A touch of Seoul: Where to find Mexico City’s authentic Korean food

The drums of the sogochum store connected the Korean Cultural Center’s patio vie with the whir of a metallic level instrumentality to drown retired Vivian Oh successful the room classroom. As she giggles astatine her ain jokes, we each strain guardant to perceive the instructions for making spicy Korean chickenhearted crockery with noodles, oregon dak-kalguksu. 

Oh has a high-pitched lilting Spanish that aft 20-plus years successful Mexico is inactive heavy laced with the sounds of her autochthonal Korean.

Vivian Oh, 3rd row, 2nd from left, successful reddish and white, with a radical of Mexican students she taught astir Korean cooking astatine the Korean Cultural Center successful May. (CCC)

Oh came to Mexico successful 2001 astatine the behest of her champion friend, who was already surviving present successful the city. It was her archetypal travel retired of Korea, and she came with small cognition of the spot that would soon go her caller home. 

She started giving cooking classes astatine Centro Cultural Coreano erstwhile it opened 13 years ago.

Oh joined the estimated 9,000 to 11,000 Koreans presently surviving successful Mexico City – a tiny fraction of the immigrants that reside successful the capital. This migrant radical has often had out-sized visibility owed successful portion to the question of Korean culture, oregon hallyu, of the 1990s and 2000s, erstwhile taste exports similar K-pop and Korean soap operas became world-famous.

The Mexico City country known arsenic “Little Seoul” is portion of the Juárez neighborhood’s Zona Rosa. The Korean Cultural Center, however, was built successful the Polanco neighborhood, wherever you volition find acold much Jewish restaurants than Korean ones. Oh explains why. 

Koreans, she says, person been moving to Polanco successful the past respective years arsenic large companies similar Samsung and LG person brought their employees to Mexico.

Mexico’s archetypal question of Korean immigrants

Korean men arriving successful 1905 astatine the Port of Progreso, destined for Yucatán’s henequen fields. (Mexican National Archives)

The archetypal Koreans to get successful Mexico landed successful the Yucatán successful 1905, fleeing the mounting dominance of the Japanese empire, which would annex their state lone 5 years later, leaving them stateless. 

Deceived by the bare promises of labour recruiters, the first transplants to Mexico worked arsenic semi-slaves successful the region’s henequen farms, successful indebtedness to the plantations’ institution stores upon accomplishment and suffering nether unspeakable moving conditions.

Many of those archetypal 1,000 oregon truthful Korean immigrants intermarried with the Maya of the region, adopting determination customs truthful fiercely that erstwhile respective were interviewed years later, they admitted to feeling much Korean-Yucatec than Mexican.

The constitution of diplomatic relations betwixt Mexico and South Korea successful 1962 accrued the travel of Koreans to the country, but not capable to physique overmuch of a community. Restrictive migration policies successful the United States often resulted successful Mexico being a fallback prime for Koreans and Chinese citizens.

According to Sergio Gallardo García, who researched the Korean diaspora successful Mexico City, the largest question of Korean immigrants to the metropolis was betwixt the 1980s and 2005, erstwhile South Korea’s system was flourishing and immigrants came with wealth to put oregon commencement tiny businesses. 

This was erstwhile Korean churches, associations, and taste centers started to truly develop. Oh remembers arriving astatine this clip and surviving successful the southbound of the metropolis adjacent the UNAM campus, wherever a assemblage of Korean students had formed. During these years, Koreans who had antecedently immigrated to Argentina oregon Brazil moved to Mexico successful an effort to flight economical and governmental instability successful South America.

It was successful the years of the K-wave and Mexico City’s Korea Town, oregon Little Seoul, arsenic it’s sometimes called, truly started to develop. Even so, erstwhile Oh arrived successful 2001, she remembers often being confused for Chinese.

“When I arrived, everyone successful the thoroughfare conscionable called maine china, but present radical say, ‘You’re Korean right? I person a batch of Korean friends.’ In 20 years, it’s wholly changed.”

The astir caller question of Korean immigration, Gallardo García says, has been made up of students and workers coming to Mexico to larn Spanish and enactment successful the Latin American office of Korean companies. South Korea, helium adds, has made moving overseas easier with institutions dedicated to informing immigrants of the quality backmost home, helping them to nonstop remittances to household successful South Korea and helping them mitigate issues successful their caller countries.

These days, you tin find Korean restaurants and market stores tucked into galore of the Zona Rosa’s broadside streets, providing a sensation of location for those who person made the crossing.

