Mama's House - Indianapolis, IN

[Tyler] My parents lived in Korea for several years, and one of our favorite places to eat in Indianapolis is Mama's House (8867 Pendleton Pike). There are several Korean Restaurants on the East side of Indianapolis, but this is the most-authentic we've found. Entering the front door, you could imagine that you've stepped through a worm hole and come out in Seoul. There's even a big television in the corner, which usually has Korean soap operas playing on it.

Tonight, I took Mom and Dad out to Mama's House for Dad's birthday. We had the traditional Bulgogi dinner, which means you sit at a table with a grill in the middle. Mama's House uses charcoal, rather than the gas grills that are more popular with other restaurants in Indy.

Along with the beef, which you grill yourself, the restaurant serves Panchons. These are small bowls of different relishes, including several kinds of Kimchee (cabbage, of course, but also cucumber, daikon, etc.) dried and pickled fish of several varieties and fermented bean sauce. At Mama's House, all the Panchons are made in-house from scratch.


After you've grilled your meat, you make a "Korean taco" with the meat, some rice, a couple Panchans, and some bean sauce. Dad says, "This is where you make your masterpiece." I took a picture of one of his masterpieces with my cell phone.


Mama's House has a pretty extensive beer and sake list, but we always drink Bolicha -- barley tea -- whenever we go out for Korean. Our waitress was also impressed that we ate all our Panchans. "Oh, you like Kimchee!"

Yes we do! Kamsamnidah.