O’Kim’s? Oh Goodness!

Throughout the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to go to South Korea to visit relatives. And every time I’ve gone, I’ve been treated to grand dinner affairs, whether it was at a relatives home or at a restaurant. They were gut busting, seriously if you make me eat one more bite I’m going to puke situations.

But one particular time sticks out in my mind right now because of St. Patrick’s day around the corner. For some bizarre reason, instead of going to a Korean restaurant for average Korean fare, which I love, they took us to an Irish themed restaurant. But this wasn’t a real Irish restaurant. It was a Korean take on an Irish restaurant.

The name of the restaurant was “O’Kim’s”. The last name of the owner was “Kim”, which, if you didn’t know, is a very popular last name for Koreans. And, obviously, they added the “O” to make it sound more Irish, thereby fusing Irish and Korean names. The name was probably the most successful fusion of the two cultures at this place.

My relatives thought I’d enjoy going to an Irish restaurant because they assumed it would be closer to the taste of cuisine I were accustomed to. But honestly, the Shepherd’s pie I had was not the happy union of two cultures! But it wasn’t stand alone Irish nor Korean either! I have no idea what it was. I suppose if one were to be generous, you could call it the progenitor of fusion food?

So it finally dawned on me why my Chinese friends always said that the food you get at Chinese restaurants in the States was terrible.

I never found this to be the case for Korean food. It probably just wasn’t popular enough to be adulterated.

At some point, instead of people trying to recreate a dish from another culture, chefs started to get more creative and infuse the flavors of their own culture and marry them to the flavors of another. They’ve made leaps and bounds in harmonizing flavors and textures. So that it’s an entire reimagining instead of a pathetic attempt at mimicking.

If the goal of the restaurant was to pique an interest in Ireland, or at least Irish cuisine, it worked!

I vaguely remember reading from the menu that the owner spent a year in Ireland and wanted to bring some of that rich culture back to share. I don’t know how true that is or if it was just the theme of the restaurant but I have to say, at least the ambience was better than Bennigan’s.

On the other hand, I have yet to go to Ireland. So maybe this Shepherd’s pie was authentic and the others I’ve had at Irish restaurants in the States were the pathetic attempts! 😅  Perhaps I’ll try to make it myself and put my own Korean spin on it! Oh the hypocrisy! However, unlike this restaurant, I’ll make no claims to it being Irish!

I feel free to talk about O’Kim’s because it is no longer in existence. However, I believe there is another restaurant by the same name but it is in NO relation to the restaurant I went to about 15 years ago. And even if the O’Kim’s I went to still existed, I’m sure things would’ve changed in that time span! The food industry is such a hard business to be in.

It may have been just an off night for the restaurant. However, even if the food had been amazing, I wouldn’t have been able to shake the surrealism of being in a foreign country (i.e. South Korea) only to be taken to another foreign country (i.e. Ireland). 🤔

Have you been to a place like O’Kim’s? (Bennigan’s does not count!) Share in the comments!