A Korean celebrity chef has opened a new restaurant, Hanshin Pocha, in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood.
Hanshin PochaA new late-night street food restaurant founded by a famous SouthKoreanchef has arrived inOakland.
Hanshin Pocha opened in early April at 4869 Telegraph Ave. in the Temescal neighborhood. It’s the first Northern California franchise of a chain of the same name in Korea, run by celebrity chef Baek Jong-won. The restaurant is inspired by pocha, street vendors that originally served food out of covered wagons in Korea and eventually evolved into more permanent, indoor food stalls.
Jong-won is known for hosting several popular Korean food television shows, including “Top 3 Chef King,” which has a similar premise to the American hit “Top Chef.” The chef, whose name is sometimes spelled Paik, also starred in Netflix’s “Paik’s Spirit,” in which he talks about Korean cuisine over a meal with celebrity guests. Baek Jong-won runs multiple restaurant chains in Korea, including Hanshin Pocha and Paik’s Noodle, which also has locations in Santa Clara, Dublin and atH Mart in San Francisco. Hanshin Pocha’s U.S. presence is steadily growing, with two outposts in Los Angeles and another in Mesa, Ariz.
The owners of Bowl’d BBQ, a small string of Korean barbecue restaurants in the East Bay, converted their Temescal location into a Hanshin Pocha franchise, said manager John Lee. They felt the neighborhood needed a late-night spot to serve a “younger crowd,” and they were right: Hanshin Pocha has been packed with college and graduate students and young professionals on weekend nights, often until last call at 2 a.m., Lee said.
A team from Los Angeles and a representative from Korea flew in to train the Oakland staff on the menu, which is the same as other Hanshin Pocha locations. Expect dishes like hanshin tongdak, a crispy, whole fried chicken that servers break down table side; chewy tteokbokki (rice cakes) with seafood; and an entire grilled squid. Hanshin Pocha’s best-selling dish is spicy chicken feet, which arrive in a bubbling cast iron pot and require gloves to eat. The leftovers can get a second life as fried rice, Lee said. There are also D.I.Y. rice balls: The restaurant gives diners a bowl of rice, dried seaweed and other accoutrements to assemble their own (plus gloves).
This is the kind of food meant to pair with drinks. As such, Hanshin Pocha serves a range of makkoli (a milky Korean rice wine), soju and Korean beers. The new Oakland restaurant is dark and neon-lit; small chairs around small metal fold-up tables re-create the vibe of street food.
“It’s full of flavor. It’s a lot of spicy food. It goes really well with Korean soju,” Lee said.
The new restaurant marks the latest addition to the Bay Area’s Korean food scene, which was long maligned, especially compared to Los Angeles’ and New York City’s, but has beengrowing in recent years. If Hanshin Pocha does well, Lee said, the owners will likely open more locations in the Bay Area.
Reach Elena Kadvany: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
