Korean Restaurants – Page 18

Just for the Hal-i-but (sort of): The Live Halibut Dinner at Wal Mi Do in photos

May 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Seafood, Sushi and Sashimi

**** Wal Mi Do has closed

I was a bit surprised when I asked the Missus what She wanted for Her Birthday dinner….She told me She wanted the Live Halibut Sashimi dinner from Wal Mi Do! We've had this a few times already, usually with friends so I've stowed the camera. There are several "sizes" of Halibut Sashimi, this one is the "small" and is "recommended for two people". Tell me what you think……..

So without further ado, it's just photos from this point on. I don't think you'll need much narrative on this one. Yes, we finished just about everything.

I just realized I forgot to take photos of one item, the rice! But I think you get the picture. FOYs (Friends of Yoso) Ed from Yuma, Howie, and Candice have shared this meal with us in the past, so maybe they'll be able to "fill" you in. Naturally some items (on this day the Abalone Rice Porridge, and the Missus loved the snails) are better than the others (I could only manage a small nibble of the deep fried sushi roll)……… And the halibut was wonderful as always. It would've taken me the better part of a week to do a post, so I hoped you enjoyed the photos.

I really do need a nap right now.

Wal Mi Do
4367 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope everyone's having a great week!

What are you craving?

May 14, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

It's just that simple question for today. Since we've returned from vacation, the craving bug has it……some of them have been kinda strange, like Magnolia Coconut Ice Cream, others like rice(Jasmine and Koshihikari) are not so strange. Since we've been hitting places that I've posted on many times before (i.e. Banh Mi Bo Kho from Pho Lucky), I haven't bothered taking photos.

I was looking through some of my photos….and suddenly another craving hit.

Even though I had some for lunch…..I'm craving panchan and rice.

Of course, if I could have my (meat) cake and eat it too…….

I realize that it's kind of weird to have a folder titled "panchan", with just photos of panchan in it…..

So tell me what are you craving? Or even better, have you ever craved anything strange after returning from a trip?

Inquiring minds want to know……..

The “food court” Inside Zion Marketplace- Happy Family and Tonkatsu

April 30, 2009 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is just a blog, written by people who eat. Today, Cathy is writing, while Kirk (and His Missus) are vacationing and ed (from Yuma) is doing other stuff.

I needed to go shopping for some produce the other day and I know Zion always has some good deals. It was close to dinner time and so I called The Mister and asked him to meet me there.

You can park on three sides of the building (or across the street) and walk in one of those doors to get to the grocery aisles.

Closer to the South end are two restaurants and a small beverage (add boba for 50 cents) place.

Tonkatsu is what The Mister chose.

I went to Happy Family, which used to be Happy Meal, but apparently was sold. Or sued. Dunno. The menu has changed a bit from when Kirk blogged.

(According to FOY (Friend of Yoso) Serena, it is Korean-Chinese food at Happy Family, and the spicy noodle dishes are very good. I have that mental note ready for next time)

The Mister chose the Crunchy roll for $5.95, because he thought it would be smaller (not a Chernobyl sized) roll overfilled with fried shrimp and avocado and basically a full meal, served with miso soup.

It wasn't bad and I liked the avocado. The shrimp did not have much flavor, but did have much crunch.

It was topped with both a sweet and a spicy sauce.

He also ordered the chicken Tonkatsu plate ($7.95) A good sized piece of lightly breaded and fried flattened chicken breast, which came with a house made tonkatsu sauce (which had pieces of mushroom and meat textured bits in it), a cabbage salad with a house made dressing, two stir fried dumplings, miso soup, rice, edamame and some kimchi.

I ordered the galbi plate at Happy Family.

Tender marinated sliced beef short ribs, served with rice, a small salad with a mayonnaise based dressing, (kind of Ranch in flavor), two deep fried dumplings (I liked the other ones better; not as crispy) and the traditional side dishes of preserved radish, dried spicy silverfish, kimchi and fried (not just dried) seaweed. The miso soup here was far better, not made with a paste and was rich in flavor with many slices of tofu in it.

Eat first and then you can go shopping!

