Kae Sung Market

I stopped by to eat tacos but all they had was kimchi… so i bought a large glass jar of their house kimchi. It was really good with carne asada. I never knew how much i liked this stuff. I really like it! I can’t pass for Korean but i can eat the sh!# out of this food. Tasty. Thank you Korean people for bringing Kimchi to southern California.

Absolutely love the kimchi here. It’s their specialty /​only product and they do it well. It’s fresh, tasty, no artificial additives and stored in glass containers. Glass is the key. Fermenting happens constantly with kimchi so you want to have it in glass and not plastic containers. Large containers cost $ 14. I stop by whenever I’m in the area.

This review is for Kae Sung Market’s gochujang and customer service.
In order to find the best homemade gochujang in the area, I took to Google search and came across numerous recommendations and LA Times articles about the shop and the owner. They’ve been making kimchi for over 40 years, and I can definitely see why the brand has had such longevity. The taste and service are excellent.
The market itself is packed with different kimchi, banchan, and gochujang. Though it’s well known for its excellent homemade kimchi, I’ve been returning here for the gochujang. It’s the perfect combination of hot and sweet, homemade, and comes in a glass container. Plus, the amount you can get for the price is great! In detail: today, I bought a half gallon for $ 20 (according to Google converter: approximately 64 oz or 1800 grams or 4 lbs — less than what it and other competitors sell for online and in stores). The first time I came to test out the gochujang, I bought a quarter for $ 10, so the prices have always remained fair over time. In addition to everything, the Kae Sung team is very helpful and has great customer service.
Kae Sung Market will definitely remain my first choice for quality gochujang.

This review is not for their market but for their kimchi that they sell in local Korean grocery stores.
Their kimchi tastes SOOO good! The Kae Sung brand kimchee is one of the few NO MSG kimchi’s. Also I like that their kimchi is sold in glass containers, NOT plastic as so many kimchi’s are now sold in. I encourage my Unilocalers to check out the Kae Sung brand kimchis. You won’t be disappointed!

the store is located off olympic. the kimchi i got was just too salty. she only has kimchi and few other stuff in store like soy paste and soy sauce.
also you have to take cash only store.
it is a tiny store.

While the Kae Sung kimchi brand is not necessarily a big secret (you can buy it at local Korean markets), the Kae Sung market is not very well-​known. The tiny shop off of Olympic is where the best kimchi in the city is made and sold at dirt-​cheap prices. Why pay $ 15 for a half-​gallon across the street when that’s the price of a full gallon here?
The reason this place gets five glowing stars, though, is not for the price. It’s for the kimchi. Thank goodness for that kimchi. Some brands are too salty, some have an extra-​rotten aftertaste, and some just lack umami. Kae Sung gets it right. It’s the perfect balance of salt, garlic, fish sauce and salted shrimp with whatever vegetables have been fermented. Aside from the traditional kimchi with napa cabbage, there are those made with cucumbers, white radish, mustard, bell pepper, leek, scallion, ginger, and more.
I’ve also tried their Ojingeochae-​muchim (seasoned dried squid) and it’s delicious. I’m sure their dwenjang and gochujang are fabulous as well.

It’s a very tiny place, but as others have commented, the lady who runs the place is very sweet. I bought a few items and she knocked a dollar off the total. The ssamjang (Korean bean paste sauce) is A-​MAZING, and I also devoured the pickled turnip kimchee in no time flat. I asked if she had ‘gattugi’ (sp?), the raw turnip kimchee but she advised me that it wasn’t the right season for turnips and to wait until December. I appreciate people who share their expertise with you, not just try to make a sale no matter what! Wonderful! Will go there every month to stock up!

Everyone else has pretty much covered everything in their reviews, so I’ll be brief. If you are looking for the best tasting kimchi, this is the shop for you. I was greeted by a nice Korean lady who was very sweet. I ended up getting the largest jar she makes. I am so glad that I found this place. By far the best kimchi I have ever tasted. I can’t wait to try her other products.

I went here in search of vegetarian kimchi with no added MSG. Most jars of kimchi I see at the markets have MSG and/​or seafood. After asking for kimchi with no seafood, the sweet Korean lady pulled out a bottle of Mild Bell Pepper Kimchi. I asked if they had something more spicy that was vegetarian and unfortunately they didn’t. She went out into the front and harvested some fresh tiny hot peppers for me to add to the kimchi. Now that is service!
At home I pulled the kimchi out of the jar to mix in the hot peppers and I took a little taste. I am sensitive to salt and it was excellent kimchi that was not overly salty.
$ 7 for a half gallon jar. She told me that the jar normally sells for $ 10 at the Korean markets. This brand can be found at Korean Markets such as the Galleria. I will be coming here next time for a gallon sized jar. Only a block away from the Galleria, there are two small parking spaces in front.

