Korean BBQ (City Hall Station) – Seoul

September 3, 2014September 2, 2014Leave a comment

Bulgogi

On the last night of my stay in Seoul, I met up with my Korean friends, D and S, whom I had met during exchange. Can’t believe we saw each other again in less than a year! Anyways, it was pouring rain that day, and they said to meet at City Hall Station. They were going to take us to a restaurant famous for pig feet, but unfortunately there was a huge lineup. It was this tiny alley filled with restaurants, and even though it was flooding and pouring rain, people were still out eating! We ended up going to the second floor of a building for barbeque food. Once I entered, I immediately realized that they were mostly business men who had just gotten off work. The restaurant is very casual, with just tin chairs and tables and little to no decoration. We settled down, and we let the boys do the ordering. First off, we got Bulgogi, which is marinated beef. It came on top of a hot pot grill and topped with lots of green onions. I didn’t think it would be too special, but the marinade was so delicious! We were also given lettuce leaves to wrap them in and it tasted great with ssamjang (hot pepper soybean sauce). On the table, we also have some complimentary appetizers, like kimchi, garlic, bean sprouts and radish. The plastic bottle was Makgeolli – the Korean rice wine that we loved! This was the cheaper version since it is commercialized for supermarkets and convenience shops. Still, very yummy!

Spicy Bulgogi

Next, we had a Spicy Bulgogi. When I initially saw it, I freaked out since I was scared it would be super spicy. Luckily, these were not as spicy as I had imagined. It also had a hint of sweetness to it. The sauce was so addicting, and simply having green onions grilled along made the dish perfect. The beef was so tender! In the back, we have a half eaten Steamed Egg. Very simple with just green onions, but it was a great side dish.

Kimchi Tofu Soup

Other than barbequed food, we also got the Kimchi Tofu Soup, which was sizzling in a hot stone pot. Slightly spicy due to the kimchi, and filled with soft tofu. Very appetizing and was delicious mixed with rice!

Pork Belly

Lastly, we ordered the Grilled Pork Belly, which is a very famous dish in Korea. It is called Samgyeopsal in Korean and has just the right amount of fat to meat ratio. They come in long slices, and as you grill, you can snip it into smaller pieces with scissors. They are delicious when eaten with ssamjang and wrapped with lettuce. Extremely delicious!!

Overall, this restaurant was way better than expected! The interior may not be anything special, but the food is really good! We payed less than 20,000 won each too! I wish I had gotten the name, but it was pouring rain and I just followed my friends, so I wasn’t into the whole blogging mood.

Chir Chir Fusion Chicken Factory (치르치르) – Seoul

September 1, 2014Leave a comment

After doing some night shopping in Myeongdong (again), we got a bit hungry. At the end of the Myeongdong street, we found a chicken and beer restaurant. We still hadn’t had chicken and beer in Seoul! We decided to go into Chir Chir Fusion Chicken Factory. It had a large selection of chicken dishes. The first level was for smoking, and the second level was non-smoking. The restaurant is actually quite huge and it was very packed.

Crispy Classic Fried Chicken

We wanted more of a snack, so we decided to order one order to share. It’s pretty huge! I believe there were roughly 8 pieces of chicken, so it’s perfect for 4 girls. We wanted something original, so we went for the Crispy Classic Fried Chicken. When I saw it, I thought it looked quite similar to KFC’s, but after eating one, I can see why people love their Korean fried chicken! The flavouring is so much more delicious! Plus, it didn’t feel too oily! Lightly battered so that it was crispy. It came with two sauces – a tartar sauce and a sweet chili sauce. It was delicious without the dipping sauces! I liked how it wasn’t too salty, and by the end of the night, I wasn’t even really thirsty. That’s always a good sign!

All orders come with some side dishes as well. It came with some salsa (which I really didn’t like because of the cilantro and raw onions), some corn, and some crackers. Wish we had gotten some beer to go with it, but we felt that they priced their beer a bit too high. I guess that’s how they make their money here!

Korean Traditional Tea Room (Insadong) (인사동 반짝반짝 빛나는) – Seoul

August 31, 2014Leave a comment

Omija Smoothie

After exploring the Hanok Village, we decided it was time to relax and grab some desserts! Our Korean friend took us to 인사동 반짝반짝 빛나는 in Insadong. I don’t believe it has an English name, but it’s a Korean traditional tea room on the second floor of a building. The inside is decorated with many of the pottery that are handmade next door. Pretty neat! Their popular menu items are the smoothies. I wasn’t too sure what it was at first, but it ended up to sort of be like a sorbet icy. We started off the Omija Smoothie, which was a light pink colour. Omija is also known as five flavour tea and is made from the fruit herb. It’s essentially like a iced smoothie, but in a thick form. Super refreshing and helped quench our thirst. The flavour was a mix of sweet and sour.

