Jagalchi, the large Korean supermarket at 63 Serramonte Center in Daly City, drew long lines when it opened last year. The San Francisco Standard visited again for a series on new Asian supermarkets and found it has become "a place to tack onto a Target run." The Standard still called it worth the trip.
Sit-down: Pogu
The aisles lead to Pogu, a full-service restaurant in the middle of the store. The Standard said it serves a $95, five-course tasting menu created by Tony Yoo, with dishes including buckwheat noodles, pumpkin soup and grilled galbi. Jagalchi's website says Pogu has more than 160 seats and serves meals in a traditional Korean table setting called hansang charim. The Standard said a nearby raw bar serves the store's kelp-aged sushi, which you can also buy to go.
Prepared foods
Grab-and-go picks the Standard liked include vegetarian japchae ($7), rosé tteokbokki ($8) and honey-garlic fried chicken gangjeong ($15). It said to eat the chicken on the spot before it steams in the container. Gejang, the soy-marinated raw blue crab ($18), is better eaten at home. The to-go sushi is fairly affordable and runs from salmon nigiri to uni and o-toro. The Standard's advice was to skip the musubi.
What to take home
The guide's picks include seaweed "nachos" ($5.99), butter-flavored dried squid ($6.50), the instant-noodle wall, the kimchi case and makgeolli. Frozen samgak kimbap and mozzarella-and-fish-cake corn dogs also made the list. Basquia Rice Bakery inside the store makes breads and cakes from rice flour. The produce section is small.
The Standard lists hours as 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for the market. Pogu serves 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 10 p.m.