Happy Meal and Tonkatsu (inside Zion Marketplace) 4611 Mercury Street San Diego 92111

Nozomi, a revisit.

April 27, 2009 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is just a place where you can vicariously experience food which is eaten by others. Today, it's a meal Cathy experienced. Because Kirk is on vacation and ed(from Yuma) is in Yuma, working. Apparently Cathy is doing neither.

Hi again. I blogged about Nozomi quite a while ago, have eaten there many times since, but never bothered to blog about it again. The other day I brought my camera.

Yes, they have an All You can Eat Sushi special, with many asterisks. {2 hours max, no to go, extra charge for leftover rice…}

The menu is a mix of Japanese and Korean and the decor is clean and simple.

It isn't large but also not too small inside.

There is a regular meal menu and a separate, large menu of just rolls and sushi. Those photos on the front window are of a few of the rolls offered.

001

We ordered and very soon some generic Miso Soup (made from paste) and a complimentary plate of edamame, freshly boiled and salted, was brought out.

We decided to try the $3 chalkboard special of tuna nigiri.

Two very fresh pieces of tender tuna were brought out, topped with a dot of wasabi on top of some excellent warm rice.

The tempura fish appetizer ($5.95) was all halibut- solid, sweet white fish, fried perfectly- lightly crispy.

Quite a large serving. I could have made this a meal if I could have eaten it all by myself.

The Mister ordered the Hiyashi Juka (cold noodle) plate. ($12.95)

A good portion of cooked then quick chilled yakisoba with mix ins of cucumber, carrot, cabbage, eggs, seaweed, red pepper, radish sprouts and mushrooms along with a few pieces of shrimp and a vinegar based sauce.

004

I ordered my usual, the 'famous chirashi salad' ($13.95)

A very large bowl with rice on the bottom, lots of lettuces, cucumber and radish sprouts dressed lightly with a sesame oil based dressing and topped with shrimp, octopus and three other chopped raw fish (salmon, halibut and tuna) and topped with masago and a light sesame oil based dressing.

Always fresh, tasty and plentiful.

A refreshing sliced 1/2 orange for dessert.

Total bill: $38.99

Always fresh and good. A nice dinner out.

Nozomi (#1) 4637 Convoy #104 San Diego 92111 (858)569-7773

Nozomi (#2) 4159 Regents Park Row #190 La Jolla 92037 (858)452-7778

Some Revisits: Do Re Mi House and Leilani’s Restaurant

March 30, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

**** Both Do Re Mi House and the Serra Mesa location of Leilani's have closed

Do Re Mi House:

Hard to believe that I hadn't been back here for over three years. Sometime during that period the lettering on the windows have been redone, and now in addition to the Korean Food, it says they serve "Japanese Traditional Food"?!?? The menu looked pretty much the same, as did the restaurant, though they've removed the back partition to the place. And lunch is still pretty cheap, the Bulgogi Lunch Special at the time of my visit (December) was still $5.99. Looked exactly the same as well.

Funny how tastes change, I found the Bulgogi to be on the sweet side, though it was fairly tender, and the mandoo were better than on my last visit. Still, not bad, if the price is still $5.99.

And I still love the potatoes here. If this visit is any indication, service has now become the typical "dump and duck"…..

Do Re Mi House
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste M
San Diego, CA 92111

My previous post on Do Re Mi House can be found here.

Leilani's Restaurant:

Also from back in December. I got my Loco Moco fix from Leilani's Restaurant. This of course meant a Hilo Loco for me:

In some ways it was the same dependable Loco……nice gravy, hand formed patty, lean, and perhaps on the tough side, but the same as usual, as were the eggs, which could have been a bit more crisp, but were decently runny……

And there was a good amount of gravy over everything. But on this visit, I felt like something was missing…….there was a good amount of Kielbasa and Portuguese Sausage in the fried rice, which was cooked just right, but the entire package tasted strangely bland…….like they forgot to season things……

With this costing ten bucks, maybe I'm just expecting more, or maybe it was just an off day? Though the mac salad was really, really, good on this day…so good I forgot to take a photo! Maybe I need to head back to PB, and see how Leilani is doing?