Citron Smoothie

Next, we also got the Citron Smoothie. I believe it was really yuzu. It was topped with citron peels that had been candied. Again, the hint of sweet and sour made the smoothie very refreshing. This was probably my favourite flavour!

Sweet Pumpkin Smoothie

The third smoothie was the Sweet Pumpkin Smoothie. This one didn’t feel as icy and refreshing, but rather a bit more filling. It was mainly sweet with a strong pumpkin flavour.

Other than the smoothies, we also tried some traditional Korean snacks. This one was similar to a mochi and was dusted with roasted soybean powder. Chewy and quite interesting and unique! It came with two dipping sauces – one was a citron sauce, while the other was crushed peanuts with honey.

Ginger Sweets

We also had the Ginger Sweets, which are also known as Yugwa or Yumilgwa. These were just as good as the ones at Mok Hyang. Very light but still remained the chewy texture.

Jujube Tea

Lastly, to finish off, we had the Jujube Tea. It came in a pot and smelt really good! Jujube is a Korean date and is slightly sweet. A great way to end our dessert meal!

I highly recommend checking this tea room out. It even had guestbooks where you can write a message or mark down that you’ve visited. We too, drew a little picture to remember that we were here! I wonder if it will still be there when I visit again.

Insadong Geujip (인사동그집) – Seoul

August 23, 2014August 23, 20144 Comments

After a day of exploring the Insadong area, we began to look for food. There’s so many restaurants on the main street and we came across Insadong Geujip. It had a huge line up, but surprisingly, when we asked for a table of 4, we were able to get a seat immediately. The restaurant is huge! He took us behind the kitchen and there were more rooms set up which gave you some privacy. The restaurant is in a traditional hanok house, so it’s pretty neat!

First, we were presented with the complimentary appetizers. There was cold tofu with a spicy sauce, marinated radish, mayonnaise salad, kimchi, and seaweed soup. K’s favourite was the cold tofu as usual. It has no flavour on its own, but is delicious with some spicy sauce. My favourite was actually the marinated radish. I don’t normally like radish, but it was the spicy pickled flavour that I enjoyed. It also had a great crunch to it!

Nakji Dolsop Bibimbap (bibimbap in a hot stone pot)

We decided to share three dishes between the four of us since we weren’t very hungry. First, we got the Nakji Dolsop Bibimbap. It was our first bibimbap in Korea, and it definitely didn’t disappoint us. Mixed with beansprouts, zuchhinis, cloud ear fungus, carrots and seaweed, it gave you a crunchy texture and bursts of flavours. Instead of the typical egg yolk that they normally use, there was octopus in it! Tiny baby tako which were marinated in a spicy sauce. Super tender and flavourful. We much preferred this bibimbap compared to the ones we just plain old veggies!

Doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew)

Next, we had the Doenjang-jjigae, which is a soybean paste stew. It’s a bit different from the typical tofu soup, because you can really taste the soybean. It’s pretty much like miso soup with tofu in it. The soybean flavour was very rich and strong. A very small hint of spice as well, but I was addicted to this!

Gungjung Tteokbokki (Royal Palace Rice Cake)

Last but not least, we had Gungjung Tteokbokki, which can be translated to the Royal Palace Rice Cake. We had plenty of spicy rice cake, so we decided to go for the non-spicy version. Filled with marinated bulgogi (beef), carrots, mushrooms, chestnuts and a sprinkle of sesame, it was absolutely delicious! The rice cakes were super soft but still remained the chewiness. The sauce was sweet and not overly salty. We definitely agreed this was our favourite dish!

I’d definitely recommend checking Insadong Geujip out if you’re in the Insadong area. Prices are fair and service was pretty quick. Best of all, the food is delicious!

Address: 3, Insadong 12-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Mok Hyang – Seoul

August 21, 2014August 23, 2014Leave a comment

In Seoul, we stayed at an airbnb apartment in the Insadong area. The Insadong district is a huge tourist spot due to the traditional arts and crafts you can find here. You’ll find things such as traditional clothing (hanbok), traditional paper (hanji), teas, folk crafts, and pottery. If you love culture and art, then this is the place for you. While walking down the main street, we came across Mok Hyang, which is a traditional dessert house. It’s located just behind the Ssamziegil complex.

