By It looks like there is finally a place in Korea where you can get good Mexican food:
We heard recently from some Korean friends about a Mexican restaurant near Osan Air Base that they’d liked a lot. So we stopped in for lunch recently.
La Casa del Mexicano, which opened in January 2008, is owned by Catherine Kim, who also owns two Thai restaurants — Chang Pwuck and Sawatdee — and a Japanese restaurant she opened in May, Izakaya. All are in the Shinjang Mall area.
The cooks at La Casa are from Mexico City, Kim told us, and they make all the dishes on the premises, including the salsa dips. They also have a machine on which they make tortillas.
On the menu are enchiladas, tacos, fajitas and numerous other Mexican menu standards. Most dishes are made with either chicken or beef. But shrimp and pork are also on the menu.
Among those most popular with customers are enchilada verde, queso carne and champi pechuga con queso, Kim said. [Stars & Stripes]
The next time I am in the Osan area I will definitely have to check this place out.
2:19 pm on July 26th, 2009 1
Haven’t checked that place out, but there’s a place in Masan that the sailors in Chinhae Naval Base swear by. I haven’t been there yet either, but its supposed to be spicy as hell. Its owned by a Korean guy, but his wife is Mexican, and she does all the cooking (or at least runs the kitchen).
Something I discovered while here in Korea: If you want to find a good curry, find the nearest Brit. If you want to find a good burrito, find the nearest American.
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4:46 pm on July 26th, 2009 2
I met the cook of that restaurant (the one in the photo) last year in a DVD renting store in Songtan, but had no chance to try his food. A genuine mexican that came to Korea because he was bankrupt in his country. His main complain in Korea: No korean girlfriend to share the nights. He got surprised with me because I was the first Spanish fluent Korean guy he ever met. Anyway, a nice man.
Could anybody in Songtan ask him if he remembers a Korean guy from Brazil fluent in Spanish?
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July 26th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I thought a version of Portuguese was the official language of Brazil. Anyway, there is at least one other Korean from Brazil in Songtan.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61233
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July 26th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
JoeC,
You are right, Brazilian official language is Portuguese but my family lived 6 years in Argentina before moving to Brazil, so I’m fluent in Spanish too (I studied in Argentinean school until 12 years old).
Many Koreans from Brazil are returning to Korea these days because Korea has become prosperous.
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5:18 pm on July 26th, 2009 3
I went there last week…fantastic! Songtan has amazing restaurants while Osan sucks for variety. I went to Chakra last night and got the buffet. Wonderful!
The mexican food though was authentic and the waiter and son of the owner was friendly and helpful.
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6:10 pm on July 26th, 2009 4
I’ll second (third?) the recommendation. Pretty decent Mexican fare at this place. Back in Texas this place would be merely average, but over here it’s one of the best Mexican restaurants I’ve been to. I imagine they are handicapped a bit by having limited or no access to some of the desired ingredients, so I’ll cut them some slack regarding the authenticity of the food.
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6:58 pm on July 26th, 2009 5
I’m leary about trying this place. Is this the Mexican restaurant above Golden Gate? If it is, I went there when it opened last year and both me and my friend agreed it was the worst food we ever had.
Still, if this is the same restaurant or some other around the Osan Ville I will not go to it. To be honest, the Ville is such a ghetto now I won’t go there for ANYTHING except to collect my money. I won’t even go to the McDonalds there anymore, the Ville is that pathetic.
JH
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July 29th, 2009 at 11:44 am
At least you tried it and that’s fair…
I agree with you about the Ville becoming a ghetto; it’ll get worse when those smelly, fat, Air Force and Army wives arrive from the States with their snot-laden brats in tow.
Yes, you know what I mean because some of them are already here.
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July 29th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
True, the fat Americans make the ville worse. Still, it’s the Koreans who are really responsible for making the Songtan ghetto what it is. It’s not just the despicable Human Traffickers either. The streets are DIRTY with trash strewn about. There are sleazy Koreans/Americans/Filipinas milling about and there has been only decay instead of improvements in over 10 or 15 years.
I know, I know. Someone will pipe up and say they may make improvements in the future. They always say that and it will be years before anything happens.
