At the now demolished Assi Market at Western/8th does anybody remember a cart just outside the market selling these small cake/cookie type things filled with red bean/custard/seasonal pumpkin custard?
What are those called? And where are they now?
Not talking about the fish shaped red bean pastry.
EDIT: not hotteok! They were smaller and circular too but the mold had a floral pattern. I think theyre called gook hwabang but not sure.
Oh my! Those were tasty! They were hotteok. Korean Sweet Stuffed pancakes. It amazes me that they aren’t more of those ladies out there anymore. The last street one I saw was in the parking lot of Little Tokyo Market Place on Alameda.
Miss that market!
They sell pre-packed frozen ones in most Korean markets. They will not be nearly as good as the fresh ones but still have a nice chew, crunch up nicely on a hot pan and the filling is good if not a little sweet. You could crush up some nuts and add it to the inside.
Was my go-to for live meongge 
Here’s the Korean for gookhwabang 국화빵
Japanese make something very similar, imagawayaki. Mitsuru Cafe makes them fresh and is pretty good. It’s been a number of years since I’ve gone, I don’t know if they do it all the time or only on weekends.
In Taiwan it’s called 紅豆餅, I usually only have it now when my parents go to some gathering at a community center. On weekends there is sometimes a lady who makes it inside 99 Ranch of these other Asian supermarkets. A search online yielded a directory, maybe you can try some of those: 洛杉磯紅豆餅相关商家推荐(图)-洛杉磯最大的華人商家資訊平台
In Torrance, there’s a Korean place Okrumong that serves the pastry shaped like fish and a baked one but these all taste fairly similar. I’ve never been myself though.
And lastly in the refrigerated section at most Asian markets you can find a bunch of dorayaki which is not quite the same but might hit the spot.
Yep, Mitsuru Cafe in Little Tokyo still makes imagawayaki. Just had some 2 weeks ago. The line gets crazy long on the weekends though.
@dreas, I know you said you’re not talking about the fish-shaped pastry, but there is a cart at the 3rd/Alameda shopping center called Little Tokyo Taiyaki that sells the fish-shaped pastry with a variety of fillings (chocolate, custard, cheese, apple mango, and sweet potato), not just red bean. I had it a few weeks ago and it was pretty good. They make it fresh for you. http://www.lttaiyaki.com/
The cart is right outside Daiso on the first floor.
Since this thread is now about all sorts of grilled batter…
The Little Tokyo Taiyaki cart also sells hottoek (they label it nut honey pancake), and it’s pretty good.
This is what I’m looking for!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gukhwa-ppang
Has anyone seen a cooking iron for this? Is that korean kitchen wares place still under that old galleria market?