it's raining!

Music suggestion while reading this post: led zepp - the rain song

rain makes soup taste even better...have you watched the movie Oliver?

Oliver- May I have some more soup sir?
soup person - What??!!?
Oliver - Some soup sir, may I please have some more?
*Riot ensues*

A couple weeks ago, I went to Cho Dang Soon Dubu in Diamond Bar for dinner. It used to be an old Chinese restaurant for quite some time, but I guess business languished for them as the years went by. It was the place to go to when I was a kid. Anyhow, I apologize for the poor quality of the pics, especially this set, as I used my cell phone to take the pictures. Service is usually prompt at these types of places. I got a salad, comprised of mostly iceberg lettuce and some little pieces of purple cabbage and carrots with a spicy asian type dressing (not sure what it was...but it had some ginger in it), as well as a small fish (yellow corvina?)

Banchan: Bean sprouts, cucumber kimchi(sweet and spicy, and pretty good), and not sure what that small stuff was exactly...spicy marinated squid? The standard dolsot rice in the background.


Once again, apologies for the crappiness of these pictures. The cucumber again, regular cabbage kimchi, and japchae(noodles), which was very plain and bland. The banchan rotation here is pretty much the same every time I go here. I feel like the quality in food has gone down, since they first opened. Sometimes they give geem(dried seaweed) as well. Nevertheless, it seems like a popular spot. I go simply because its the closest soondubu/Korean place to where I live, making it the most convenient.

Soondubu with Kimchi and beef, spicy level: hot for $8.99. It was pretty good that time, granted I was starving, after coming home from the gym. I scarfed this down pretty quick. It was better than the last time I came.

There is a frozen yogurt machine (vanilla, chocolate, or swirl) where you can have a nice complimentary dessert. They've also been doing this promotion for a while now, where you get a card, in which for every entree you order, you get a stamp, and with ten stamps, you get a free bowl of soondubu. Once I got the yook geh jang (spicy beef soup), and although it was pretty big, it wasn't very good. Spicy though.

Overall, like I said before, I feel like this place has slowly gone downhill. However, I do prefer this to BCD and MyungDong in Rowland Heights.

ChoDang Soondubu
1155 S. Diamond Bar Blvd. Suite M
Diamond Bar

Last week, I was craving some Kimbap (Korean sushi I suppose you could call it without the raw fish), and decided to go to the dying Han Nam Chain Market to try a restaurant inside there that I remember having Kimbap. I consider myself a gambling man when trying food, and often times lose when trying new things. This was one of those times. Inside the market, on the right side, sharing the space with the bakery is Masenara, which serves Korean and Japanese Cusine. I ordered the kimbap and spicy tuna roll.

Sides included two bowls of miso soup, which was bland and a bit watered down, some daikon/dakwang, and some potatoes cooked in a soy sauce sugar type sauce, I'd say.


12 pieces of kimbap, filled with spinach, egg, carrots, Krab, pickled daikon, and fish cake. The rice wasn't very good because it wasn't cooked right, so the chew factor wasn't very pleasant. I'd give the kimbap a D+/C-. I've had worse. The price was around $6 or $7. I think that Han Nam Chain has the best kimbap that I've had around these parts. On the left side of the market, there is a section where people make fresh kim bap for the day around 5 bucks for two rolls. Those were much better than these, as well as the ones at the HMart too. You might be reading this and asking yourself, well, why didn't you get it at that stand then stupid? Because I wanted to try something new, that's why. Sadly I'm still craving kimbap, so I've decided to try and make some of my own for the first time tomorrow. I love kimbap almost as much as I love soup.

Spicy tuna roll around $7 or $8. I don't know why I order this damn thing every time I go to get some sushi. I just can't help it, whether I want it or not, I just have to get it. It wasn't very good, although I can say that I wasn't expecting too much. It was spicy, but the taste of the spiciness was off; it almost tasted like kochoojang. Maybe it was? Funnily enough, Masenara also has a promotion going on with a card and stamps. Every ten bucks spent = 1 stamp. 10 stamps = 1 soondubu. Regardless, I don't think I'll be coming back here again any time soon. They do have an extensive menu, ranging from Korean stews, bbq, to Japanese sushi/sashimi. I've also tried their mandoo, bibim gooksu, and hwedupbab before, and they were okay. The sashimi rice/hwedupbap was a good amount, like other places.

Masenara
21080 Golden Springs Dr
Diamond Bar, CA 91765


On my way out, I saw a man and perhaps his son, making some hodduk and I forget what the other thing was called, which was a small bite sized piece of bread with red bean inside it. Each hodduk was a dollar, and I planned on getting one. However, I saw a lady who was in front of me in the line that I knew, and she graciously bought me two, which was very nice of her. The sign said it was filled with honey powder, pine nuts, and some other stuff. It was nice to eat warm, as the man cooked each dduk per order. What I didn't like about it was that it was a bit oily, and some parts of it didn't have enough filling. Still it was nice to have on a somewhat cold night.

To end, I bought a bottle of this bad boy at Ralphs, for around 5 or 6 bucks I believe. 5.2%. If you like chocolate and you like stout, this is a beer you'd enjoy. There was a very strong chocolate taste (I read they use dark chocolate), which stood out clearly from the rest of what was going on without it being overpowering. The picture looks weird because I was messing around with it on Picasa.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. California needs it. Happy day light savings. Everyone gets an extra hour of sleep. Hallejuah Handel!