Bay Pocha is a Korean restaurant in Lakeside, conveniently located close to two Muni Metro stops and also close to the Stonestown Galleria. I’ve been to Bay Pocha a few times over the last few months, most recently this Sunday night, and here’s a report of some of the dishes I’ve tried.
A pocha - short for pojangmacha - is typically an outdoor stall in Korea that serves Korean street food and anju - drinking food. Bay Pocha is an indoor pocha that has a long communal table in the middle and opens quite late for SF, closing around midnight Sunday - Thursday, and at 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays.
Menus - theres a large selection of Korean beer, soju, and makgeolli, and a little bit of everything food-wise - KBBQ, soups / stews, pancakes, tteokbokki, KFC, etc. They also have some larger format dishes like budae jjigae / “Army Stew” and gamjatang.
SEAWEED NOODLE TEMPURA (5 Pcs) 김말이튀김 ($9.95)
Vermicelli wrapped with seaweed
On my first visit I had some fried rolls that had battered seaweed as the skin and glass noodles within. Addictive!
ROSE RICE CAKE 로제떡볶이 ($21.95 + $4 to add ramen)
Rice cake, fishcake and sausage in spicy and creamy sauce
I also had some tteokbokki. This one was in a “rose” sauce that was a bit like a spicy sweet sauce that was tamed a bit by some cream I think, like a mix of the typical tteokbokki sauce and “carbonara” sauce. I added ramen to it 
There were fish cakes and small hot dogs that were like Lit’l Smokies, and carrots and other vegetables. This was good for the first few bites, but got a bit cloying and boring after awhile. It might be better shared as part of a bunch of different dishes, but as a sole dish I probably wouldn’t order it again.
FRIED POTSTICKERS 만두 ($9.95)
BEEF (6 Pcs), KIMCHI(5Pcs) or VEGE (8pcs)
On my next visit, I started with some deep fried beef potstickers / mandu, which I didn’t write anything about.
PORK BELLY 삼겹살구미 ($31.95)
Salt and pepper pork belly with onion and garlic
Ssam 쌈추가 ($3.95)
Lettuces to wrap wour BBQ with housemade sauces
I had some KBBQ this time, the pork belly. This was quite good. It was cooked in the kitchen and brought out on a sizzle plate with onions. I don’t think it is grilled over charcoal, but it was tasty nonetheless. The slices of pork belly were medium thick, maybe a quarter inch. I added the lettuce to make wraps with along with sauces, raw garlic and jalapeños.
Ssam with banchan.
Pork belly.
KIMCHI PORK PANCAKE 김치고기전 ($21.95)
On another visit I had the kimchi pork pancake / kimchi jeon. This was a good rendition. It was a huge pancake, with lots of slices of pork within. It was crispy and stayed crispy while eating.
Banchan - mushrooms, gim, danmuji, fish cake in a spicy sauce.
Kimchi jeon.
I also had a bottle of makgeolli.
SOFT TOFU SOUP 순두부찌개 ($18.95)
Spicy soft tofu stew with beef and seafood
On my most recent visit on Sunday, I pigged out a bit. I had the soondubu jjigae, which was quite good and had a lot of beef - which was ground I believe - and seafood, which included medium sized tail-on shrimp and lots of clams.
Banchan - mushrooms, danmuji, bean sprouts, broccoli.
CHICKEN WINGS (10pcs) 닭날개튀김 ($21.95)
Korean style deep fried chicken wings
And also a platter of Korean fried chicken, which came with a small salad on the side and the requisite pickled white daikon cubes. This was good but not great - it didn’t have the thin crackling crisp skin that great KFC has. Maybe I should have tried the sauced one.
In summary - pretty solid Korean pocha fare in large portions at Bay Pocha, with a big plus of being open late.
