A little insider tip…
Han Yang in Buena Park is selling their Mustard Green Kimchi, $8 for a jar.
I’ve eaten a lot in Koreatown and OC, believe me I don’t think anyone else is doing Mustard Green Kimchi.
IMO all of these traditional Chinese greens would make amazing kimchi because they are naturally slightly bittersweet
Don’t sleep on this
If you’re in the SGV area or don’t mind traveling, you could attend one of forager Pascal Baudar’s hands-on classes on fermentation, which includes learning to make delicious wild plants kimchi (wild mustard is abundant around here). I can’t speak to the kimchi’s “authenticity” but the class is great fun and very informative.
Highly recommended.
Mother-N-Law Kimchi is legit!
The regular napa cabbage kimchi is one of the best I had.
I’ve tried quite a few brands and my favorite napa cabbage kimchi is by Kaesung Banchan and Kimchi Market - a small hole-in-the-wall on St. Andrews Place off Olympic Blvd.
Kaesung’s napa kimchi is also sold by the jar at Olympic Market, but it’s slightly cheaper at the Kaesung store and they sell it at different states of aging (very fresh for eating straight or aged/fermented for over 1-2 weeks if using it for a kimchi based casserole or stew).
I don’t have a picture, but the water radish kimchi is also quite good, but it comes in a huge jar so I don’t get it that often.
Besides various kimchi, Kaesung also sells some banchan appetizers. One I really like is seasoned perilla leaves.
Here’s a link to an LA Times article containing more info: https://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-kaesung-kimchi-koreatown-20140814-story.html
Kaesung Banchan and Kimchi Market
1010 S St Andrews Pl.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 737-6565
How was it? Did you get the fresh or mature version?
Thanks @foodshutterbug. 
Kaesung sells it by the smaller size jars as well? I see your pic is 28 oz is that the smallest size? Thanks.
The fresh and it is pretty damn good. I’ll be getting another small jar sometime next week
Hi @JeetKuneBao,
Thanks! When you say “small jar” you mean that default jar in most of the refrigerated cases in the store? Because that was pretty big. 
We wanted to buy a jar last time, but it would take up too much refrigerator space for us (and we probably couldn’t finish it fast enough). Is there a smaller jar of their napa cabbage kimchi?
@JeetKuneBao glad you enjoyed it.
@Chowseeker1999 It stores indefinitely 
. I had one batch in the fridge for about 8mths before I finally finished it. The later stages were used primarily for jigaes or pork belly stir fry. Just be careful if the bottle is full as it ages… seepage.
Yes there is a smaller side but I think it sells out pretty quick. I grabbed the last one in the fridge when I last went
@Chowseeker1999 – yes, that’s the smallest size. For kimchi fans, 28 oz. is a good size.
I’ve purchased smaller jars from supermarket brands (e.g. msg-free King’s), but I prefer the taste of Kaesung’s.
Parks BBQ has a to go store selling small quantity kimchi, banchan, meats, etc. and I’ll be trying it out this winter for home kbbq.
Thanks @foodshutterbug. I’ll give Kaesung’s a try. Looking forward to hearing how Parks to-go turns out.
Re: Kaesung
I sensed a major change in the kimchi universe when I came across new labels for Kaesung’s kimchi in k-town’s Plaza market a few weeks ago. Unknowingly, I bought a 28 oz jar Plaza market rang up as “mature.”
I ended up letting the jar sit in my fridge for a week and used it for kimchi pork stew. Warning: be sure to put a bowl underneath the kimchi jar ‘cuz it will leak as it ferments. It was fine in my stew, but it tasted slightly different.
I went by the actual store on St. Andrews near Olympic today and saw they had new owners. The previous owner most likely retired as she was getting quite old. One of the new owners was a nice Korean lady maybe in her late 30’s early 40’s. In limited English she said “new owner” and “same recipe.”
I asked them for a “fresh” jar of the stuff. I’ll take a picture later and post.
End of an era, the previous owner knew her stuff and she made 6oz portions of various types of banchan and kimchi such as black beans, dried and cooked squid shavings and perilla leaves. I didn’t see any of these at the shop under the new owner. At some point, maybe I’ll show them the pictures I took a few years ago and ask them to consider making those items.
Re: Parks2Go
I bought 3 kinds packed in 6oz containers for $6.50: Potato with minari greens; Napa kimchi; and seasoned spinach. Tasted just like the restaurant’s (the cashier took down my order and went to the resto to have it packed up). It was delicious, but for my constitution, too much MSG to eat for more than one meal at a time (had an allergic reaction - got a swollen eyelid which lasted over a week 
).
Boooooo… well I’m not surprised. I’d heard last year the owner had been of ill health, as there were a few times it was not open during posted hours. Hopefully if the new owners continue with the same recipe they will find their footing soon; I can’t imagine the K-Town community will be shy in telling them what they’re doing wrong if it isn’t quite what it used to be…
Hi @foodshutterbug,
Thank you for the update! I think we might’ve ran into the same new owners you mentioned, because I finally made it over to Kaesung (thank you!) and the people we saw were in the 30 - 40’s as you said; not really old folks.
How did Kaesung’s direct kimchi at their store compare with the old recipe?
Sorry to hear about your reaction with Parks2Go! Thanks for the warning. Hope you feel better.
That’s what I’m hoping for, too.
I’ll still continue to buy since it’s eons better than “no msg” kimchi at the Japanese markets. Also no artificial sweeteners like sorbitol and aspartame unlike some imports and what Hankook market makes in-house.
However, out of 3 months of ktown grocery shopping for fresh Korean veggies, HK came out on top, w Plaza #2, H mart #3 (good quality, but high prices); Olympic #4, Zion #5 (cheap, but wilted veggies).