Leilani's Hawaiian Restaurant
3232 Greyling Drive
San Diego, CA 92123
858-565-4637

My previous post on Leilani's can be found here.

Saturday Snacks: Camau Bakery, Cheeseballs Perhaps?, or for something a bit more savory……

March 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Howie Eats - Where the Foodie from Foodieview Eats, yoso-silly

Just some "snacks" for Saturday…..

Camau Bakery & Deli:

This place had caught our interest a while back. We'd seen the prepackged Banh Beo, and other snacks with the "Camau Bakery" label on them. But the place always seemed closed. But on this morning, I noticed the shop was actually open! At least the open sign was out. So we stopped immediately, and found some parking. And walked on over to the door……

And it was locked!!! But the nice lady inside waved at us, opened the door and let us in. I kinda got the feeling that Camau really does catering, large orders, and wholesale orders. Nothing was out, and there were pans of covered snacks waiting for pick-up. But after passing by so many times, the Missus wasn't to be denied. She pointed at one of the containers, and said…"I want that!" The woman, who was a bit amused at the Missus's antics, told Her, "this is for an order, but since they're not going to be picked up until later this afternoon we can make more." Her name is Kieu…so thank you so much!

So what did the Missus get?

Well, a bunch of styrofoam containers of course…..

Just kidding. She got a large order of Che Xoi Nuoc. It's a "sweet soup" of sorts, flavored with sugar and ginger. In the "soup" are large dumplings made of rice flour, and stuffed with mung bean paste, much like the Chinese Tāngyuán. These also had scallions in them, and was more savory than other versions we've had before. Still, after being chilled ice cold, and covered with the accompanying cocunut milk and sesame seeds, it was pretty good.

I just wish they had regular hours…..

Camau Bakery & Deli
4857 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 583-2904

Some Cheese Balls Maybe???

One of my favorite lines from the movie, I Love You to Death. Recently, "MG" brought these to work. I had never seen them before.

Apparently, these were the "newest thing" at Valerio's. Buttery, sweet, and a bit salty….maybe a bit too oily for me….none the less, not too bad. If you like buttery…….

And how's this for the kicker….it's filled with cream cheese….

Apparently, it was Valerio's in Mira Mesa who first started selling this…..and now it's being sold at other locations. This one was from the National City location.

Valerio's City Bakery
1631 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
(619) 477-8588

And for something a bit more "savory"….

You can get this:

Need a closer look?

It was nice breaking bread (and other things) with two of my favorite people, Howie (please check out his recently redesigned Foodie View) and Candice. And this was one of the dishes we sampled.

If you're wondering about the main ingredient, I think the food labeling may be very accurate in this instance:

Fishing Feed? = Bait???? It's all on the label!

Hope you're all having a grest weekend!

$5 Fry-Day (Really) – Convoy Sushi and Fish Market

March 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Seafood, Sushi and Sashimi

*** Convoy Sushi is now Sushi Yaro.

Meet my friend Abe:

Things have been kinda tough recently, we've been seeing lots of Abe's going out, with less arriving in return. Sheesh, in most cases you can't even get a bowl of Pho for five bucks anymore. Even Banh Mi's are topping out at over three bucks! Solutions? Sorry to say, I don't have any…..but maybe there are still a few reasonable options out there. I'm not asking for anything ridiculous. I just want to feel like I got my money's worth. You know what I mean?

When I first saw that Convoy Sushi and Fish Market had opened, I wasn't really moved. In fact, I found the $5 lunch to go sign, along with the mention of "Sushi Rolls, Fish & Chips, Ceviche, and Ahi Salad" for five bucks to be downright scary. Luckily, I have folks like FOY (Friend of Yoso), Trent, to set me right. A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Trent telling me that while the food may be nothing amazing, it is fresh, prepared decently, and you feel like you get your money's worth.

Hey, if it's good enough for Trent…….

This little shop looks fresh and clean…and most of all smells, fresh and clean.

On one side is the fish market portion, with Catalina Offshore Uni, sides of maguro, dried squid, a tank of live prawns and abalone, and pre-packed sushi.

