Taste of Korea Is a Fundraiser for a New Korean Cultural Center

Photo: Courtesy of O’Kim’s Korean Kitchen

The press release that came to my inbox on Tuesday had a big takeaway. Amid announcements about food, drinks, entertainment and prizes coming to the 7th Taste of Korea festival next Friday, Nov. 10, was the mention that 100% of proceeds will go toward building a Korean cultural center. It will be Honolulu’s first—with “a museum, community meeting rooms, after-school Korean school for children, a senior citizens’ academy and classes for adults and children with a Korean theme,” the release said.

All worthy and sorely needed for a community whose roots in Hawai‘i stretch back to the arrival of the first Korean immigrants in 1903. To be clear, this is NOT the same as the inaugural Kimchi Day Festival on Nov. 4 or the separate and much bigger Korean Festival. Taste of Korea is happening from 6 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 10 at Honolulu Country Club in Salt Lake. Aside from dishes by O’Kim’s Korean Kitchen, Hangang Korean Grill House, MW Restaurant and others, Koha Foods is bringing an array of Korean drinks for sampling.

SEE ALSO: Your Insider Guide to the Inaugural Kimchi Day Festival

The event will honor O’Kim’s chef-owner Hyun Kim, winner of multiple Hale ‘Aina gold awards for Best Overall Korean restaurant. Kim will demo kim chee-making at the event and the locally based nonprofit Kimchi Love Hawai‘i will share and sell different varieties of kim chee (again, seriously, this is NOT to be confused with the Nov. 4 Kimchi Day Festival). The cost is $100 a person, which includes all food and drink:

Photo: Courtesy of Taste of Korea

• 88 Super Market—Tteokbokki; Goongjoong Tteokbokki, a milder version of the rice cake dish served to the royal family
• Hangang Korean Grill House—Japchae; Barbecue Beef Steak with special Korean sauce and rice
• Honolulu Country Club—Bossam with pork, fresh kim chee and special sauce; Spicy BBQ Pork
• K-Mex HI—Beef Bulgogi Taco; Spicy Pork Bulgogi Street Taco with onion, cilantro, kim chee salsa
• McCully Buffet—Chirashi with fresh ‘ahi, salmon, tamago, shrimp, crab meat, ocean salad and ginger on sushi rice
• MW Restaurant—Tamarind Curry Braised Pork Belly with kim chee and rice chips
• O’Kim’s Contemporary Korean Kitchen—Kim Chee Tofu Soup
• Onokai Restaurant—Sweet and Tangy Crispy Chicken, golden fried and boneless with a sweet-tangy sauce
• The Pig & The Lady—Pork and Kim Chee Summer Roll with grilled pork belly, shiso, mint, lettuce, kim chee and Josie’s pickles
• Hawai‘i Korean Cultural Center—Nokdujeon Mung Bean Pancakes of ground mung bean batter, ground pork, bean sprouts, fern, green onion, kim chee and chives; Fried Mandoo

Photo: Courtesy of Taste of Korea

And from Koha Foods:

• Terra Beer
• Bohae Bokbunjajoo
• Jinro Soju (Chamisul Fresh, Zero Sugar, and flavored soju including Strawberry Soju, Peach Soju, Green Grape Soju, etc.)
• Jinro Makgulli (rice wine)

Raffle prizes include gift cards to restaurants, $1,000 in goods from 88 Super Market and kim chee from Kimchi Love Hawai‘i.

This is a sip-and-graze event where restaurants will set up serving stations around an air-conditioned ballroom. Some tables are reserved; others are open seating. Like its previous events, Taste of Korea, which is coming back from a three-year pandemic hiatus, draws a mostly local crowd and the entire program is in English, says organizer Amanda Chang.

What: 7th Taste of Korea
When: Friday, Nov. 10, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Honolulu Country Club, 1690 Ala Pu‘umalu St.
Parking: Free on-site
Tickets: $100 includes all food and drinks
More info: hawaiikcc.org/en

BUY TICKETS

You can also buy tickets by calling (808) 343-4233 or (808) 535-8460 or going to Orient Travel at 745 Ke‘eaumoku St. #202 or Samwoo Marketing at 1311 Kapi‘olani Blvd. #200.

Chang, who’s also president of the Hawai‘i Korean Cultural Center, said the nonprofit bought property deep in Kalihi Valley in 2017 and hopes to pay off the mortgage in the next year or two. When it does, its leaders will decide whether to sell it and buy a place more convenient to bus lines for seniors who don’t drive or renovate the Kalihi buildings and open the cultural center there.

For the record, Honolulu’s other cultural and community centers are the Chinatown Cultural Plaza, built nearly 50 years ago in the 1970s; the Hawai‘i Okinawa Center (1990s, Waipio); the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (1990s, Mō‘ili‘ili); and the Filipino Community Center (2000s, Waipahu).