When Jennifer Tse craves Korean-style beef rib noodle soup and kimchi pancakes, she knows exactly where to go. As she walks through San Francisco’s Japantown and the nearby Fillmore Street area to get her food, she’s surrounded by Korean businesses.
There’s no official Koreatown in San Francisco, but Tse, a Chinese American fan of Korean dramas and Korean pop music, is a frequent visitor to a growing cluster of Korean restaurants, bars and beauty shops in the middle of the city.
“[This area] definitely became popular among the locals and tourists alike,” Tse said.
Unlike in Los Angeles’ iconic Koreatown, the Korean American community in San Francisco is generally more spread out and relatively small—about 12,000 residents, or roughly 1.5% of the city’s population. Still, dozens of Korean businesses have opened within a short walk of Post, Geary and Fillmore streets, with Korean language signs on almost every block.
In a city better known for its historic Chinatown and Japantown neighborhoods, the growing popularity of Korean businesses has pushed some entrepreneurs to develop an ambitious plan to build a hub for Korean culture.
“Our vision is clear: a food-focused Koreatown in San Francisco,” said Jin Hyup Song, a marketing manager at Korean-owned Woori group, which operates businesses around Japantown.
Daeho Kalbijim & Beef Soup, YakiniQ Korean BBQ, Jina Bakes, Beque BBQ, Doobu, San Wang Restaurant, Dimples, Pagoda and Seoul Garden are some of the popular restaurants and bars anchoring what’s quietly turned into a budding Koreatown in the heart of the city.
Nearby, the Woori group has three storefronts on just one block of Fillmore Street between Geary and O’Farrell, including a grocery store, Woori Food Market, a catering company, Kitchen Woori, and a restaurant, Sikdang Woori, where Tse goes for her Korean food. Bansang, an award-winning upscale Korean restaurant, is another popular eatery. A Korean billiards venue sits next to the Woori grocery store.
At the corner of Laguna and Post streets, a building next to the Daeho restaurant is dotted with Korean language signs advertising medical, accounting and legal services. A Korean karaoke spot and a beauty shop sit there, too, along with skincare businesses in the area. A block away, two major storefronts with Korean signs are Imperial Spa and Queen’s Houseware & Gift.
Green Chang, a Korean American who runs the Kippu Japanese restaurant on Post, has been in the area for over a decade.
“Within the Korean community, some of us already refer to this area as Koreatown,” Chang said. “But the term is not commonly used outside of the Korean community.”
An ambitious blueprint
In January, three managers from Woori group visited Los Angeles’ Koreatown and Orange County to gather data and inspiration from the Korean cultural wave in Southern California, according to the organization. The group also launched the Korean American Restaurant Association of San Francisco (KARA SF) earlier this year, which will have an office on that same Fillmore block.
Song said the company’s goal is to promote the area as an “unofficial” Korean cultural zone without undermining the area’s strong historical ties as a center of San Francisco’s Black and Japanese American communities.
“The idea of Koreatown in San Francisco needs a more delicate approach,” Song told The Standard. “This idea is still in the early blueprint phase but holds great potential.”
Song, a Korean immigrant, emphasized the diversity of Korean food, which combines traditional Asian cuisine like Jjajangmen with Western influences like Army stew. “This means that food lovers of all backgrounds can come together over Korean food,” he said.
Rich Hashimoto, president of the Japantown Merchant Association, said that he welcomes more businesses in Japantown and is happy to see the area emerging as a pan-Asian destination with lots of dining options.
Korean-born Chinese immigrant Slider Wang runs the 46-year-old San Wang restaurant, known for its Korean Chinese cuisine. On a Monday afternoon in early June, the restaurant was packed with a diverse group of diners.
Wang said many Korean and Chinese families come to his place to eat, along with pilots and flight attendants from South Korea in the city for work. But his restaurant attracts customers from all demographics, he said.
“Many customers watch Korean dramas, and they want to try the Korean food that they see,” said Chris Lee, a general manager of the popular restaurant Daeho, which specializes in beef soup with cheese. “Every food [in the show] they are having is looking good.”
Lee and Wang are doubtful of the Fillmore area’s potential as a place for Korean Americans to settle and work, citing declining immigration. Restaurant work is very difficult, Wang said.
Lee imagines a pan-Asian destination that brings together a mix of cultures in one centrally located neighborhood. Though there are other parts of San Francisco with thriving Korean businesses, such as the H-Mart in the Southwestern part of the city, Lee explained that they opened Daeho in 2019 because the location is central for Asian customers from across the city.
“This is an area where all the Asian people get together,” Lee said. “This is a pretty good place to open a new Korean restaurant.”
For Song, a San Francisco Koreatown dream is a decades-long project. He challenged the traditional idea of “Koreatown” as an ethnic residential neighborhood: In his eyes, a modern San Francisco-style Koreatown could be a cultural alley that welcomes all lovers of the culture, regardless of their ethnicity.
“It may take three decades,” Song said. “We are carefully watching the Korean waves.”