Mok Hyang prizes itself as Seoul’s only two-story traditional hanok house. The outside is definitely really cute with the wooden touches, but the inside is even more gorgeous! You must remove your shoes at the door and you will walk on wooden floors. The wooden tables are made from logs and are very low, hence you sit on the mats. There’s pottery as decor all over the area. Definitely a great place to have some tea and snacks and relax for a bit.

Fruit Patbingsu

The downside about this spot is that each person must order one item, whether it’s a beverage or dessert. Hence, we got 5 different items to share. First, was the Fruit Patbingsu. Lots of red beans were piled atop the shaved ice. On top, there were bananas, watermelon, pineapple, and kiwi. Quite refreshing actually! It also had a piece of matcha sticky rice cake.

Green Tea Patbingsu

The second patbingsu was the Green Tea Patbingsu. The ice had green tea flavouring already in it. It had a pile of red beans again and a few pieces of match sticky rice cake. We found that the green tea flavour was lacking. It wasn’t as strong as we would’ve liked it, so it tasted more like just red bean patbingsu.

Surichi Injeolmi

Sticky rice cake is very popular in Korea. It’s a traditional sweet that they eat during festivities. Here, we have Surichi Injeolmi. Essentially sticky rice cake with matcha powder all over. To be honest, I like the Japanese mochis more. I find that the Korean sticky rice cakes to be too chewy and not as soft. It feels very tough when you chew on it. As well, the powder is not very sweet. Your mouth is just filled with powder when you eat it. Not my cup of tea.

Seoyeojeungsik

Next, we chose Seoyeojeungsik, which are steamed hemp. It reminded me of baked bread dough. The dough itself is not very flavourful. It has a crispy texture on the outside, but very chewy inside, like it had some sort of sticky rice cake mixed within it. You then dip it into the honey to add a sweet flavour to it. We really enjoyed this! Something we all haven’t had before!

Ginger Sweets

Lastly, we had the Ginger Sweets, which are also known as Yugwa or Yumilgwa. They are traditional Korean confectionery and are a mixture of grain flour and honey. They are then deep fried and fried rice kernels are added on the outside. These were by far my favourite traditional Korean sweets. Super airy when you bite into it, but it still has a slight chew. A hint of ginger taste will linger in your mouth. We ended up buying some of these on the streets and shops in the Insadong area, but they definitely did not compare to the ones here. I highly recommend trying these!

At Mok Hyang, they also provide women with silky napkins to place on your laps if you’re wearing skirts, dresses, or shorts. Very courteous and respectful in here. Pricing is average – not the cheapest, but you can’t expect much since it is a tourist area. I believe their teas are also very popular and they do have a wide selections of them. Great place to relax and get a taste of the Korean traditional culture!

Address: 32 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-300

Shinsegae Centrum City and Spa Land – Busan

August 16, 2014August 23, 2014Leave a comment

If you love shopping, you must visit the Shinsegae Centrum City Department Store in Haeundae, Busan. The store is listed as the largest shopping complex in the world! With 14 floors and 2 basement floors, it even has a golf driving range! Of course I headed to the basement floor for the food department! Very similar to Lotte Department store, but with way more food! We found Lady M Confections, which is a New York based confectionery. The cakes are absolutely beautiful to look at, but are quite pricey!

Mille Crepe

We decided to try the Mille Crepe, which is their signature cake. This is a must try! Layers of paper-thin handmade crepes with super light pastry cream in between the layers. It’s super light and fluffy and the crepe just melts in your mouth. I’ve never had such a light delicious cake before! It’s also not too sweet. Well worth the CAD$7.

Next, we found these mochi curled up in leaves. Thought it was pretty interesting looking, so we decided to give it a try.

Mochi in Leaf

We were surprised that the mochi wasn’t white, but rather a slight grey with green specks in it. We suspect that it may have been mixed with tea leaves. The mochi is filled with red bean paste, which I liked, but I found the mochi to have a strange flavour. Wasn’t very sweet, but rather a little sour. Really odd and not too pleasing to the palette.

Spa Land

The Shinsegae department store connects to Spa Land, which is the main purpose for our visit. Spa Land is the perfect place to relax after several days of traveling. It has 22 spas with natural spring water being pumped from underground, 13 Jjimjilbangs and saunas, and an open-air foot spa. Jjimjilbangs are public bathhouses that include everything from saunas to massage chairs. At Spa Land, it is only 13,000 won on weekdays for adults and you can stay up to 4 hours.

Spa Land is huge! After paying at the reception, you will need to remove your shoes and put them in a locker, where you will get a key to the rest of your lockers. You then segregate into your gender’s change room and you can change into the uniform they provide you. Lockers are included to store your belongings. We realized that you need to be completely nude to go into the gender-segregated baths. No swimsuits whatsoever. We weren’t too comfortable with that, so we ended up just going for the saunas.

