You should have gotten the main street stuff cuz you don't know where that backstreet Kimchi came from.

In college I shared a 3 bedroom house with other students, including a Korean for a year. I hated the smell of Kimchi and never tried it. A few years ago I tried it as part of a plate lunch in Hawaii and absolutely loved it. I've since tried it on business trips in various ways, including Kimchi and eggs for breakfast. Loved them all. Usually just cabbage variety - I think I'll try to expand into other types after reading this thread.

I had the kimchi rice bowl at this place last week... MMMMMMMMMMMM!

http://www.marinationmobile.com/blog/?page_id=35

Living in Italy, i really didn't know what was kimchi until i got hooked up watching korean TV series and learned about the local delicacies. Of course Kimchi was always present. One day my uncle tried to make Kimchi and i didn't really like it. It tasted some rotten stuff or whatever. Then 2 years later I first ate at a korean restaurant in Hong Kong and i ate kimchi and all the grilled stuff it was so yummy. After that i went to the local supermarket in hong kong where you can find a korean section and bought two jars of kimchi. I've basically put kimchi in every food i ate. Even tried Kimchi fried rice. Now i <3 kimchi!!!
Here in italy kimchi is really expensive and there are maybe just a bunch of korean restaurant so i'm basically kimchi free for almost a year. But this summer i'll be in NYC and Toronto and i'm hoping to buy a lot of korean food!!!

I wouldn't put up with that!

Why not try this website
http://www.asiakauf.com/en/

Delivery costs to the EU are under 10Euros (9,80E for up to 30kgs)
And you can buy 5kgs of kimchi for 22.80

In the UK 500gram packets of kimchi are generally around £3

Buy buying 5kgs of kimchi online and including the delivery costs you would be buying it for 3.26 Euros per 500grams.
I could easily make up a 30kg delivery with all the other Korean foods the site offers.

I live in the UK and live in a student residence with people from all over the world. To my surprise, my housemates love kimchi, and they learn all these variations of Kimchi dishes that I have never heard of, such as kimchi omelette?
They love kimchi pork, kimchi pancake, and other kinds of korean dishes like bulgogi and bibimbop. I was very shocked at such reception of kimchi by my european housemates.

In southern Russia, in the North Cacasus region, people eat non spicy kimchi brought by the Korean immigrants in the early 1900s.

I used to enjoy kimchi, but in the past three months I've spent 7 weeks in Busan and 6 weeks on a ROK Navy ship at sea. The at sea part was brutal, with kimchi and rice 4 times a day. A little bit of overload...

Any specific recommendations for Korean restaurants in Sydney? I am going there next week and I love kimchi and many other Korean dishes.

Just out of interest, the kimchi from the Korean navy kitchens is "industrial". pre-packaged stuff?

I dislike the sharp, pungent taste of this "industrial" kimchi quite a lot. The difference in taste to proper homemade produce is immense. The amount of pleasant flavours you get from quality homemade kimchi with rice (or bibimbap) and soup is nothing short of amazing.

I haven't had a chance to try kimchi jjigae or anything - hopefully that will change soon, especially if I can make my first TPAC to visit my old college roommate - but anything that makes cabbage taste less like cabbage is fine by me. ^

I REALLY like all the little dishes of pickles/garnishes that I used to get in a mom and pop Korean resto in San Francisco-they gave you 11 of these even at lunch.Icannot find a place here in LA that puts out such a variety.
I should say I am not a fan of Korean BBQ(cook it yourself)places but do enjoy Korean food.

Korean BBQ is awesome, beats out Mongolian BBQ by a ton ^

Last evening, dining early at the tiny ghetto-edge Korean American burger joint in my home town, my usual order of a large Korean version of fried rice anda side of kimchi came with a little dish of cucumber (sliced, very small, home grown)and fresh (whole, small) jalapeno "pickle" sent out to me by the elderly lady who has run the grill for more than 35 years or so.

As I left, we joked together (my absent Korean, her fragmented English) about the "Korean Jalapenos" (which she grows along with the cukes in the tiny garden outside the front door). Next week, she promises to bring me some of the fermented soy bean paste which is a standard in her homeland, but not much seen/experienced here (at least out here in flyover country).

I know that the handful of Korean menu items are not classic cuisine, but for 35 years or so, they've been enjoyable to me, and how many here can claim to have eaten regularly at the same resturant with the same cook for that long a time?

They may not be "Korean", but the Kitok's "Oriental Fries" (a lightly breaded, deep-fried mixture of potatoes, onions, carrots, parsley, and seasonal additions) surpass not only Micky D's FF, but more than match many highly rated "Frites" in Paris and Brussels. I always share my wife's heaping order, just a minor artery-clogger when taken in moderation. Then there's the house chicken, onion and potato soup (with a touch of garlic). A local take out favorite, it will cause even the bed ridden to recover quickly from all sorts of ailments.

Would you mind sharing the location and name of this place?