I don’t make it out there too often, so places like this make me feel like a little kid at Christmas time. After wandering around the shops, we went to Grace Street Coffee & Desserts and shared an iced strawberry matcha while we rested for a bit at one of their tables.

    Then, we were able to check into our room at the Virgin Hotel, where we discovered one of my favorite features of our stay: our view! My husband and I have a travel card that occasionally upgrades our hotel room as a perk, and we had been upgraded to a “Sky Chamber” room with a full view of the Empire State Building. Our view out the window was so awesome that even just hanging out in our room managed to be exciting, especially at night.

    Before heading to dinner, we carved out a little time to check out St. Patrick’s Cathedral. And suffice to say, this was a very welcome and very drastic change of scenery from the last few hours of shopping in Koreatown. The cathedral is very impressive in person, and so beautiful, especially when you consider its location right in the middle of Manhattan.

    That evening, we had a reservation at Estela, our first-ever Michelin-starred restaurant. We shared five small dishes, which was a great way to experience their menu. My favorites were the ricotta dumplings and the fried arroz negro with squid, although everything was very good. We had scallop and lobster dishes that we both liked, and I tried beef tartare for the first time ever, and quite enjoyed it! The restaurant was creative and elevated without feeling too fussy.

    Then, it was time for the main event!

    The entire reason this weekend happened in the first place was BINI. I went down the BINI rabbit hole after discovering them earlier this year and have become a very big fan! They have great music, choreography, visuals, and they definitely have K-pop vibes!

    The concert was at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, which is an absolutely beautiful venue in its own right, and it was easily the highlight of the trip for me. The girls were amazing live and they were clearly having so much fun performing. After the concert ended, I decided that I couldn’t leave empty-handed, so I picked up a t-shirt and photocard set at the merch table. Thank you for a wonderful show, BINI.

    After taking a train back to the general area of our hotel, we realized that we were starving, and decided to get some food at a Japanese izakaya called Mew. I ordered the kimchi cream udon noodles, which were SO good and the perfect comfort food to end the night, and Tim got an okonomiyaki.

    After we finished eating, it was finally time to get some sleep. We had been awake for 20 hours and sleep was calling our names.

    Day Two: Midtown, RiseNY, & Even More Incredible Food

    Our second day was largely dedicated to Midtown sightseeing and shopping. We visited several iconic stores right in the heart of Manhattan: American Girl, Nintendo, FAO Schwarz, and the M&M store before heading somewhere considerably more niche: The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine.

    I enjoy tinned fish and eat it pretty often at home, so I knew I wanted to check this place out as soon as I found out about it. And while it’s definitely overpriced and tourist-trappy, I appreciated it for what it was. It has a fun carnival aesthetic and lots of different souvenir tins to choose from. I ended up buying four tins, including one featuring my birth year and one featuring, for some reason, the state of Maine (where I am from). I also got spicy smoked sardines and sardines packed with lemon. It feels wrong to actually open and eat these beautiful tins, but maybe I will after I feel that I’ve enjoyed them as souvenirs for long enough!

    One of our biggest activities of the day was RiseNY. The experience begins with a video about the history of New York while you’re sitting inside a simulated NYC subway car. From there, you walk through a series of exhibits exploring different aspects of the city’s culture and history. There were some really cool pop culture pieces on display, including dresses worn by Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan!

    The best part of this experience comes at the end. RiseNY concludes with a flying theater ride that is immediately reminiscent of Soarin’ at EPCOT. You’re lifted into the air in front of a huge screen and “fly” over New York City, complete with movement and effects. As a theme park lover, I knew that this ride would be my favorite part of the experience, and it absolutely was!

    I think RiseNY is an especially good experience to add to a first-time NYC itinerary. It breaks up the shopping and restaurants and traditional sightseeing while also being educational. You’ll learn a lot about New York City and have fun while doing so. And the ride at the end is genuinely fun and makes this experience quite unique.

    From there, we headed to Kinokuniya Books, a Japanese bookstore where I proceeded to spend considerably more money than I had anticipated.

