Jjamppong from Slender Avenue 512 (images by John Anderson)
Welcome again to The Strip Membership, highlighting Austin’s vacation spot strip malls. The place else are you able to devour dumplings delivered by a robotic cowgirl? Seize a spicy cephalopodic snack after a legendary hot-steamed towel service? Supply wild-caught reside sea squirt and Hi there Kitty bathroom paper? You’re previous the bouncer and into The Strip Membership: It’s Parkline Purchasing Middle!
You received’t catch me Crying in H Mart. I find it irresistible right here – and it’s not simply the hard-to-find Asian merchandise, seafood, and residential wares at this famend Korean grocery chain. It’s the meals courtroom, which options eight eating places, a bakery, and – since Parkline Purchasing Middle is simply inside Austin metropolis limits – a stage for reside music.
With out fail, I head straight for the jjamppong (spicy seafood udon) at Slender Avenue 512, which by no means disappoints with its shrimp, squid, and mussels heaped onto thick noodles in spicy pork broth. However in case you actually wish to get jjigae with it, their kimchi stew and haejangguk (hangover soup) will revive any corpse on a chilly day, after too many chilly ones, or each.
Paik’s Noodle provides Chinese language-Korean dishes together with the seminal jjajangmyeon (wheat noodles with black soybean sauce), a dish that comforts as pork stomach and onion meld with the chewy, gooey jjajang in an intensely candy and savory fermented sauce. Seoul meals.
Mala Cowgirl delivering Chongqing Jiangbeiand stir-fried inexperienced beans
Oh-Ok Canine, a viral favourite for his or her wacky corn canines and egg toasts, captivates with their ink-credible Squid Ink Half and Half – a frank on a stick (made to seem like an octopus with “tentacles” protruding of the underside) alongside a piece of mozzarella, then deep fried in cephalopod cornmeal. It’s spicy, distinctive, and it’s higher than “Oh-Ok.”
As if that weren’t sufficient, there are a number of extra stalls doing Korean, together with Chodang (ginseng hen, beef japchae, kimchi pancake, and sizzling stone bulgogi bipimbap), Don Rooster (outrageous parts of Korean fried hen), and Jopok Topokki (ramen, kimbap, topokki units, onigiri, and musubi).
To not be outdone, Japanese treats are additionally obtainable at Umami St. (sushi rolls, gyudon, unagi don, tempura) and Kobako Katsu (attempt the hen katsu skewers). And, because you’ll want one thing to clean all of it down, there’s a “No Tip Bar” in the midst of the meals courtroom with the whole lot from chilly beer to Topo Chico, which inverts my idea for a pay-what-you-want bar known as “Simply the Tip.”
For these on a tighter finances, take into account heading into the market itself for H Mart’s ready-to-gnaw roasted candy potatoes in a bag (produce part), the poke bowl bar (close to the seafood counter), or the ready kimbap, banchan, and onigiri within the back-left nook, which additionally homes probably the most expansive choice of kimchi on the town.
The H Mart at Parkline will all the time be definitely worth the drive.
As soon as by means of checkout, take into account dessert at Beard Papa’s Recent Pure Cream Puffs, which come frosted in ube, inexperienced tea, crème brulée, or the nostalgic Cap’n Crunch, then crammed along with your selection of vanilla cream, ice cream, or strawberry cheesecake. Decadent. However if you cannot get sufficient pâtisserie, there’s additionally a Tous les Jours, with typical French bakery choices like ache au chocolat, ache aux raisins, and croissants, alongside savory choices just like the curry croquette, kimchi croquette, and spinach feta Danish.
Banh Mi Galang’s grilled pork banh mi
Duck, you sucker! Subsequent to the 99 Spoons Robotic Tender Serve, there’s a small boxing ring arrange with robes and gloves for kids “6 years previous and underneath,” a magical place the place mother and father can watch their rug rats beat the daylights out of one another whereas having fun with their ice cream in peace.
Till Austin’s long-awaited second H Mart opens at 5222 Burnet Rd. (rumored to have three meals courtroom tenants and a bakery), Parkline will all the time be definitely worth the drive, and although I assumed the “H” was for “Heaven,” it really stands for “han ah reum,” a Korean phrase that means “one arm filled with groceries.”
Upping the maxim to the utmost, I exit with each arms filled with Thai basil, reside sea squirt, Jolly Pong Cereal Snack, and Hi there Kitty bathroom paper, then wander throughout the parking zone to Sport Clips to analyze their “Legendary Sizzling Steamed Towel” and “Free Neck Trim” companies. I’m chatting with Jackie about acceptable hairstyles for pugilistic kindergartners, however she principally does “Mahomes” cuts and mullets, and ladies aren’t her bag – this place is strictly for males. Surveying the inside, which is made to seem like a locker room with TVs blasting sports activities always, I imagine her.
Plopping down in a sales space subsequent door at Mala Chili, a Chinese language restaurant the place the longer term is now, I’m greeted with a pill that’s additionally a menu, and inside a nanosecond of urgent the button that submits my order, I hear a loud “ding” resonate from the kitchen. A couple of minutes later, what feels like wedding ceremony processional Muzak begins blaring from a blue-eyed robotic close to the kitchen that’s carrying a cowboy hat and a bandanna – and it has my meals on its derrière.
Because the droid arrives, a waitress swoops in and introduces the dishes as she places them on the desk. I ask her if she’s fearful about shedding her job within the face of increasing AI, and she or he replies, “No, her title’s Mala Cowgirl! She makes my job sooo eaaasy.” Then she mashes some buttons on the bot’s touchscreen face, mercifully stopping the music, they usually each return to base.
The grub right here is customary Szechuan, and I loved the Chongqing Jiangbei boiled fish (flounder with candy potato noodle in chili broth), stir-fried inexperienced beans (with floor pork), and the crimson oil dumplings (pork with chili), although all are a tad on the oily aspect. For an antidote, take into account their choice of Yomie’s Rice x Yogurt – smoothies and drinks of the fermented milk selection.
A greater bang to your buck is Banh Mi Galang, tucked into the north finish of the middle, which has a superb grilled pork sandwich that comes right, with a skinny, flaky bun and excellent Vietnamese mayo. Additionally they have rolling month-to-month specials like bánh xèo, and there’s a cute little Publish-it observe close to the register that welcomes the uninitiated: “Should you’re confused, don’t be afraid to ask questions.” Phrases to reside by.
Parkline Purchasing Middle
11301 Lakeline Blvd.
