Strolling into Jagalchi in Daly Metropolis seems like coming into an edible wonderland handcrafted for Ok-foodies.
The complicated, a much-anticipated undertaking of the Mega Mart USA Korean retail chain, celebrates the wealthy abundance and number of hansik (conventional Korean delicacies) and classy Ok-foods, inviting everybody to dig in, study extra and cook dinner at residence. The primary clients packed the place Friday and immediately, with crowds anticipated once more Sunday — and for the foreseeable future.
The 75,000-square-foot emporium, transformed from a former JC Penney, is a wormhole to the meals courtroom of any baekhwajeom (division retailer galleria) in Seoul’s glitzy Gangnam district. The meals hub’s title, nevertheless, honors the historic Jagalchi Fish Market, South Korea’s largest seafood heart in Busan.
Customers watch as a tuna is carved inside Jagalchi, the Korean meals complicated that opened on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Serramonte Heart in Daly Metropolis, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
Jagalchi’s director, Bum-suk Ha, stated that the namesake is a shoutout to the Southeastern port metropolis the place Nongshim, the multinational large that produces Shin Ramyun and runs Mega Mart, has a producing plant and is including one other for exports solely.
The homeowners additionally needed to evoke the spirit of quintessential and enduring Koreanness — Ha stated, “Jagalchi Fish Market isn’t a place that’s flashed brightly and disappeared.”
The primary of its type within the U.S., the enterprise goals to introduce genuine Korean delicacies and nice eating to U.S. audiences, stated Gon Lee, advertising supervisor at Jagalchi.
“You don’t need a plane ticket to get a taste of Korea,” stated Gabriella Lee, Jagalchi advertising specialist.
Clients arrive for his or her first have a look at Jagalchi, the Korean meals complicated that opened on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Serramonte Heart in Daly Metropolis, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
Recent seafood and sushi line one wall, 64-ounce jars of imported and house-made kimchi one other. There’s an aisle for ramyeon, one for banchan and one other for freshly made dumplings and shabu-shabu cuts. There’s a road meals alley, a temple meals haven, and a butcher counter, neat cabinets of imported teas and snacks, Ok-beauty merchandise from sunscreens to nighttime lotions, stacks of fruit glowing with vibrant freshness, a gluten-free bakery with rice-based desserts and, in the midst of all of it, a full-service restaurant helmed by a Korean movie star chef.
Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture Meals and Rural Affairs calculated that Korean agricultural and meals exports to the U.S. reached a document excessive of $1.59 billion in 2024 (a 21.8% rise from the previous 12 months).
However, says Lee, whereas some Korean dishes — resembling kimbap — are having viral moments, Bay Space audiences nonetheless could not have had fairly as a lot publicity to Korean meals in comparison with Chinese language or Japanese delicacies. Jagalchi’s aiming to alter this whereas elevating guests’ grocery buying experiences.
Right here are some things to know earlier than you go.
Clients arrive for his or her first have a look at Jagalchi, the Korean meals complicated that opened on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Serramonte Heart in Daly Metropolis, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
A well-known chef is within the constructing: On the core of the multimillion-dollar house is the 160-seat restaurant Pogu, ensconced by darkish wooden slats and stuffed with furnishings straight out of Korea.
Head chef Tony Yoo (Yoo Hyun-soo) energetically toils away together with his group within the huge open kitchen.
Yoo turned Korea’s first Michelin-star recipient whereas government chef of “24 Seasons” and now owns Dooreyoo in Seoul. The chef, who has appeared on tv, can also be a United Nations World Meals Programme chef advocate for the worldwide zero starvation motion,
He as soon as resided within the Bay whereas coaching on the Michelin-starred, now-closed Aqua Restaurant in San Francisco. Now he’s again–having fun with the climate, the folks, and American steaks and wines.
He stated that there have been many particular substances that he needed to go away planted in Korea’s terroir.
