How to Be a Kimchi Goddess in Bengaluru

My quest for authentic ingredients led me to several interesting places in Bengaluru. The trick, finds Saina Jayapal, is in finding the right stores and ingredients

Move aside, K-dramas. In Bengaluru, K-stores are where its at.

This year, I decided to cook for my friends, and to host cuisine-themed meals. One of the themes that remains an evergreen favourite of mine is Korean cuisine. My quest for authentic ingredients led me to several interesting places in Bengaluru. The city has quite a few stores; K Food Antenna Shop, and Seoul Store, among others that offer people like me the chance to buy and savour some little-known Korean foods and ingredients.

For your bread fix

My first stop was the bakery Kobap, a spot I’m guilty of gatekeeping as a secret source for milky soft Korean breads. There are many bakeries in Bengaluru that claim to make the softest milk bread. But for me, it has always been Kobap Bakery. The truest delights are their unique baked goods — pumpkin sweet potato bread, fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste, Soboro bread (a sweet bun topped with peanut streusel), potato goroke (a sweet fried bread with a savory mashed potato filling), twisted donuts, sweet potato cake, conch (a cream-filled bake), milk bread, sweet corn bread, honey castella, and more. These items are exclusive to this tiny bakery and are freshly baked to order. Occasionally, they might throw in an extra treat just for fun. Kobap Bakery, initially part of Thran Restaurant, was later taken over by Hyun Kyung Jung, who renamed it and has maintained its quality for over three and a half years. A tip: it’s best to place your order in advance and arrange for pickup. It might seem like a lot of effort, but it’s worth it. They also keep some basic ingredients, sauces, tinned meat, and ramen noodles too.

For sourcing hard-to-find ingredients

Next, for ingredient sourcing, my first stop is always The K-Store Korean Mart. I have been a regular here for years. It is the oldest Korean shop in the city, established in the late 2000s by Eunhee Choi, located below Arirang Restaurant. The K Store began by selling Korean ingredients from a small showcase near the restaurant’s entrance.

Eunhee Choi started the K Store Korean Mart in the 2000s, making it the oldest such store in the city.

The store's popular items are the kimchi, chives, in-house tofu and noodles.

Over time, Choi expanded the store’s offerings to include a variety of Korean specialties. Unique in-house products include different kinds of kimchi (radish, cabbage, spring onion, and mustard leaves, and even occasionally, bak choy kimchi), various shapes of tteok (rice cakes), and dumplings filled with kimchi and pork. Though she used to sell fresh produce like Korean leeks and chives from her garden, she now only offers chives. Popular items also include in-house tofu and, if ordered in advance, fresh noodles. The types of sauces and pastes she carries in her store are essentials for a Korean homemaker's kitchen — gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), ganjang (soy sauce), mulyeot (Korean rice syrup), sesame oil, mirim, anchovy sauce, vinegar, gochujang (Korean chili paste), and doenjang (Korean soybean paste). For those feeling adventurous, there’s canned beondegi (silkworm pupae), an exotic treat which one day I will have the courage to experiment with.

If all that shopping leaves you feeling peckish, there is a selection of chips (potato, corn, and sweet potato of various flavors) and Korean ice creams, which are wildly popular for their unusual flavours and shiny packaging. Not to mention Korean tea, coffee, and canned juices, which are also available. She also provides special cuts of pork, beef, and fish. She makes sure to stock various types of rice, Korean biscuits cakes, and much more. She hopes, in time, to build up the space. After seeing Instagram reels of stores in Korea, she hopes to provide her customers with hot water and a microwave so that one can eat at the store. She likes the idea of the store being used as a place to eat as well. This is definitely one of the older stores in the city, and it is best to come here to buy the in-house produce.

For frozen desserts and pouch beverages

As far as the newer stores go, there is spacious Seela, by Seela Infratech Pvt. Ltd., based in Delhi. This store, similar to the offerings at K Mart, has several unique items. They sell the ubiquitous ice cubes in plastic glasses where one can choose various pouch beverages, also known as ade, and drink them on the go—this trend was made popular again thanks to Instagram. If you want an energy boost, they have the ever-popular Bacchus available as well. Most of us are familiar with tteok thanks to the dish tteokbokki, but there are sweet tteok frozen desserts at the store filled with red bean paste, chocolate, or even frozen milk cream. It can be quite interesting once you get over the texture.

At Seela, you can find authentic Korean cookware besides condiments and sauces.

You can buy and eat a mochi dessert at Seela

Seela has a separate section dedicated to ramen.

Everything in this store is imported, and nothing is made in-house. They have a separate section dedicated to ramens of all flavours and spice levels; it is clearly the popular section of the store. They definitely have an extensive range on offer, from the kind of frozen meats, fish, beverages, tinned items, sauces, ice creams, mochi desserts (which are a huge hit as there is space at the store where one can eat the items once purchased). Most of the items can be classified as premium, from their meat, fish, and frozen items, which are of a certain quality. The customer base is 40% Korean and 60% Indian. Interestingly, their most popular item is corn dogs. Unlike the other stores, you also get authentic Korean cookware which is usually hard to purchase.

A glimpse of the meal I cooked using ingredients sourced from Bengaluru's Korean stores.

For the Korean meal I cooked for my friends, I bought kimchi, tofu, gochujang, and sesame oil from K-Mart store. When it comes to gochugaru, it is best to go to Seela as they can sell you smaller quantities; otherwise, you will be stuck with a kilogram of gochugaru which is hard to finish. I made prawn pancakes , kimchi fried rice, beef bulgogi and spicy braised tofu and ended the meal with cream conch from the Korean bakery. The meal was a smashing hit, and I loved being able to serve ready-to-eat numbers from the store (like kimchi). Palm it off like you are a kimchi goddess, and the best part, no one needs to know.

Saina Jayapal is a PR professional and food enthusiast, seeker of hidden food gems, and amateur food host. 

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