Next to the packaged items is a small table of whole fish. As you can see, some look fresher than others…..some are suffering from "cloudy eyes".

But I was here for the lunches. Deciding to "play it safe" I ordered the Fish, Ika, and Chips, parted with my "Abe" and change, and soon enough received a large styrofoam container with the cut out corner oozing steam.

Unpacked in the car, this is what it looked like.

Wow…this was five bucks? Three white fish filets…moist and fresh. Three pieces of Ika – squid, soft, and not bad at all. The fries were totally routine. I thought the batter to be rather "gummy", and these are best eaten right away, as they get soggy pretty quickly. One more reason for eating it at one of the tables in the market….my car still smells of fry-o-lated fish and squid!

Still, from the value standpoint, this was not bad. It was good enough for me to have the Missus check this place out. So armed with a couple of "Abe's" we made our way back to Convoy Fish…..

The Missus decided to order the Grilled Ahi Salad.

This didn't look bad for five bucks. Six slices of seared, lower grade maguro, slices of avocado ad cucumber, on mixed greens. Frankly, I expected iceberg lettuce. I don't know how this salad was since the Missus scarfed it all up before I had a taste. But to quote the Missus, "the tuna was on the dry side, but not bad, the sesame dressing was okay, the greens and avocado were very fresh."

She also wanted to try the Ceviche…so bye-bye Abe…..

The ceviche was really packed into this container. Now usually I'd hesitate in ordering this, but the Missus had just had some "pretty mediocre ceviche" when dining with Her "ladies who do lunch" group. It cost Her nine bucks, and "was only half this, and not even close to being as good." This was a fairly straight-forward ceviche, good amount of shrimp and fish. It came with a large container of chips.

As we dug deeper into the container, it tasted better and better. The jalapeno started kicking in. This was not bad…pretty generic, but worth the five bucks. The Missus enjoyed it.

So what did I get?

It was the Pound of Mixed Seafood…also five bucks. This was just dusted with flour, which made it lighter than the Fish & Chips. The seafood was fresh, with lots of good sized shrimp(unshelled), and tasty baby octopus. The bay scallops were pretty much an after thought, and I thought this could use a bit more seasoning. I'm not a big fan of the tartar sauce…but the ketchup-y cocktail sauce is okay….in a tastes bottled kinda way. This was well worth my hard earned "Abe".

So is this worth it? I think you need to ask yourself. What would you rather have, a $5 sandwich from Subway, or a pound of fried seafood? The food won't set the culinary world on fire, but we think it's worth it.

This Korean owned business is starting to get busy. Lots of folks buying sushi. You may want to give it a shot for yourself. Lunch is served Monday through Saturday from 11 am through 230 pm.

Convoy Sushi & Fish Market
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Mon-Wed 11am – 230pm
Thurs-Sat 10am – 7pm
Sunday 1pm – 5pm

Lunch Served 11am – 230 pm Mon-Sat(!)

Postscript: Earlier this evening I found the Missus just sitting, doing nothing, just sitting as if waiting for something……very unusual as the Missus is usually pretty much in constant motion during this time of the day. When I inquired as to why She was just kinda sitting around, I was told, "I'm waiting for the diarrhea to start…..it was so cheap, something must be wrong with the food!" What a pessimist!

Thanks again for the recommendation Trent!

Road Trip: Kyochon, Yes Plaza, and What’s up at Hong Kong Plaza – Rowland Heights (LA)

March 10, 2009 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Driving East on the 60 Freeway, car smelling of my bounty of Indonesian Food, I had a few more stops to make. First……

Yes Plaza:

As I previously posted, what is now Yes Plaza, was a pretty dark and seedy strip mall back when we lived a few blocks away. Because of the terribly scary, and always malfunctioning laundry room in our apartment complex, we'd end up at the better lit, but very beat, "Launder Land"…..with the terminal fermented geriatric diapers smells, and god knows what oozing from under the bathroom door (which cost you a quarter...how's that for a double whammy). But boy have things changed.

