These things really jumped out at me when I first moved to Korea. This is an instant coffee machine with a debt/credit system so you can pay for your coffee by using your cell phone if you, um, don’t have 200 won (20 cents).
When I first moved to Busan about six years ago Starbucks hadn’t [...]

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One of the great joys when the international scouting directors come into town are the inevitable trips to TGI Fridays–the scouting mecca in Asia–for some shop talk over a three-for-all and a mocha mud pie. And as a recent “article” in Korea’s Naver shows us, Friday’s mania has now extended into Korea.
Looks like our [...]

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Couple of great posts I’ve come across on the Korean blog world rather quickly today and I’m going to try to tie them together in one snacktastic post. First, a fantastic article written in a Australian Web log called Crickey, written in response to an equally great Asia Times article last week, about the infiltration [...]

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From my new cousin Cyrus Farivar comes a recipe for Korean Tacos via his California Taco Truck blog. Yum. Maybe. The recipes are via Gourmet magazine, where there’s an article on the phenomena, which also includes the planning of a Korean taco party. 
Sounds great, and I like the idea of Korean cuisine becoming mainstream because I [...]

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I kind of missed the boat on Kogi, the Korean taco truck that’s now acquired a fair bit of fame and press. You know, the stuggling chefs from L.A. that have ridden Twitter and hipster-word-of-mouth goodness into big ups in the New York Times, Newsweek, KCRW, and more.
Well, I tell you, I’m NOT missing out [...]

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I’d meant to link to this a week or so ago when it first came out, but I’ve been busier than it looks. Marmot’s Hole had a very nice photo essay of Gudun Station, one of the few remaining whistle stop train stations in Korea, and perhaps more importantly, close to one of the few remaining [...]

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Last year a Japanese diner had to undergo a serious operation to remove a spermatophore lodged in his throat after he ate a deep sea squid.
Put simply, spermatophore are basically packets of sperm, so says this article in Practical Fishkeeping. But the methods by which males introduce the spermatophore has been something of a mystery. [...]

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Well, this looks like a lot of fun. Probably better than the Baseball Cafe at Tokyo Dome at any rate.
The world’s first official Major League Baseball restaurant will open in Ebisu, Tokyo, in September, offering meals found on the menus at MLB ballparks.
MLB Cafe Tokyo also will serve specialty dishes particular to the regional cuisines [...]

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Some good, clean, fun from PT:
The clione, a.k.a. sea angel, is a cute, translucent swimming sea slug that glides gracefully through icy ocean waters by flapping a pair of appendages that resemble tiny angel wings. Don’t let the innocent, angelic look fool you, though —the clione is a vicious demon come feeding time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqUlKSGcI8Q

You can find [...]

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It might not surprise you I find the Michelin Guide to restaurants an absurd, snotty, and I can only assume, borderline racist, publication. The fact that they only recently awarded three stars to a Chinese restaurant for the first time does nothing to change my mind. But the New York Times has a great profile [...]

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I got this from Zen Kimchi, the Korea blog-world’s premiere food blog. It’s an LA Weekly Ten Best Dishes From 2008 food column. One of the ten named is Bok Jiri, which kind of a blowfish soup or stew.
When I first moved to Korea I had a student whose parents owned a famous blowfish restaurant [...]

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Manuel Benitez, a former child actor whose credits include Galactica, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and Stand and Deliver, was shot to death by police in the back of a Chinese Restaurant in El Monte, California, ending a four-year manhunt for the 38-year-old.
Benitez’s 7-year-old son was injured as police used a flash grenade to get into the [...]

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If you’ve got a taste for Japanese/Asian food and are on a tight budget you might want to head to Cleveland.
Again, from WKYC (aka Channel 3):
Like the flames rising from Chef Koon’s hibachi table at the Otani restaurant, the competition among Cleveland area restaurants is heating up. With many patrons feeling a budget pinch, restaurant owners [...]

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Why? Because a famous hot dog joint has been allowed to reopen its doors after being shut down in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.
From Beijing Boyce’s “The best little hot dog stand in Beijing…”:
In terms of beverages, this still tends to a land of extremes, with two of the most popular drinks being [...]

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Interesting idea here — a no brand McDonalds in Tokyo called “Quarter Pounder.” The menu is minimalist, offering just a double and single quarter pounders with friends and a coke. Hmm…where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, it’s called In-N-Out burger, a chain that serves burgers that taste like hamburgers instead of some other [...]

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I doubt Pepero Day gets many props from the foreign community in Korea, but it’s my favorite Korean holiday of the year. You can read my Happy Pepero Day  post from last year, which includes a little history. For those of you hearing about this for the first time, Pepero is a cookie stick, dipped [...]

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Or, at least I think that’s what the Chinese food safety authorities are trying to do.
From Japan Today:
Chinese food safety authorities said Tuesday that seasoned soy sauce imported from Japan contains arsenic six times the Chinese standard, while powered coffee imported from Japan contains copper three times the level permitted under Chinese regulations.

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Interesting ballot initiative going in York County, North Carolina, where the sale of alcohol is is prohibited on Sundays. But come November 4 citizens will have a chance to vote on an initiative that would lift the ban. Voters in both nearby Rock Hill and  Tega Cay  already  serve alcohol on Sundays. If approved York [...]

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As I periodically do, I combed through google a bit to track down some Ulsan For You-related news. Unfortunately, outside of Korean petrochemical companies cutting production due to shrinking demand, all I could find was this painting (above) of a whale the city spent money to put on a liquid storage tankowned by Taeyoung [...]

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Baby milk was one thing. Snacks are another. But this could be cause for war.
From:
Chocolate-flavoured Body Spreads Contain Melamine:

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