Move over Disneyland, the new H Mart in Westminster is my happiest place

Two questions that can keep me up at night: What to wear? And what to eat?

The day I headed to the new H Mart on Beach Boulevard — the chain’s largest store stateside — in Westminster, I only got one of those questions right. (Read about my clothing mishap below).

H Mart is a Korean grocery chain, but it's so much more. K-beauty, individual barbeque grills and hotpots, kawaii stationery, and rows and rows dedicated to Korean snacks, noodles, and sauces.

A small snapshot of H Mart snacks

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Yusra Farzan

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LAist

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The banchan (side dishes) section is my favorite. People who call Disneyland the happiest place on earth clearly haven’t been to that section. I’m a serial snacker, and every time I'm at H Mart, I have to pick up some oi muchim (spicy cucumber salad), radish kimchi that my 6-year-old loves, stir-fried hot anchovies, seasoned eggs in soy sauce, an assortment of pickled vegetables, and of course, the fish cakes.

The banchan aisle at H Mart in Westminster

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Yusra Farzan

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LAist

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And the fresh food sections. Plump, eggplant-colored mangosteens, red prickly rambutans, reddish-pink bumpy lychees, and hot-pink dragon fruits — a tropical fruit paradise. Squid, crab, king crab, lobster, shrimp, clams, fish in every hue and size. The best part, they cut and clean fish just how you would like it.

The seafood fest at H Mart

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Yusra Farzan

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LAist

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Food lovers' paradise

But there’s not just food to buy. There’s also food to eat. The food court has something for everyone’s palette and craving.

I was on a mission to try as many foods as I could and ended up walking around the court not once, not twice, but three times.

I finally made my choices (ignoring the pepper crispy wings at Goodbne chicken that kept calling my name — that would have filled me up completely), sat down and got ready to dig in.

Here's my feast:

Mandu (from Chang Hwa Dang): Thinly sliced carrots and mushrooms inside the mandu, or dumplings, had a bite, the vegetables slightly crispy against the soft dumpling skin. While meats and vegetables are placed raw in traditional Chinese dumplings, in Korea, they're cooked before being wrapped in thin mandu wrappers. Interestingly, the mandu didn’t come with a dipping sauce but tiny slivers of danmuji, or yellow pickled radish. I bit off a tiny corner of the mandu, stuffed a danmuji in the mandu and gave it a try: The pickle enveloped the veggies for a sweet, slightly tangy flavor.

Mandu dumplings filled with carrot and mushrooms

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Yusra Farzan

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LAist

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Kimbap (from Jaws Topokki): If food is an art form, kimbap — sort of like sushi — is the perfect canvas. It can be highly subjective, with everyone’s filling preference different. Momofuku recommends kimbap parties (should we do this at the LAist office?) so you can try people’s filling preferences. Also, if you ever host one, please invite me: I am a great guest, rarely showing up empty-handed.

My tuna kimbap was a pretty sight: Dark nori tightly enclosed the slightly pink, creamy tuna, orange carrots and translucent cucumber with a smattering of sesame seeds on top. It was the perfect summer meal — filling but light and wouldn’t have you reaching for that third cup of coffee to get you through the workday.

Tteokbokki (from Jaws Topokki): Tteokbokki, rice cakes simmered in a slightly spicy stew, is my standard go-to at Korean food courts: It’s spicy, has texture, and is always tasty. And I have a slight obsession with eomuk, or Korean fish cakes. I typically buy a tub and have it as a snack while working.

Tteokbokki almost always comes with eomuk, so imagine my disappointment as I searched through the spicy stew with my chopsticks and kept coming up short. There was no eomuk in mine despite being advertised as such. But the pleasant surprise was a soft quail egg bursting in my mouth against the kimchi-rich sauce.

The star of the show: the dolpan ojingeo.

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Yusra Farzan

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LAist

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Dolpan ojingeo (from Yoo’s Place): Now, for the star of the show: the stone plate squid (quite literally on a grey hot stone plate). It was sizzling and steaming as I tried the other foods, as if forcing me to notice it. I finally succumbed.

Remember when I said I didn’t make the right fashion choices that day? This is why. The stone plate squid was spicy, hot and literally opened up every pore in my body. I began sweating profusely. That wouldn't have been great anytime, but I had decided to wear a silk shirt that day, and the back of the shirt became plastered to my back. Not a good look.

But it didn’t stop me. I kept reaching for more of the crispy, thin shards of squid, perfectly complemented by the caramelized slivers of onion, crunchy bean sprouts, and bitter perilla leaves.

It's a good thing I tried this last because I didn’t want to eat anything else after that. This dish had me in a trance.

Deep-fried mozzarella corn dog (from Myungrang): I finally broke away, packed up the leftovers, and took more laps around the food court trying to decide on what to try for dessert.

I went for a deep-fried mozzarella corn dog from Myungrang, a Korean chain with a huge fan following. I opted for a Fruity Pebbles topping — my first time trying the cereal. Maybe deep fried wasn’t the way to go for a novice. It was too sweet, too rich, too cheesy, too greasy — just too much.

I did see those viral TikTok ice creams — if you know, you know — and wished I'd brought a cooler bag with me. The peach- and mango-shaped ice creams are so popular, most stores normally run out them. But this H Mart was well stocked.

Ha. I will be prepared next time.

And there will be a next time.