Kuili, 1 of respective Korean restaurants to beryllium recovered successful Little Seoul. (Soy CDMX/Instagram)

In Korea, Oh’s parent taught her to propulsion noodles erstwhile she was 10 years old, and she would stitchery minari from the edges of the atom tract wherever her parents worked. When she arrived successful Mexico, galore accepted ingredients were inactive intolerable to find.

“I truly privation to thatch the authentic spirit of Korea,” says Oh, “even though, astatine times, it tin inactive beryllium hard to find Korean ingredients. Once radical person tasted the archetypal flavors of Korea, past they tin set the recipes to their ain tastes.”

The Korean peninsula’s astir well-known culinary exports to the satellite are astir apt kimchi (there are hundreds of varieties of this spicy, pickled cabbage dish) and Korean barbecue – a specified fraction of the culture’s culinary lexicon.  

Fermented snacks and salsas — often spiced with gochugaru, miso, garlic, ginger oregon Korean chilli paste — are usually served arsenic portion of broadside dishes oregon banchan astatine each meal. Spicy noodle soups, Korean fried chicken, full fried fish, grilled meats and steamed veggies are astir ever served alongside a vessel of rice, with chopsticks and a agelong spoon for eating. 

Where to find authentic Korean nutrient successful CDMX

For a accepted Korean feast, bid the bossäm platter a time successful beforehand from Angela and her husband, who opened Seoul astatine 177 Londres Street successful the Zona Rosa a fewer years back. A cornucopia of tiny dishes (banchan) holding things similar saccharine peanuts sprinkled with sesame seeds, a rolled omelet with onions and peppers, and a creamy cucumber-and-onion crockery volition beryllium laid retired successful beforehand of you. 

Dabs of this oregon that fermented salsa, oregon slices of earthy serrano chile are combined with a spoonful of ovum souffle, grilled strips of beef oregon a spicy tofu-and-clam soup. This dispersed is easy capable for 3 oregon 4 radical and volition unfastened up your caput to the scope of Korean flavors.

Na De Fo is simply a standout among the city’s Korean BBQ restaurants, managed by the Lee household since 2007 and present portion of a Korean edifice radical with assorted spaces astir town. 

On the westernmost extremity of Liverpool Street, each array astatine Na De Fo has an opening astatine its halfway with a grill astatine array level. Diners tin bid from a bevy of meats — bacon, beef, pork, fish, lingua — that they navigator themselves connected the grill successful beforehand of them. All are accompanied by grilled greens, spicy kimchi, mung beans and a enactment of antithetic vinegary and spicy sauces. The punchy kimchi chigae crockery should not beryllium missed.

This video by a Mexican Instagrammer features dishes disposable astatine Na De Fo, a Korean BBQ edifice that has been successful Mexico City for decades.

For thing little accepted with a spot of Mexican fusion thrown in, effort Jowong, a chic, modern bistro successful Condesa. The paper is designed to incorporated Mexican ingredients into modern versions of Korean dishes. Their mussels are heavenly, swimming successful a tangy herb sauce, and the tender fried eggplant has a heavy charred spirit that’s hard not to love. The sweet, mustardy pork belly is simply a bully opposition to the quick-pickled smashed cucumbers served connected their ain arsenic a side. 

The bully happening astir Jowong’s upscale mounting is that you tin get a Goldboy cocktail (mezcal, yuzu and ginger), a kimchi Gibson (gin, vermouth, and kimchi juice), oregon different delicious beverage concoctions to travel your meal.

Jowong’s kimchi-marinated chickenhearted sandwich, bathed successful a salsa of smoked pineapple and gochujang, is the eventual Korean comfortableness dish. (Jowong/Instagram)

I besides highly urge the cooking demonstrations astatine the Centro Cultural Coreano. Although there’s nary hands-on enactment for attendees, Oh gives the Korean names for ingredients and shows you which products she uses from the Korean market store. She adjacent offers movie recommendations and volition ever invitation you to enactment aft for the Korean euphony workshop. 

You get to sensation immoderate delicious happening she happens to beryllium cooking that day, but you person to bring your ain bowl.

Lydia Carey is simply a freelance writer and translator based retired of Mexico City. She has been published wide some online and successful print, penning astir Mexico for implicit a decade. She lives a treble beingness arsenic a section circuit usher and is the writer of “Mexico City Streets: La Roma.” Follow her municipality adventures connected Instagram and spot much of her enactment astatine mexicocitystreets.com.