It's strange. In spite of the rather warm weather, I was craving some Kimchi Fried Rice. So, I decided to head to a fairly regular stop for me:
Sue’s Korean Kitchen:
Hard to believe that I've been coming here since 2021. Though it's been over a year since I last visited.
Located in the food court of Plaza Sorrento, its a rather convenient stop for me since I can go to the bank and they open at 1030am, thus I can avoid the "lunch rush".
The simple counter is in place. I guess I haven't visited in a while and I didn't recognize the women working. I wondered if they've gone thru a change of ownership since my last visit?
I was a bit shocked when I looked at the posted menu. There's only one item I get here; the Kimchi Fried Rice and it's actually gone down in price. It was $12.99 on my last visit and is not just a straight $12. I know, it's just ninety-nine cents, but where else have seen prices go down over the last year?
So, of course I wondered if the dish had been changed? Anyway, I placed my order which was ready fairly quickly.
Opening things up, my suspicions were confirmed. Remember when I received the kimchi fried rice from here suffering from shrinkage? Well, even though they tried to hide it by spreading the rice out; I could tell that the portion size was indeed smaller.
The texture of the rice was so mushy.
Also, a lot less kimchi than before. I'm thinking they added some Korean red pepper powder because this was spicier than I recalled, while lacking in the nice fermented tones.
A decent amount of Spam though.
In what I thought was kind of comedic, there were even less strips of egg!
Kind of sad overall as Sue's had been a fairly regular stop for me. I would have preferred that they raise their prices, rather than sell, in my opinion a diminished product. But of course, times are hard and perhaps their customer base prefers not paying a bit more?
Sue’s Korean Kitchen
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
Suite 109
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 1030am – 8pm
Closed on Sundays
This was quite disappointing and really didn't scratch that kimchi fried rice itch. So, a few days later I decided to return to a place that I hadn't been to in a year:
Kuljem Chicken & Beer:
I know, it's chicken and beer……but I was actually after the fried rice, which I thought was pretty good on one of my visits. I got there right at the opening time of 1130 and was blessed with a parking space as the lot has many 30 minute parking slots, making it somewhat bad at meals times when folks are eating in.
One of the co-owners; Jin who was half of the original name of the place; remember when it was supposed to be JJ's Chicken?
And while the name infers to the place being a beer and "KFC" shop….well, I just wanted the Kimchi Fried Rice which is now $17; up a buck from last year. I placed my order and after a short wait my fried rice arrived.
Now, this was more like it!
Liked the egg with a decently runny yolk and crisp edges….kind of on the smaller side, but good enough.
The rice was cooked decently and well coated, large pieces of kimchi, I even enjoyed the slices of green bell pepper. Nice fermented-sour tones with a hint of spice.
The only thing that I wished for in this version of kimchi fried rice is Spam. There's a good amount of chicken, yes I know it's a chicken restaurant; but I really don't think it adds much to the dish.
It was more than enough to fill me up. Yes, I know $17 for fried rice….but this is UTC and remember, I just paid twenty bucks for a mediocre eggs, black beans, and soyrizo on toast! The place was completely empty during my visit and I asked Jin how business is. He told me that happy hours and dinner are when they do a good amount of business. I'm glad. Hopefully, they'll be open for a while.
So yes…this did indeed "scratch that itch"!
Kuljem Chicken & Beer
8895 Towne Centre Dr. Suite 101
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am – 2pm, 5pm – 11pm