Seoul Food Tour

09/12/2016

Grilled Gopchang (Tripe) in Wangsimni Gopchang Street

For those feeling adventurous today, get off at Sindang Station in Line 2 and walk towards the tripe street. You will see tons of people sitting in these restaurants with their little bibs, grilling gopchang and drinking soju.

I know.
Gopchang doesn't look that appealing.
But once you try, you will understand why people love it!

Plus, gopchang can be healthy. Did you know that gopchang is high in protein and low in cholesterol?
Its also rich in iron and vitamins which protects the walls of the stomach from alcohol.

What to order:
You either order the original version of gopchang where they just season the meat with salt, or you can get the spicy sauce version.
These days there are more variations like the teriyaki sauce or the garlic sauce version. And with the meat, you get some soju. For me, I ordered this peach soju called E-seul-tok-tok.

The best thing about eating in Korea is that there are always side dishes! (more food for me!)
When I went, they gave us a nice and thick soybean soup, salad, kimchi, and some vegetables to munch on.

Depends on the restaurant, but per person, I think it costs about 15,000 won.

10/11/2016

Fall is the my favorite time of year.
The leaves change color, you can smell the cold in the air
and the Jarasum Jazz festival.
So every October they have this nice festival in Jaraseom Island of Gapyeong. Its on for three days, so huge jazz fans will rent rooms in that area for all all three days while people like me, who doesn't know much about jazz but like that jazzy vibe, go for a day.
it took me about an hour by train from Seoul Station to Gapyeon station. From there, we had to walk into the island, which takes about a nice 20 minute walk. Knowing how everything is overpriced inside, my friends and I went into a nice Dalkgalbi place near the station.

So, for those who don't know what dalkalbi is...
It's a popular dish in the Gangwon province, where Gapyeong is located.

This dish is diced chicken marinated in gochujang with vegetables.
And with gochujang, it will be a bit spicy (just look at the color!)
Dalkalbi also has ricecakes, glassnoodles, and sweet potatoes.
After you eat all the chicken, you can stir-fry rice into the sauce. (yum!) and we had it with Makgeolli, korean rice wine.
They went really good together because Makgeolli is creamy and sweet, so it cools down your tongue
from the dalkalbi's spiciness.

yeah.. so that was the food part.
Afterwards, we walked into the island, found a nice spot and took out our picnic mats and we just lay there, listening to jazz music for hours.
It was nice to have a glass of wine and watch the sunset.
I don't know jazz well enough to write about it.
What I can say is that I enjoyed it so much that I plan to go again next year.

24/10/2016

We've been getting many questions about chopsticks recently.
Mainly the question, "why are they metal?"

One reason is that they are more hygenic than the wooden ones.
If you think about Korean food, there are a lot of colorful dishes like Kimchi that can stain wooden chopsticks. Plus, the strong taste in our sauces can remain, even after cleaning. On the other hand, metal chopsticks are cheap, durable, and easy to clean. In restaurants, the chopsticks are boiled in hot water or placed in an electric sterilizer. very hygenic, right?

If you look back in history, there is another very interesting reason .
In Baekjae(18 B.C.- 660 A.D.), one of the three ancient kingdoms,
the King would use silver chopsticks to detect any poison in his food.
If there was any poison, the silver would turn black.
And because whatever the King did, the people would follow, the people made similar looking metal chopsticks because they couldn't afford the silver ones.

While we are on this topic of utensils, I'd like to share some table manners.

-Before eating, say, "jal meokketsseumnida"
which means, "thank you for the meal".
-After the meal, say, "jal meogotsumnida"
which also means "thank you for the meal".
-If you are eating with seniors, wait for them to eat first.
Sometimes they might say, "don't wait for me, eat first".. but don't do that. Wait for them to take that first bite.
-Don't leave you chopsticks in your ricebowl.
-When you eat, don't lift up the ricebowl. Leave it on the table.
-Do not make noises when you eat.
I heard that in Japan, its considered respectful to make slurping sounds, but not in Korea.

04/10/2016

In Korea, we have stores dedicated to poo-shaped objects.
They sell everything from poo-shaped cushions to miniature potties and plungers for decoration. There was also a poop-faced character on t-shirts and notebooks. People like it because, "its cute".
At first I wasn't sure why people thought this way, but the more I look at it, I understand why its cute.

But one day when I came across this store in Insadong Samjigil. I was a bit surprised. The whole store was colorfully designed with poo-shaped decorations and they were selling poo-shaped bread!
It's called Ttong Ppang, which literally means poo-bread.
If you put too much significance on this, you will have a hard time eating it.

If you don't put too much thought on it, you will be able to taste a nice warm bread with sweet syrup.
Give it a try!

29/09/2016

Chuseok
The literal translation of the word Chuseok means,
"the night with the brightest fall moonlight".