“Right now, it’s spring there – the greens are all coming out,” he stated, sharing that he hopes to convey extra seasonal treasures stateside by way of native partnerships.
A whole wall of recent kimchi, together with some ready in-house, is on provide on the now-open Jagalchi, a Korean meals market and eating house in Daly Metropolis. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Space Information Group)
Pogu favors conventional flavors: The night earlier than the grand opening, Yoo introduced a testing menu that began with a rice flour bun and a aspect of matcha buttercream. Subsequent got here a ball of salmon, tuna and squid hwe (uncooked fish) bedazzled with salmon roe on a mattress of watercress greens, asparagus, sliced beet and cucumber. Dabs of chogochujang (type of the shrimp cocktail sauce of Korea) and a gray seafood paste completed the plate.
Aromatic Gangwon buckwheat noodles and shredded hen rolled in a verdant home sauce adopted, surrounded by radish slices, chopped inexperienced beans, pink onion slices, brilliant streaks of sauce, and a cluster of finely cubed insam (ginseng) doused in nose-piercing sizzling mustard. Dessert was Injeolmi Cake — a scoop of pillowy mousse sprinkled with roasted soybean powder, with a sq. of old style oranda (puffed wheat fused along with syrup) and a golden crescent of gingery yakgwa (a dynastical, deep-fried, honey-saturated confection) on high.
Customers discover the produce on the market at Jagalchi, the Korean meals complicated that opened on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Serramonte Heart in Daly Metropolis, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
“The atmosphere here may be modern, but we’ll be serving traditional food,” Yoo stated, able to acquaint various Ok-food followers with classics they won’t find out about but. Pogu started serving its full menu on opening day to a booked out-floor, with time and house given for friends to savor their experiences, and for the cooks to create them.
Don’t miss:
The butcher’s station boasts heaps of “tomahawk” (bone-in ribeye) steaks, recent oxtail, and each bone-in, boneless, thick-cut, paper skinny, or marinated pork, beef, and lamb product possible for KBBQ and stews.
The fridges maintain vacuum-sealed jokbal (pig trotters), Buddhist-style complete duck, and ogolgye (black-boned Silkie fowl) match for healthful summer time samgyetang (hen and ginseng soup).
Recent fish are a spotlight at Jagalchi, a brand new 75,000-square-foot Korean market complicated in Daly Metropolis. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Space Information Group)
Seafood sourced from Korea is a spotlight: Past the showy carnage of a whole-tuna carving desk, neatly packaged and frozen seafood starting from $6-$15 ship the flavors of Busan’s Jagalchi and the Korean peninsula.
Simply a few of these love letters are gajami (rex sole), dried myulchi (anchovies), dehydrated pollock strips for anju (consuming snacks), jeonbok (small abalone), jogi (croaker) for pan-frying with salt, godeungeo (mackerel) for charbroiling or braising in sauce, Korean-grown oysters out of their shells, and packets of ready-to-heat packets of jaecheop-guk (a broth of tiny marsh clams) and chueotang (nutrient-rich loach stew), cod soup kits with fish naejang (intestines) and jjin bori gulbi, salted dried yellow corvina preserved in barley and steamed in rice water–a deep reduce from the only-in-Korea repertoire, shrink-wrapped to go.
Diners eat lunch at Pogu, a restaurant run by the legendary Tony Yoo inside Jagalchi, the Korean meals complicated that opened on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Serramonte Heart in Daly Metropolis, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
There’s extra to come back: Mega Mart representatives confirmed that the corporate will open one other heart extra like its different groceries in Fremont and Sunnyvale this summer time in a former Goal constructing at 1775 E. Bayshore Street in East Palo Alto.
Particulars: Jagalchi is open 9 a.m.-10 p.m. day by day at 63 Serramonte Heart, Daly Metropolis; serramontecenter.com. Pogu is open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. day by day. Reservations can be found at Open Desk; opentable.com/r/pogu-daly-city-california.
Initially Printed: March 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM PDT