I'm not sure if I really like the pastel, antacid blue that they've painted the place…..just like the pastel t-shirt and jacket an acquaintance of mine from back in the 80's ……who wanted to be Don Johnson used to wear all the time. The only problem was; that one, he was Japanese, and two, he was maybe five-foot two on a good day. (we nicknamed him, "Miami Mice") It just looks wrong….

I will say that there's a really good array of eateries in Yes Plaza.

And the walkways are no longer coated with gum and various stains of dubious origin. And it seems like the liqour store, Thai Restaurant, and ironies of ironies, the Laundromat (though really cleaned up) are the only businesses remaining from that time.

And since there's no way you can go through one of these malls without some interesting bit of "Engrish", I was on the look-out. But the only sign I could find was in the window of the Indonesian Restaurant:

"Fish Tilapia"…..kinda redundant isn't it? But maybe they were just trying to differentiate it from the "Moose Tilapia" or "Frog Tilapia", or the even more heinous "Kangaroo Tilapia?"

Now why the heck was I aimlessly wandering the walkways of Yes Plaza?

Kyochon Chicken….

Is why. After reading posts from Wandering Chopsticks and Elmomonster, I'd been dying to try the twice fried chicken wings. But the Missus, having tried and not cared for BBQ Chicken, did not want to waste precious eating time on our road trips. Having to make a solo trip to LA gave me the opening I needed.

Now the standard line is "to ensure the best quality, and freshness, the wings are made to order." Which is why I was just kinda hovering around Yes Plaza, with one of those coaster-buzzer thingamajiggy's in hand.

One more thing, how hard is it for a bright, new, and shiny chicken wing restaurant, to get an 'A' health inspection grade? Maybe Kyochon purposely flunked to get some street cred? You know the saying…… in the SGV, 'A'=American Food, 'B'=Better Food, and 'C'=(real) Chinese Food. As I was contemplating that, the coaster went "off", which was a good thing…the next thing I might have started contemplating would have probably been my navel.

I had ordered seven wings with the standard garlic soy, and four wings spicy. Each came in wonderful looking boxes, along with a kleenex dispenser(must be some free gift), in a good quality bag. Talk about some overhead.

The garlic soy wings were nice, light, crisp. As all posts on Kyochon note, the double-frying technique renders off all the subcutaneous fat off. Leaving you with thin crisp skin, and moist meat.

The chicken is "glazed" in a sweet, soy-garlic sauce. That is mostly sweet. Folks from "back home" know this style as "dipped chicken"…fried chicken that dipped into a sauce right after frying. Much like my garlic chicken……with much more finesse of course. I thought these were rather good.

I had two wings and moved on to the sweet-spicy wings:

These were glazed in a slow burning, slighly sour, lip stinging sauce. It had a nice slow burn to it. I ate two and saved the rest for the Missus.

Her verdict? She thought the spicy wings were nice, not too spicy, but good. She enjoyed the texture of the wings, and had thoughts of getting some on our next trip to the area….until I showed Her the receipt:

She quickly changed Her mind. They were good, but not THAT good…..

Kyochon Chicken
18180 E Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

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I had one last stop, Hong Kong Plaza, to pick up some Chinese Beef Jerky for the Missus. Curious about what was going on in the space of the now defunct Hong Kong Market. There was this sign posted:

It always amazes me, how quickly businesses close around here:

And how quickly they are replaced:

The market was gone, but some enterprising vegetable vendor had set up shop on the sidewalk this day, and was doing bang-up business.

In spite of the bad economy, there's quite a bit of new construction going on. Our old "dry cleaners" is now a flattened dirt lot, waiting for a new mall or building to spring up.

One thing hasn't changed. On a good day, you can still see the San Gabriel Mountains….I had forgotten how much I loved looking at them. Even from a strip mall parking lot…..

