A spicy note of Korea – Pojangmacha Korean Street Food Friday in Berlin

Friday. What better thing is there to do than to try out some new food on a Friday night, after  a week of work and canteen lunch? Doro directed my attention towards Pojangmacha, the Korean Street Food Friday in the Platoon Kunsthalle in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg.  She wanted to go there with her work people and I used the opportunity to get some bibimbap in my face.

If it wasn’t for the sign I could have easily walked past the block of containers that house the Street Food.

Two Euros per person poorer and a stamp on the hand richer we entered the not so crowded assortment of shipping containers. In the back were food stands, to the right a bar.

A familiar face offered dumplings. The man behind the arm in the picture works in a Korean restaurant just across the street which is also highly recommended.

The drinks are on the high end of acceptable prices, a Gin Tonic for seven Euros is not considered a great deal in Berlin. The Korean beer is unexciting but refreshing and works actually quite well with the high chilli note of the food.

Speaking of which: what looks like an egg sunny side up ordered from amazon is a delicious portion of bibimbap, in my case with beef. Other options offered tofu or chicken. I was told to stir this up.

So I did. What the bibimbap lost in looks it made up in flavour. Hot and spicy and seasoned and fresh and mmmmmh so good. I had okay bibimbap before at the Kimchi Princess and good bibimbap at the Korean across the street and this one here definitely plays in the high league of Korean standards.

As the medium portion did satisfy but not quite fill us up, Doro headed off to get some dumplings. We love dumplings. Dumplings exist in most cultures in one form or another (with Germany not winning the game, Maultaschen are nice but not exciting) and even bad dumpings are usually still quite good dumplings (with the exception of Yumcha Heroes. Theirs suck in all kind of ways). These two beauties were filled with a delicious combination of leek and pork mince. I never thought I would call leek delicious, but this one surely was.

Despite being not the dessert kind of person I did not turn down the cake pops that closed our little menu. These inconspicuous little fellas were made of macha flavoured dough filled with bean paste and walnuts. So good, so not sweet. We had like three bags, the four of us. Don’t miss out on these.

By the time we finished the crowd got considerably larger. People we’re looking for seats and the noise got quite unenjoyable. The music was playing constantly at a high level and the seats were benches that left no room to the next table which made the whole experience a bit uncomfortable. Make sure you come early at around half past six to get a nice seat.

A thing that we didn’t try this time was the „fry at your own table“ menu. For 10 EUR per person (min. 2 people) you get a gas grill for the table and an assortment of meat and veggies to grill. The Russians next to us ate the meat raw and grilled the lettuce. I think you can also do it like this although I’d recommend doing it vice versa.

The event is not as cheap as the Street Food in the name would suggest, but it is definitely worth to have a go at the Korean food. We’ll come back just to fry some more lettuce.