Korean Restaurants

I absolutly love Korean food. I cook Korean food quite often, but I also like to try Korean food at any number of Korean restaurants when I get a chance. Years ago the only place to get good Korean food, or Korean food at all, you had to go to a major city like NYC, Boston, San Francisco or otherwise.

I'm happy to say that the Capital District of New York now boasts four Korean restaurants. All four of these restaurants are Korean/Japanese restaurants, and from all of the owners I have been told that this is because Korean food is still a little difficult for many Westerners, which I can see with the strong flavors, spice and fermented tastes in the various banchan dishes. It isn't a far stretch to find both of these cuisines togehter due to their shared cultural history, both good and bad. One of my professors in the past told me though, that war and political discourse always leads to good food, an interesting philospohy I must say, but that is a topic for another day.

At anyrate, I thought I would share the four locations here, I have eatten at all four and they all have some dishes they do very well. If you are squeamish about trying Korean food, start off with something simple like kimchi pancake, the Korean BBQ dishes are generally easy to approach due to their slight sweetness, but be careful if you are not fond of spicy as most Korean BBQ is spicy. If all else fails, ask the waiter/waitress they usually love introducing people to Korean foods.

Albany
Ta-Ke Korean Food Specialty

Colonie
Arirang (Owned by the same folks who own Kim's Market)

Latham
Ginza Japanese & Korean Cuisine
Kabuki Restaurant