    This store has two floors filled with books, manga, puzzles, Studio Ghibli merchandise, stationery, and more. And, as anyone who knows me can tell you, I cannot resist cute stationery or Studio Ghibli. I would even go as far as to say that this was my favorite store we visited during the entire trip. I got birthday cards to send to my friends, a coffee table book about Studio Ghibli heroines, a couple of cute notebooks and a cute pen, and a couple other things. And after we left, Tim ran back in to get me something for Christmas that he’s keeping a secret, which I am very excited about!

    And then, because I apparently couldn’t stay away, we went back to Koreatown for dinner.

    Dinner that night was at Seoul Salon, a Korean restaurant featured in the Michelin Guide, and this ended up being a standout meal. I got spicy octopus with a creamy risotto. Tim got the Korean fried chicken, and we shared the tteokgalbi sliders, which featured wagyu steak, garlic mayo, and a potato bun.

    The sliders were such a fun dish, Tim’s chicken was delightfully crispy and spicy, and my spicy octopus and risotto was easily one of my favorite meals in recent memory. This dinner really reinforced how much I love Korean food. I cannot recommend Seoul Salon enough.

    After dinner, we went back to the hotel and spent a couple of hours relaxing and looking out the window from our bed. But eventually, dessert called! We headed to Food Gallery 32 (yes, in Koreatown) and tried black sesame ice cream for the first time. It was surprisingly mild in flavor and quite palatable! We also shared an Oreo churro. Food Gallery 32 has many vendors, and I bought a Blackpink keychain from a lady on the second floor. This was a fun little outing!

    Day Three: Chinatown, Roosevelt Island, and an Iced Latte

    On our final morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to Chinatown. There, we had an early lunch at Jing Fong. Jing Fong is a popular dim sum restaurant where the servers periodically come through the dining room pushing carts loaded with freshly prepared dishes. You can look at what’s available and choose whatever catches your eye! It’s a lot of fun to eat dim sum this way because you don’t know exactly what you’ll end up trying when you sit down. I had been here before in 2022, so I knew I wanted to bring Tim here. He loves dumplings and pork buns!

    After lunch, we wandered around Chinatown for a while and spent some time exploring the Elizabeth Center, a small shopping mall filled with various little stores.

    Our next destination was Roosevelt Island, but getting there was arguably more exciting than what we actually did once we arrived. Instead of taking the subway, we rode the Roosevelt Island Tramway.

    The tram is part of New York’s public transportation system. But rather than traveling underground, you’re suspended above the city in a cable car! And as you go higher, you get an amazing aerial view of Manhattan and the East River.

    We didn’t have an elaborate Roosevelt Island itinerary once we got there. We mostly enjoyed the waterfront and wandered around a bit before heading back. The tram ride itself made it worthwhile! Seeing the city from above was a very cool experience and it was something very different from the rest of our weekend.

    Back in Manhattan, we stopped at Say Coffee, where I ordered a creme brulee iced latte and Tim got a strawberry smoothie. This was nice, because the cafe was quiet and peaceful, and a much needed slice of calm during an otherwise crowded and slightly overstimulating day! Plus, my creme brulee iced latte was super good. One of the best iced lattes I’ve had in quite a while, easily.

    With our flight home approaching, we spent the last part of the afternoon sitting and people-watching in Greeley Square Park.

    Three Days Well Spent

    There are approximately one million different ways to spend a few days in NYC, and I am very happy with the version we chose. We had both been to NYC before, so we chose things to do that specifically appealed to us and our interests, rather than feeling like we needed to rush to see every iconic landmark.

    As someone who loves Korean and Japanese food and culture, I felt very much in my element. I loved getting to spend so much time in Koreatown, eating great food and shopping for K-pop merch. And eating at a Japanese izakaya and shopping at the Japanese bookstore were clear highlights as well.

    Of course, seeing BINI was the biggest highlight, and the impetus for the trip in the first place. And I also have to give RiseNY a special mention for being such a fun and unique experience that ends with a ride!

    We came to see BINI. We left with four tins of sardines, a concerning amount of stuff from Kinokuniya Books, several excellent meals, and another fun New York weekend in the books! I would call that a successful trip.

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