Mad about Kimchi

More than one year on, my craze for Korean stuff has not abated. In fact, it has become worst. As my friend says, 我中毒很深 （the poison goes deep）. I can’t agree more but I’m sure I’m not the only Singaporean with such an ‘illness’. I think the worldwide craze for Korean VCD dramas and so on will make a very interesting behavioural case study for psychologists.

Now I cannot go by a week without eating kimchi or Korean food. This is quite ridiculous given the fact that I’ve never even tasted Korean food before I started watching any K drama. Well, as Korean food is not cheap in Singapore, I’ve started cooking Korean dishes. And I think the best thing and most basic ingredient one needs for any Korean meal has to be kimchi. You can eat it as it is, or cook kimchi soup, kimchi ramyeon, fried kimchi with beancurd etc etc.

So, I went in search of kimchi. In the past, I usually buy packaged kimchi (see pix above) but these are usually quite sour as they would have aged quite a bit. Now, whenever I go to a Korean restaurant, I’ll ask if they sell kimchi and how much. This is where you can find good kimchi if you’re a kimchi fan like me:

1. Restaurants – Jushinjung @ Pasir Panjang; Hyang To Gol @ Amara Hotel; New Seoul @ Tanjong Pagar; Auntie Kim’s @ Upper Thomson The price can range from $13 to $25 a kilo; and $5.50 to $13 for a box. I like Hyang To Gol’s best.
2. Food courts – Most places sell them for $3 for a box. So far, I think the best buy is from the Korean eatery at Food Republic, located at 5th level of Wisma Atria. It only cost $6 for a box which I think is definitely more than 500gm. And the quality is quite good too.
3. Selected Cold Storage and Korean supermarkets – $3.80 to $4.20 for a 200gm pack.
4. Isetan Supermarket @ Scotts – freshly made kimchi flown in from Korea - $3.20 per 100g – I bought the radish kimchi but didn’t quite like it as it was a bit bitter. It could be due to the type of radish used.

Unfortunately, most places only sell the common cabbage kimchi. If you want cucumber or radish kimchi, you’ll have to try Isetan Supermarket or buy the packaged ones which come in 500g or 1 kg pack with cost ranging from $10 to $18 depending on the variety chosen.

Look out for the next posting on Mad about Korean Food where I’ll list and rate the Korean restaurants I’ve visited in the past year ; )