It is a major harvest festival also known as Korean thanksgiving.
During the three day holiday period, there is a major exodus of people going down to their hometowns to meet their families and pay respect to their ancestors.

Lucky for me, my family all live in Seoul so I was able to enjoy the isolated streets of Seoul. There was no traffic jams or crowded subways. For me it was three days of bliss.
What many foreigners don't know it that most of the restaurants are closed during the holidays so stock up on food (just in case) or find something at the convenience store.

One of the main customs during chuseok is Charye.
This is the ancestor memorial service. To honor our ancestors, a table of food is prepared so that their spirits can return to enjoy the food. There is a ceremony of pouring wine and bowing that is usually performed by the male members of the family.
In this picture you can see 6 cups placed on the top left side of the table and a candle on the right side of the table. All this is part of the ceremony. 2 cups were for my grandfather, and the other 4 four my great-grandparents.

As a woman, I am more familiar with the preparation of food for the table. There are many special foods prepared. I can't list them all here, but I'd like to talk about one important food that is always on the table: Songpyeon. BTW, if you see the picture, Songpyeon is on the top right side of the table, right under the dried pollack(fish).

Songpyeon is a type of ricecake filled with red beans, sesame seeds, chestnuts, and other ingredients. It has a unique fragrance of pine beceause when steaming it, pine needles are added. A day before chuseok, the family members gather to make Songpyeon together. There is an old anecdote in Korea that if you make a nicely-shaped Songpyeon, you will meet a good spouse. I stopped believing in this because my Songpyeons look terrible. A few years back, our family stopped making it and now we just buy it from the store (along with other side dishes that are hard to make).

After the ceremony, the food for the ceremony is taken back into the kitchen, and reorganized for the family to eat.
There is so much work for the women. I remember having to re-heat all the foods and putting it back on the table. After the meal my aunt packed some leftovers for me to take back home. and I remember eating the same food for 3 consecutive days so that none will go to waste.

Overall, Chuseok was good this year.
Good to meet family and eat good food.

07/09/2016

Khalifa and I have been craving this for a while
It’s a dish that makes your mouth water
It’s a unique Korean dish called Geyjang, which is salted fermented raw crab marinated in sauce.
There are two types of sauces typically used: soysauce and spicy red chili powder sauce.
In Korea, Geyjang is known as the “rice thief”.
Since its salty, you need to eat it with a lot of rice.
For me, I normally eat 2 bowls with it.
Some people have difficulty eating it due to the gooey texture.
You might have difficulty with it at first, but after your second Geyjang, you will be asking for more.

How to eat it is simple, or maybe not.
It all depends on how comfortable you are with touching the crab.
I would say the best part is the shell.
We Koreans put rice in the shell and mix it with the “juices” inside.
Tip: With your chopstick, dig near the edges. There will be a lot of meat hidden there.
To get the most out of the rest of the crab, you have to grab it with your hand and suck out the meat with your mouth.
Or, you can do it the other way by using your chopsticks to pull out the meat
Then, eat it with a spoonful of rice.

02/08/2016

What is your favorite food to eat with beer?
Tacos? Cheese? French Fries?

I bet most Koreans would say fried chicken (well…. that’s what I would say).

Koreans love pairing cold beer and fried chicken so much that we actually have a word for it: Chimaek. Chimaek is the combination of the word “chicken” and “maekju”(Korean word for beer). Chicken and beer are good on its own, but putting it together makes it so much better.

It is easy to spot a restaurant serving Chimaek - it’s everywhere. During the summer, you can see crowds of people sitting in front of a Chimaek restaurant holding a chicken in one hand and a beer in the other. This concept of Chimaek has been around since the early 1970s and it gained popularity during the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. Chimaek restaurants have been growing abroad due to the influence of Korean dramas like My Love From the Star.

My thoughts on Chimaek
1) The best place to eat it is at the Han River Park area. During the summertime if you are there on your picnic blankets, Chimaek vendors will most definitely approach you for quick Chimaek delivery service. Yes, I know you’re outdoors (meaning bugs), but hey, it’s worth it!

2) Do you know that once a year there is a Chimaek festival in Daegu? If you are really serious about your Chimaek, you should give it a go. Try out different types of chicken and beer.

3) This year 4,500 Chinese tourists came as one tour group just to visit the filming locations of Korean dramas and eat Chimaek!

01/08/2016

Summer is the time for BINGSOO!
Strawberry Bingsoo
Roasted Grain Powder Bingsoo
Green Tea Bingsoo

20/05/2016

Today I went to Olympic Park, aka OlPark. This is the place where they hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. I took pictures of the World Peace Gate. I love the colors! Apparently it was built as a symbol of peace and harmony for the summer olympics. Underneath the roof, there is a mural of the "four spirits" that guard the gate. The four spirits are ascending towards the sky, representing the strength and freedom of Korea. The colors also signify the universe and creativity.

17/05/2016