 When we were younger, she used to take a Dorito chip and lick it, lick the sauce, and then make me eat the tortilla. What's going on everybody? We are in New York City right now. Welcome to another episode of Feng Ro's Food. One of the most requested cuisines we get to talk about is Korean food. But today we are going to be talking about everything beyond sumdaboo. We are at Tofu Tofu. This is the only authentic Korean restaurant in New York's Chinatown. They are so nice to me. Every time I come in and they're so dope. But I could not show it off without some Korean friends, so please introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Chanyeol Kenny. I'm a comic artist, teacher, and YouTuber in New York City. What's up? I'm Debsad. I'm a dancer and actor. I'm Junie. I'm a prospective physical therapist. And it's brother and sister! So we're going to try some more advanced Korean food you've probably never heard of or you've never tried. At Tofu Tofu, they have a really dope story. There is a 70-year-old grandmother in the kitchen who cooks everything. How do we say grandmother in Korean? I am so ready to try out Korean cuisine beyond sumdaboo. Let's go! So the side dishes are coming before any of the food is. And the side dishes at any Korean spot are called panjang. I want to explain it because I think for a lot of non-Korean people like myself, when you get the panjang, you just eat it, but you don't know what it is. You have these free dishes in front of you and this is vital for how someone feels when they walk out of that door. It's kind of like the bread and butter and water of the restaurant. You sit down and when they give that to you, if the bread is stale, you're going to be a little like... You're going to question everything else. It's kind of funny because sometimes you'll be so hungry, you sit down, you eat the panjang, and then you ask for more and the food comes up and you're like, oh man, I'm already done. You filled up on panjang. Do you guys have a personal favorite for panjang? Yes. Napa, at least for me. I like a little spice in my life. You know, very traditional kimchi, we all know what kimchi is. This one has been fermented. You could tell by the little bit of sour. How old? A little bit of sour. I'm talking about like... Shut up. We're about four days out of the fridge. Wow. Chill it on the counter, right? This right here is kakdugi. Check out the sound. You ready? I'm through with the crunch. We got this gyeran team, which is steamed egg. It's actually really hard to make at home. So it's just like an extra like thank you or a sign of hospitality. Okay, so should we all get a spoonful of this egg? Let me show you something, right? This is something my dad always loves to do. Oh my god. He'll take a long kimchi. Okay. And he will wrap it. Wrap whatever you need. Oh, you wrap the egg in the kimchi, okay. This is almost like a bacon egg wrap, but with kimchi. Okay. We've got a crazy spread for us and we're just at the beginning. This is round one. You have your panchans and then what do we have? Please explain to me what I'm looking at. All right, we got some japchae. It's got some beef and vegetables in it. It's usually either sweet potato noodles or it could be I think even cellophane noodles. And then we got some fried dumplings, which is very like, if you haven't ever had Korean cuisine, this is super safe. I didn't know that actually Koreans have their own version too. This is a traditional dish. This has rice cake. I like mine served with cheese and ramen too. But this is here with more home style, right? This is more the traditional way. Yo, we've got to get to this mini bosom. How do you guys explain it to people? Because it is boiled meat with boiled tofu and a lot of people are like, but it's actually really good. It's healthier that it's boiled too because you soak it all the fat. I mean, the fat parts are still there, the fatty pieces. It's essentially pork bellies. Every house they do some differently. This is one whole bite. Hey, hey. We have stepped into the main part of the show. What are we looking at, guys? This is something that may be new to the audience. This, it literally translates as potato soup. The highlight of this dish is not about potato. It's about these really chunky pork bones. It's actually really good to mara moga. Mara moga means to mix in the rice and eat it with the stew. There's two types of Koreans. The ones that mara and the ones that don't. The ones that will just take the rice, just dump it right in the soup. And the ones that don't. I prefer not to. The gamjatang is definitely get that. That is amazing. I think that for me, there's something about potato stews from any culture that I am a huge proponent of. What else we got? We're looking at cheyuk. It's not bulgogi. No. Bulgogi is as compared as beef to bulgogi as pork to cheyuk. Here we go. This is the cheyuk. That ended up working out really nice. Because some people, they really just don't like tofu. This kind of tastes like a chicken food. I think so. I think so. This is your tango. This is gamjatang. Tam means jjinjang. Gye means chicken. Tang means soup. Koreans love to eat really hot things or hot things and they go ironically. No, it's true. I just ate a juju date. And man, that took me back because that is such a traditional flavor in a lot of Asian food. Jinseng, dates, such a good combination and so many different cultures use it. That was very good. There are two types of people. People that will clear out all the bones first and then eat it comfortably with people that will just eat it as you go. I would definitely just sort everything out. Because you're not about catching a bone on the bone. I would get