When Mrs. Kim Kamnang, the chef and owner of Seoul Gomtang in Oakland, was a child, her grandmother always cooked and she always watched. Her grandmother was an expert in Korean cuisine. As she grew up, her grandmother taught her extensively how to cook traditional Korean dishes, from meat dishes, stews, soups, pancakes, and bibimbop to casseroles. When Mrs. Kim got married she used all her culinary talents to make good food for her family. At that time she had never imagined that she would end up feeding her fellow countrymen in Oakland some of the best Korean food outside of Korea. Later, she was even more surprised to learn that her warm and nutritious food was as appealing to non-Koreans.
Six years ago Mrs. Kim arrived in the United States with the wish to educate her younger daughter in the American education system, a system that is much less demanding than the Korean one. She did not want her younger child to suffer from the very competitive Korean education system. With her talent and extra time afforded with her daughter in school, she opened her restaurant in Oakland. Mrs. Kim’s restaurant specializes in Gomtang, a type of beef bone soup that looks very much like Vietnamese Pho.
