Country: Korea
Restaurant: Toyose
The Stew: Seafood Stew
Other Food Ordered: Lychee Soju Cocktail, Corn Cheese, Kimchi Pancake, Kimchi Fried Rice, Spicy Fried Chicken, Japchae
From Japan, we departed to Korea… meaning we went into the Outer Sunset neighborhood of SF and tried some food at a Korean bar. A converted garage turned restaurant/bar, Toyose provided a glimpse into Korea’s late night pub food options.
This dinner was particularly good because it felt like a family reunion. In addition to the four Foxes, we were joined by our good friend Addison, his friend Sarah, and my cousin Andrea. The extra company turned a simple meal into a feast.
We started off with a lychee soju cocktail. It was recommended to us by the waitress as a house special and it didn’t disappoint! With shot glasses we began the meal with a cheers and sipped on the fresh, spiked lychee juice.
Other recommendations the waitress made were the spicy fried chicken, the seafood pancake, and the kimchi fried rice. Since we were looking for more vegetarian options, we opted for the kimchi pancake instead of seafood. It was a feast favorite! In Addison’s words, it had the best accessibility for shoveling more food into ones mouth at once. While savory pancakes aren’t common in American cuisine, it had a familiar pub-ness to it: greasy (but not too greasy) with a savory grit that is especially addictive when paired with the right alcohol.
The other recommendations were also tasty. The spicy fried chicken wasn’t actually spicy, but it was gone in a heartbeat. And the kimchi fried rice was my favorite dish of the night. Spicy rice mixed with the flavors of fermented vegetables and topped with a perfectly sunny side up egg; it didn’t get better than that for me!
We also ordered corn cheese (which as is as quaint as it sounds: simply corn topped with cheese) and japchae, or glass noodles mixed with stir fried veggies. The corn cheese had a similar pub quality as the kimchi pancake. Being from Colombia, Andrea is a huge fan of corn and loved this dish especially. I can’t say no to anything with cheese, so I was eating as much of it as she was. The japchae was also popular amongst the table. The noodles were a bit too greasy for my taste, but they complimented really well with the vegetables paired with them.
Finally, the stew. Toyose is famous for their stews and hot pots. Ned and I actually visited Toyose once before and tasted an amazing spam stew with the most delicious spicy broth and a mix of spicy meats marinating inside the family style bowl. This time we ordered a seafood stew. The broth was similarly spicy and delicious, but anyone eating this dish should brace themselves for a whole lot of fishy! There was octopus, eel, calamari, and many more unidentifiable pieces of seafood. Some of the fish was a bit tough to bite into, but overall the stew was a beautiful cornucopia of veggies, tentacles, tofu, noodles, and spices. Everything I imagine a traditional Korean stew to taste like!
Guest Favorites: Andrea and Sarah enjoyed the Seafood Stew and Addison’s favorite was the Kimchi Pancake
Dan’s Favorite: Kimchi Pancake
Iraina’s Favorite: Japchae
Ned’s Favorite: Kimchi Pancake
Gabi’s Favorite: Kimchi Fried Rice
Toyose 3814 Noriega St. San Francisco, CA 94122
What a wonderful description of this place. They should payfor such a wonderful depiction.
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Haha thanks dad! 🙂
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I love that y’all are doing this! Korean food is so amazing, so I can only imagine how good this must have been. I think I’d go for the seafood stew myself–I’m a sucker for octopus! 😉
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Hey! Yeah, the broth was so yummy 🙂 Thanks!
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Toyose is fantastic. Because it’s in a garage, the ceilings are rather low, and because the ceilings are low it makes the place feel much like actually being in Asia. Bonus fun for that.
The Must Try: The Army Stew. That’s a jigae soup with hot dogs and a block of instant ramen on top. I like to imagine it is Korean truck stop food, but I’m told it’s originally a favorite from Korean military barracks.
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Todd, thanks for reading! I agree, that dish was my favorite (we ordered it last time we were there). I think they call it “Spam Stew”. So delicious!!
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Love that place. But I had a horrible experience with the kimchi pancake my first time around. This post has definitely convinced me to go back and try some more.
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So good to hear that!! Yeah, I would stick to the Kimchi pancake (but I love kimchi, especially more than seafood..just a personal preference). Thanks for reading!
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That restaurant looks like they got it right, I love your blog concept! I want to try travelling like that one day, except with cooking 😀
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Thanks so much!! I’m learning so much more than I even imagined 🙂 Such a fun (and affordable!) way to travel 😉
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