traditional wings. I would rip them all apart and then eat it with a fork. It's delicious. We had to get a plate of kalbi. It's people's preferences. Sometimes they like just the authentic meat taste and then there are people who like that sweet, savory, gravy. You've heard of LA kalbi. That does not mean Los Angeles kalbi. This is like a really, really basic fact. LA means lateral, which is the type of cut of the meat and that's what makes it different from regular kalbi. Oh, I didn't know that. I thought it was from LA. Everyone thinks LA is Los Angeles. Check this out. Two different kinds of people in the world. All right? We have... Look at this. And then there's me. I don't eat this. I've said a lot about you, to be honest. This means you call me a princess every time. Like, eat this, you know? And I'm like, I don't want to. It's very like... It's hard to chew around the head. What's cartilage, right? Funny story. Funny story. So when we were younger, she used to take a Dorito chip and lick it, lick the sauce and then make me eat the tortilla. And I would get in trouble if I didn't eat that. Stop chewing. But he agreed. Because I said, you want Yu-Gi-Oh cards or not? Let's not get into the evil things she's done. Too much to me. Family. Family is what family does. But a second type of person, actually they even eat the marrow. And if you don't, the harmony or whoever, the eldest would be like, Chae-Jae, you didn't eat it. Which means you don't know how to eat it. You didn't eat it, right? Because you got to eat it to the bone. Guys, can we gather around? And just talk about this right now. This is a mushroom jungle. How do you guys say mushroom in Korean? How's that? It looks like we got Wang-Song-ee. Oyster mushroom. Button and also Shi-Take. What is this? You know ki, which is called hanging mushroom. You know ki is the challenge. Your mushroom game is crazy. You know. I'm all about the shrooms. I'm all about the shrooms. For you guys, this is your first time having it. So this is my first time having it too. So I love uncovering things with people who have never had it, even though they're from their culture. I thought it would taste very veggie-like. But because there was like, he was like simmering in meat and having good meat-based soup. Yeah. It doesn't really taste too much like vegetable soup. You're going to make all types of mushrooms taste good in one bowl. That's true. And I hate mushrooms. You're the one. She got the sauce. She got the sauce. There's going to be definitely a lot of leftovers. But I love to see, man, I love to see there's so many different flavor profiles, the kind of bondage and food together. We're nearing the end of the meal, but we have so much food left over. We got to call in our friend Kevin Kryder. What up, Kev? Good to see you, man. Good to see you, man. Kevin, you came for a nice part because we have to introduce kimchi fried rice. It's my first time seeing a fried rice dish with rice out in the oven like this. Usually, egg will be covering it. It'll be covering it. It'll be like a mystery as to what's inside. The shape of a heart. Oh, wow. I thought it was a bite. I thought it was a booty. I mean, to them, it's a heart, but to me, it's a booty. You thought it was the peach emoji? Yeah. I love kimchi. I love rice. So combined, it's great. I thought you were going to say, but not kimchi fried rice. What was your journey like with Korean food, being in the dog team? You didn't know a lot about it. Now it's like everywhere, right? It's everywhere. It's actually so mainstream now when I was growing up. Anything Korean, I just shunned because it was like, people made fun of you for it. Now it's like, I remember back in college, a Korean girlfriend wanted me to go to a Korean barbecue place. I was like, ugh, I won't be hard dead there. Give me McDonald's. But then like, it went on. It's like, yeah, I'll take dates to Korean barbecue. You're saying that the mainstream American attitude towards Korean food and cuisine and culture has really opened up in the past? Totally, 100%. And so for those out there that understand what most of us have gone through, you just need to really embrace the struggle and be true to who you are. It doesn't even matter if the best guru, like life coach, like Tony Robbins, tell you what, own it, unleash it. It's like, okay, then you gotta go back to your white world, you know? It's like, it's not, and it's harmony. So it's like so important to see this. So when you're feeling down in the dumps to keep replaying this video over and over you're gonna be like, no, you get really good with your identity. So I'm involved in a project called The Ugly Model Documentary and it's about the topics of Asian masculinity and questioning, can Asian men be sexy in the media and culture? And it's obviously yes, but why do we feel unsexy at times and why do other people perceive us as unsexy at times and it really addresses that hardcore. And if you can't donate, then just go to The Ugly, or UglyModel.com and you can check it out and message anybody and show some support anyway. Before we say peace, Dev, explain this. What is this? I saw Michael B. Jordan in Chad. We've both been doing this for Black Panther, yeah. Oh, cause they shot in South Korea. So, you know, like a lot of people do this. This is like Matt Basic. You gotta do this. It's a heart. Well, this is becoming the new basic, though. Shut up. All right, you guys. Thank you so much for watching that episode of Phone Grows Food. We are in New York City. And you guys, until next time, we're out! Peace! Start by tofu tofu. We have a very nice tofu soup and then very quiet atmosphere. So maybe you guys really happy for eating at the time. Thank you.