Road Trip: Hwang Hae Do Korean BBQ – Garden Grove (OC)

February 2, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

**** This location of Hwang Hae Do has closed

I took a day off right after the New Year, for the purpose of going on a short eating road trip to LA and the OC with two of my friends, MrS, and the entity that is known as the EatingMachine. We started at Mei Long Village, for Xiao Long Bao, and a few Shanghainese cold dishes. Next it was off to Food Cabin, for more Xiao LongBao, Shengjian Bao, and other assorted dishes. Lucky for us, "DaMachine" was running smoothly, easily eliminating any possibility of leftovers. On the way back, we decided to stop for a "real meal" in the area of Garden Grove Icall Koreatown South. I had written down a few listings in my "black book", but Mr S, pulling from his Korean roots dismissed my list, brought out his cell phone, and went off on a speed dial frenzy. The consensus, was for Hwang Hae Do….. which was one of the places on my list! Ha!

Hwang Hae Do looks quite humble in comparison to some of the newer and more fancy restaurants in the area. And boy does this place love its photos, posters, and fliers.

The interior is "old wood rustic", with the ever present Plasma Television going strong.

Hwang Hae is a province in North Korea, so if the name meant anything, this would be North Korean inspired food. I had written down the dishes that I wanted to try at Heang Hae Do, and looking down the list, after all the XLB, I crossed off the mandu, but had something else in mind. And MrS, after chatting with the really nice lady, came to the same conclusion. And, of course it was one of the items on the myriad of flyers posted everywhere around the place.

After Mr S placed our orders in Korean, the panchan arrived. There were a few items, I enjoyed, the baechu kimchi (Napa Cabbage kimchi) was very good. And I don't recall seeing dotorimuk (Acorn Jelly) much in San Diego. But most of it was pretty mild in flavor.

Pretty soon a metal "pan" of sorts was placed above the BBQ brazier. The pan had a "moat" of sauce encircling it.

It was Yook-soo Bulgogi($18.99/order – minimum 2 orders) time! A huge platter of thinly sliced meat, onions, scallions, and mushrooms arrived, and was piled on the top of the pan.

For ease of use, part of the meat was portioned off on a bowl placed on the table.

While the rest remained on the platter, table side.

Sheesh, do ya' think this was enough? And what is even more impressive…..this was only 2 orders, and came with rice, and 2 beers (OB).

For those who have never had Yook-soo Bulgogi, I think I can best describe it as a Sukiyaki like dish.

This broth was mild and balanced in flavor, just lightly sweet. There are places in San Diego that make this, but most versions are much too sweet and heavy. The meat was good in quality, soft, and almost melted in your mouth.

And while we were waiting for our meat to cook, MrS had ordered us Mul Naengmyun, the classic North Korean cold buckwheat noodle soup dish.

The tangy broth, even when tempered with liberal doses of vinegar sent my tastebuds into overdrive. It was a nice foil to the meat, and was a very effective palate cleanser. Even with all the meat, I managed to finish my entire bowl. Yes, we each had an entire metal bowl. In case you're interested there's an interesting post on Naengmyun in Pyongyang which can be found here.

As if to add the "cherry on the top", at the end noodles are placed in the meat infused broth.

After all of that food we had earlier, I can't believe we finished everything in fine fashion. Total damage, 2 orders Yook-soo Bulgogi, 3 Mul Naengmyun – $62.

The only problem we had was staying awake on the drive back to San Diego.

The service was efficient, the lady was very nice. Not much English spoken, but there are all those posters everywhere….

Hwang Hae Do
9567 Garden Grove Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92842

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Wal Mi Do Part 2 – The Rest of the Meal

November 25, 2008 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Seafood, Sushi and Sashimi

*** Wal Mi Do has closed

So what can possibly top eating sannakji? Surely, the rest of the meal was a slow, prolonged anti-climax, right? Well, not really. The sannakji was just a start to an interesting meal, with quite a few highs. My apologies in advance for using Japanese terminology for the various dishes. It is what I'm most familiar with, and thus is used as a point of reference.

From information I gathered from Sam, it appears that Walmido is an island connected to Inchon, Korea, and an area well known for their seafood. At this Wal Mi do, along with the live abalone, geoduck (mirugai), lobster, and octopus, is a tank of this:

Live Halibut, known in sushi bar terms as Hirame. Sam explained that parties of 2-6 (or more) will buy a fish, priced from $100-$160 based on size. The fish is cut up, and served on a tray as sashimi along with panchan, and a huuuge assortment of steamed, grilled, and soup items. Watching four business men being served up this stuff was pretty amazing.