It’s a huge insult for the local and Korean Governments to allow such a seedy place to exist without doing something about it.
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July 29th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
“The streets are DIRTY with trash strewn about. There are sleazy Koreans/Americans/Filipinas milling about and there has been only decay instead of improvements in over 10 or 15 years.”
Your view of the Songtan Shinjang Mall may just be a snapshot perspective of someone just passing through.
DIRTY streets: The area has rigorous trash collection procedures. During the day and into the evening, you will see trash bags start to accumulate around collection points like the tree enclosures down the middle of the main strip. Of course, in a bustling business area, trash will pile up quickly. I would likely see the same thing and get the same impression if I happened to walk by your unit’s outdoor Family Day festivities.
Walk through Shinjang Mall at 9 AM and its all gone. The trash collectors and street sweepers will have come through.
SLEAZY Koreans/Americans/Filipinas. Please add definition to your choice of that adjective. Is it dress and appearance? Guys lounging around in shorts and sandals? Girls walking by in shorts and tube tops? Would a Marines in Japan style dress code of dockers and polo shirts help?
Is it the activity? People lounging and drinking beer outside bars on Aragon Alley and the Blue Opera in the evening? Tell us about the bygone era when you came through Shinjang area and it was any different.
DECAY instead of improvements: From what I see, there is too much improvement. This place is under constant rennovation. A couple of year ago, for no particular reason I know of, they decided to replace and standardize the signs on almost all the businesses. Anyone who spends a lot of time here will tell you how often they dig up and replace streets and sidewalks here. It’s even hard to keep up with the turnover of businesses opening, closing, and relocating.
So I guess it really is a difference of perspective of someone who decides to walk through here at a particlar time on a given date once very couple of years and someone who is here regularly.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
They don’t make any improvements. Comeon, walk around and tell me things are IMPROVED. It’s dirty, decayed, and full of trash. If you’re going to make a “Shopping Mall” for “Tourists” you’re NOT going to have trash in the streets.
No, it’s not a Shopping Mall at all. It’s a sleazy area full of bars (over 100 of them!) run by Human Traffickers. In amazing contrast, the ville outside of Camp Humphreys isn’t as bad. I did take a Korean friend to the Osan area one time and he asked that I never take him there again.
10:07 pm on July 26th, 2009 6
Sounds like a plan for a road trip. I’ll wait until my buddies get a bit homesick before swinging the idea to them (they kept mentioning Mexican before they went back home for the summer vacation).
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11:41 am on July 29th, 2009 7
My friends and I have been visiting this place off and on since December 2008. The food is okay but to be fair, and after talking with the manager about the ingredients or the lack thereof, if the proper ingredients were available, the flavor would be much improved.
Still, considering I’ve eaten in Mexican restaurants in Seoul, Kunsan, Pusan, and Pohang, this one is in the top 3 of the 8 I’ve visited so far over the past 4 years. One thing is their salsa is rather tasty and is nicely spiced.
Give this place a try and remember: we’re not in Mexico so the flavor won’t be spot on but it is good for where we are at.
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1:07 pm on July 29th, 2009 8
I expected someone would have opened a kogi-taco fast food place near the main gate by now.
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8:07 pm on July 29th, 2009 9
JoeC,
Shingang is a nice place at the week ends. The neons, the hip-hop music clubs, the ajummas with phojang machas, the bars, the drinks. I met some fine soldiers in the clubs and also tasted the Hip-Hop culture there. I only regret that I could not enjoy more because I don’t enjoy drinking very much but its surely a unique place in Korea.
My father had a small business in Shinjang mall, close to the base gate. If you live in Songthan look for the “Mr.Yu’s Furniture” in Shinjang Mall, because that was my fathers place before we left Korea. Now it belongs to my cousin.
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8:40 pm on July 29th, 2009 10
“¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!”
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6:30 am on August 5th, 2009 11
I can vouch for the total yumminess of La Casa Del Mexicano! I’m serious about Mexican food and trust me, it took quite a lot of convincing from my husband before I agreed to try it.
The green chili chicken enchiladas are AWESOME!
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