Get to know the Korean, Japanese and Italian ingredients that flavor our menu. Tap any photo to zoom.
Kimchi, a staple in Korean cuisine, is a traditional side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish, made with a widely varying selection of seasonings including gochugaru, spring onions, garlic, ginger, and jeotgal, etc. It is also used in a variety of soups.
Bulgogi, literally "fire meat", is a gui made of thin, marinated slices of beef grilled on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle.
Gochugaru flakes are Korean red chili peppers that are dried in the sun. The dried peppers are then chopped to a size between flakes and powder. Gochugaru flakes are both fruity and smoky, with a distinct medium heat.
Chunjang is a black, salty soybean paste that is used for making the sauce for jjajangmyeon, a very popular dish in Korean Chinese cuisine. It literally means “spring sauce.” What makes Korean chunjang different from the Chinese chunjang is that Korean chunjang contains caramel, creating a perfect balance of savory and sweet flavors.
Ssamjang is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a leaf in Korean cuisine. The sauce is made of doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions, and optionally brown sugar.
Kewpie is a little different than American mayo, because it's made with only egg yolks—not whole eggs—and with rice or apple vinegar and no added salt or sugar.
Nori is the Japanese name for edible seaweed species of the red algae genus Pyropia, including P. yezoensis and P. tenera. It has a strong and distinctive flavor. It is used chiefly in Japanese cuisine as an ingredient to wrap rolls of sushi or onigiri, in which case the term refers to the dried sheets.
Gochujang or red chili paste is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment, popular in Korean cooking. It is made from chili powder, glutinous rice, meju powder, yeotgireum, and salt. The sweetness comes from the starch of cooked glutinous rice, cultured with saccharifying enzymes during the fermentation process.
Takoyaki or "octopus balls" is a ball-shaped Japanese snack or appetizer made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion.
Mignonette sauce is a condiment usually made with minced shallots, cracked pepper, and vinegar. The French term "mignonette" originally referred to a sachet of peppercorns, cloves, and spices used to flavor liquids, but now simply means cracked pepper.
Scamorza is a South Italian cow's milk cheese. It can also be made from other milks, but that is less common. It is a stretched-curd cheese, in which the fresh curd matures in its own whey for several hours to allow acidity to develop by the process of lactose being converted to lactic acid.