Soon enough, Sam brought me a plate of sashimi.

If you enjoy what the Japanese call "Shiromi" (whitefish), you will love this! The hallmark of Shiromi is a nice chewiness, and when really fresh like this, there is a pleasant, mild sweetness as well. This was very good, especially the two pieces of "Engawa", the dorsal fin muscle of the Halibut, and one of my favorite cuts of fish, and a real delicacy. High in fat, and the all important collagen (yes, yet again, more collagen for yoso – it's not only in hot dog buns you know). I'll take halibut this fresh, over live raw lobster sashimi any day of the week.

It is again interesting to note the Korean love affair with the chewy, firm texture.

Next up, what we call Kazunoko (Herring Roe) in Japanese:

I'm neither a big fan of Kazunoko, nor Saba (Mackerel), and this was combination of the two. But let me say, this was marriage made in heaven! The rich, salty, anchovy-ish flavor of the saba, was tempered and balanced with the sweet-pickled flavor of the kazunoko. I was enjoying this so much that Sam said; "Kirk-san, now I know what to get you for Christmas, he-he-he…" A few weeks later, I met FOY, and fellow food-blogger Captain Jack for lunch. I managed to snag a taste of this for him…..I think he'll confirm my opinion.

Next up Anago (Conger Eel):

The Anago was subjected to many tiny cuts, a la "Issan ni 24 hocho" (24 cuts to 3 centimeters) that is most commonly used for Hamo (Pike Eel). Anago is usually served grilled and sauced. This was again mildly chewy, and needed a good dose of Cho-Jang (hot sauce).

Next up, Sam smiled and placed this in front of me:

I couldn't identify it readily…it was what the Japanese call Hikarimono ( "Shiny meat", Bluefish). So what was it? Sam told me it was Sanma (Pacific Saury), somthing I'd never had as nigiri or sashimi before. I enjoy Sanma, but it's usually been Sanma Shioyaki(salt grilled) or simmered. I enjoy the strong flavored, oil-rich, sanma, but wasn't quite sure what this would be like. Sam told me: "Kirk-san, fresh from Japan, it would be a waste to grill". And he was right! Served in this manner, the soul of the sanma was captured, rich, almost buttery, with the sometimes strong flavor of the sanma toned down. Excellent!

Next up, Sea Squirt:

Known in Japanese as "Hoya", I've had these before, and have never been a big fan. There are folks who brag about finding these in various San Diego sushi bars, but not me. Still, put it in front of me…. My previous experiences were confirmed as not being flukes. This stuff to me has a astringent, iodine flavor, which I find unpleasant. The best version of this I've had was served as panchan. Which is what I did…pour even more Cho-Jang over the crunchy-chewy (again with the textures) flesh.

Extra bonus points: Did you know that oyster farm workers develop Sea Squirt Asthma, from prolonged exposure to Sea Squirts?

Extra bonus points 2: On the other hand, did you know that microbes called patellamides, a known cancer fighting substance infect Sea Squirts?

Like they say; "what doesn't kill you……"

Okay, enough with the Mr Wizard stuff, last up were some simple steamed sea snails:

If you enjoy what the Vietnamese call "ốc", you'll enjoy these.

Meanwhile, Sam and Wal Mi Do's Owner, Andy were cranking out the combination Sashimi platters:

Man were they working hard….

Can you believe an entire "box" of sea urchin on each of these platters?

Sam told me these platters, along with accompanying side dishes will run up to $160. And it was selling like crazy! Also, unlike the Japanese style of being served dish by dish, Koreans like all their food at once, so they can pick from a variety of items. As I left, I turned and noticed that all the customers were Korean, and they sure were enjoying their meals.

This was a wonderful experience, and I've got to thank Sam again, for making it fun, interesting, and most of all, a learning experience. I'm sure to be back soon….for maybe a Halibut plate??? And yes, Sam will still make you a 9-1-1 roll if you want…….

Wal Mi Do
4367 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

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