The perfect ending to a K-Town dinner in Shin-Okubo?  Find the street stand with the coin menu, where they sell hoddeok all year round.  Traditionally eaten during the colder months, hoddeok is a pancake cooked on top of a griddle and traditionally filled with cinnamon and brown sugar, and a smattering of nuts.  Too many vendors in Korea these days are trying to make it healthier by foregoing the oil, but that greasy, warm bite is what makes hoddeok—get a dry, yeasty one and you’re just eating a biscuit! This stand sold them in two more flavors: one filled with anko (red bean paste), suited for Japanese tastes, and the third, inexplicably, with cheese. Conclusion: the original always tastes best.

Sep 29 -

The perfect ending to a K-Town dinner in Shin-Okubo?  Find the street stand with the coin menu, where they sell hoddeok all year round.  Traditionally eaten during the colder months, hoddeok is a pancake cooked on top of a griddle and traditionally filled with cinnamon and brown sugar, and a smattering of nuts.  Too many vendors in Korea these days are trying to make it healthier by foregoing the oil, but that greasy, warm bite is what makes hoddeok—get a dry, yeasty one and you’re just eating a biscuit! This stand sold them in two more flavors: one filled with anko (red bean paste), suited for Japanese tastes, and the third, inexplicably, with cheese.

Conclusion: the original always tastes best.

nibbles and bites.