BANGKOK — Ted Ahn practically lived on Mexican food when he was working as a journalist in East Harlem for a Korean magazine. A native of coastal Changwon city in South Korea, he enjoyed the things it shared with his native cuisine such as onions, garlic and pepper.
In New York, Mexican food was readily available and cheap and before long he was infatuated with it, despite its lack of renown in Korea.
Later in life when he was trying find a way to pair Korean food with beer, Ahn said it hit him: Korean food alone doesn’t go well with craft beer but add a little Mexican flair and you’ve got a fusion begging to be washed down by a few hoppy cold ones. ¡Que delicioso!
“Korean BBQ simply goes better with soju, but with the addition of Mexican ingredients and techniques, Korean would go perfectly with craft beer,” Ahn said.
He learned to cook Mexican dishes from YouTube and made a pilgrimage to his mother in law in Korea to sharpen his culinary skills and techniques.
Meanwhile the rise of Korean-Mexican was happening in the United States, and Ahn felt it was the right time to bring the trend to Bangkok.