This place is great! Three walls of refrigerators containing different kim chi’s and ban chan.
I got a jar of the standard cabbage kim chi, marinated squid, pickled cucumbers. The owner, she’s so sweet, swapped my kim chi jar for one that’s aged a little longer. And then it gets better and better as it sits in your fridge. Be careful the first couple of times you open the jar. Mine bubbled over and spilled out. After it’s aged a little longer, that doesn’t happen anymore.
The marinated squid is awesome, so good.
The pickled cucumbers were a little too salty.
This is kim chi heaven, and no MSG in sight!
Note: cash only.

A friend of mine noted the ridiculousness of buying a $ 6 bottle of kombucha /​probiotic /​keffir /​etc. when really he could just take a shot of kimchi juice and achieve the same effect. Once you learn to really love the taste of good quality kimchi AND its health benefits (packed full of tummy-​friendly probiotics, lots of vitamins) you’re a changed person: the janky stuff from the supermarket fridge just won’t do. You want MSG-​free goodness made from the hands of a kimchi making master. Like a fine wine, you debate the merits of a kimchi aged to funkiness, the balance of ingredients, the deep pungency of daikon, etc. etc.
Enter Kae Sung Market and the sweet aproned lady who helms this kimchi heaven. All they sell are a few types of kimchi, doenjang (fermented bean paste), and gochugang (spicy red pepper paste). Ddakkugi (cubed radish kimchi) is my favorite kind of kimchi and their rendition is really wonderful, and keeps seemingly forever in the fridge.
Even though my fridge barely fits it I purchased the giant gallon bottle of regular kimchi — how can you resist when it’s only $ 3 more than the jar less than ¹⁄₃ of its size? Unsure you’ll use it all, you say? Well who cares, stuff’s cheap and so delicious, and it gets better (well… at least more interesting) with age. For me, even when the kimchi is too funky for me to eat raw, something magical happens when you boil it for kimchi chigae or cook it in kimchi fried rice.
Their doengang and gochugang are totally worth a purchase as well. You know how everyone on Unilocal loves that pork neck and potato stew from Hamjipark? You can make it at home with these ingredients. They make up the base for the majority of Korea recipes, so invest in the good stuff!

I grew up eating home made kimchis.
napa cabbage,
daikon,
green onions,
cucumbers,
etc.
more than 100 kinds of kimchis!
My mom and dad would spend a whole day making kimchi
to last us a couple months.
it’s cute to see my dad in the kitchen helping my mom
washing the napa cabbages.
tasting the sliced daikons buried in sauce made with red pepper flakes
This would be the only time I’d see him in the kitchen. lol.
This place is a tiny place full of refrigerators.
full of all types of kimchi
and banchans.
When you walk in
you will be greeted by one of the old ladies
with a white hat and apron on.
small, sweet Korean lady
asking what you’d like. :]
I’ve only had their napa cabbage kimchi,
but it’s REAL good!
like home made good!
They don’t use MSG. :]
$ 7 for a half gallon
(for those of you who don’t eat a lot)
and $ 10 for a gallon
(for people like me who has to have kimchi with everything! hehe).
Their brand is the one on the shelves in Korean markets
and they go for about $ 15 (for a gallon).
why pay more for the same thing?
**Why don’t I just eat the ones my parents make at home?
I do WHEN I eat at home (which is like. never)
we buy kimchi for my bf’s house. xP
Parking: They have a tiny space for about 2 cars right in front of their
store. but it’s always empty. :]

I almost don’t want to write this review because I’m pretty confident that NOONE who’s not Korean knows about but it’s that good!
It’s called a Market and it kind of is — a small hole in the wall korean convenience market feel and guess what they’re known for? KIMCHI:)
They make the best Kimchi (your typicall cabbage to white cabbage — non-​spicy pickled with asian pear to cucumber kimchi) all of which are non-​MSG and the best you can find, even in K-​Town of LA.
The sweet lady who’s always there wearing an apron — said that they’ve been making kimchee since 1973 (holy crap — that’s almost as old as me!). I’m going to try to interview her the next time I’m there. She said that in the 70s when she first immigrated to LA — there hardly was any Koreans that when she spotted a Korean, she’d be so glad to meet another Korean (many koreans bond like that and have that k-​power ra-​ra thing)…she’d run over to talk to them. Now — it’s a different story. There’s koreans everywhere in K-​Town.
½ of a large bottle of cabbage kimchi will cost you $ 8.00. They’re made fresh so will typically not be fermented/​pickled. Just bring it home, let it sit on the counter for ~1 day (with a plate on the bottom as depending on the temperature, the fermenting process will build pressure and make the kimchi juice flow over and then you’ll end up with kimchi smell everywhere and a stinky countertop), and it should be ready to eat.
Store it tightly wrapped in the fridge and it should last a good 2 wks. It’ll continue to get fermented/​sour but it will be a long time (1 mo) before it goes bad. You’ll know not to eat it when you start seeing some foaming action of the kimchi juice.
Many ways to eat kimchi — some with recipes which all can be found soon on
.