Santa Clara AKA A Growing Koreatown

So it was my birthday over the weekend (another year older... yay...), and I thought it would be a good chance for us to go find a Korean BBQ place for lunch, and find a "local" Koreatown (isn't there one in every western city now? LOL.) I did a quick Google search and found that Santa Clara (about an hour from SF and close to San Jose) is a growing Koreatown; an increasing Korean population and shops like restaurants, supermarkets and other smaller things. In Sydney, Strathfield was known for its Korean population, and Chatswood had quite a few Korean things, too, which was handy for me as we lived only 10 minutes or so from Chatswood. It's vaguely important for me to have a Koreatown around. I'd like for Mr Toddler to grow up being accustomed to Korean things. Although he doesn't look that Korean (the almost-blonde, curly hair's a bit of a giveaway!), I think it's important for him to be slightly in touch with half of his heritage. He doesn't get much/any Korean culture in terms of his everyday upbringing, but I think it's still important to grow up seeing bits of it here and there. (Ideally, I'd love to make sort of regular trips to Korea, but hey, we're not millionaires!)

Anyway, we went to Jang Su Jang BBQ, and it didn't disappoint. Some Korean restaurants I've been to can be a bit stingy, especially for the amount you pay. But this place didn't skimp on the side dishes or the serving sizes at all! We only ordered three meats to BBQ (there was a minimum of two to use the BBQ) and a pajeon (savoury pancake) which I thought would be good for the toddler (and it was; he loved it!), and we were stuffed afterward. We didn't even finish everything and ended up taking our leftovers home! There was also a plethora of side dishes! Korean food is sort of known for side dishes, kimchi being the most well-known. Some restaurants serve only two or three, but JSJ served lots. Which is awesome! LOL. I love Korean food. Some of it can be a bit of an acquired taste if you haven't had a lot before (and I don't eat "weird" pieces of animal. Or dog. LOL.), but in general the stuff is great. I just need to find a place closer to us. 

We had a bit of a wait before we could get a table, so we wandered around the shops a bit, as I did want to check out this little Koreatown. It certainly has a lot of Korean shops, and the majority of people there were of Korean background (I haven't heard the language being spoken so much in a long time.), but the place was a little run down and quiet. It did have a good supermarket, though. I don't cook Korean food at home (too much slicing things up into tiny bits, I don't have certain dishes to cook in/serve in, or I just can't be bothered learning.), but I am a bit of a sucker for Korean instant ramen, kimchi and other random things. But like I said, I can't travel an hour every time I just want Korean food; I need to find someplace closer!

Anywho, as usual, here are some pictures! (I should also mention: I taught myself Korean in my 20s. I got to the point where I could have basic conversations and I could read pretty quickly. Unfortunately, since our trip to Korea at the end of 2009(?), I've forgotten most of it, simply because I don't use it. I can still read it, but I definitely couldn't have a conversation anymore! So Mr Toddler won't even have a basic knowledge of the language. Robert knows none, aside from some words he makes up from the bits he's heard. Haha. Although he knows computer languages, he's not one to learn other languages.)

xoxo

This is why I really wanted to move here. Haha! NOT.

LOL.

Rows of gochujang. This chilli sauce is awesome. It's so red and makes Korean dishes look so scary, but it's actually awesome!!! And not actually as spicy as you might think...

I probably looked a bit weird taking photos in a supermarket. LOL...