Each sauna room are different themed. They are also at different temperatures. A sign is placed outside with the name of the sauna, temperature, and the health benefits it brings. Most of the saunas are around 40 degrees, with ones reaching 70 degrees! There is one that is a cold sauna, called the Ice Room at around 13 degrees.

Open-air Foot Spa

On the first floor, you can exit to the Open-air Foot Spa. Here, the ceiling is open with some areas being sheltered in case of rain. There are serveral different foot spas with different ingredients in the water. The foot baths are around 30 degrees and are very comforting if you have walked for a long time. There are also pebble stones on the floor so they provide massaging for your feet.

Salt Room

After soaking our feet, we headed back indoors to the saunas. The saunas are gender mixed so you can wear your uniforms here. One of our favourite was the Salt Room. It featured blocks of salt as the building blocks of the walls. There are blocks where you can place your head on so that you can lie down. Many people sleep here! At first, I found it really hot and stuffy, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to stay for long. However, when you lie down, I found that you don’t feel as hot anymore. You start to get used to the temperature and you’ll start sweating a lot! This is supposed to help remove your toxins. We found it funny how some people were exercising in the rooms.

Pyramid Room

This was the Pyramid Room, which featured a 52 degree angle. Apparently this angle is supposed to “collect energies from the universe.” It actually felt quite relaxing here as well since it wasn’t too hot. Not exactly sure how it collects energies though…

Wave Dream Room

This was the Wave Dream Room, where the centerpiece creates sort of a wave. It’s supposed to help you relax. We didn’t find this one too special.

Relaxation Room

On the top floor is the Relaxation Room. It’s a huge room filled with inclining chairs and TVs. You can relax on these chairs and watch TV with great privacy. The chairs are side by side but have so much privacy because there’s a board that blocks the other person from seeing you.

The head rest has a built in speakers so you can hear without using headphones. Most of the shows are in Korean though, so it wasn’t too entertaining for us.

After that, we headed to this area where you can just lie on the floor which is heated. At first, I felt like it wasn’t very sanitary, but I realized there is someone constantly cleaning the floors, so everything is very hygienic here. There is also a snack bar, so we purchased some Baked Eggs. They are cooked in the hottest saunas and remind me of hard-boiled eggs essentially. You also pay for everything additional with your locker key and pay the extra costs when you leave. Other additional costs you may incur are the massage chairs and facials.

Overall, a must try if you have some spare time! Definitely will be revisiting when I visit Busan again!

Address: 35, Senteomnam-daero, Haeun Daegu, Busan

Dwaeji Gukbap, Jagalchi Market, BIFF – Busan

August 14, 2014Leave a comment

Garlic chives, kimchi, garlic, green peppers, onions, radish kimchi fermented baby shrimp, noodles

Our second day in Busan would also be our last full day, so we headed out early to try and hit up most of the tourist spots. For breakfast/lunch, we wanted to try the famous Dwaeji Gukbap, which is also known as pork soup and rice. Busan prides itself to have the best of this soup and there is even a street in the Seomyeon district that is filled with shops selling this soup. We headed there and just chose a shop. After placing our order, they brought us a huge dish. At first, I thought they were appetizers to eat, but we later figured out that you should put this into the pork soup. We didn’t end up throwing all these things in, since we weren’t sure. We did however throw the fermented baby shrimp in, which was quite interesting. It brings a bit of saltiness to the soup.

Dwaeji Gukbap

And the Dwaeji Gukbap arrived! The broth is a milky colour due to hours of boiling pork bone. You’ll find slices of pork shank and green onions in it. The soup is light but full of flavour. Super homey and is perfect on a rainy day. You are also supposed to put your rice in, but we didn’t know until later. Even just by drinking the soup on its own was absolutely delicious. I would say it’s one of my favourite Korean dishes! A must try in Busan!

Gamjatang

We also added a Gamjatang, which is a very popular Korean dish. I’ve tried it in Vancouver as well, but I found the broth to taste a little different here. Gamjatang is a soup made of pork spine, vegetables, green onions, and hot peppers. It comes sizzling on a hot pot to keep the soup hot. The soup is quite spicy, and is absolutely delicious with rice. It came with potatoes, enoki mushroom and other green veggies. The pork spines have bone marrow in it which is supposed to be really good for you. There’s surprsingly quite a lot of meat hanging on the bones, so you actually get very full. However, I still favour the Dwaeji Gukbap over this one.

After lunch we headed to the Nampo-dong area. Nampo is famous for shopping, but nearby, you will also find BIFF or Busan International Film Festival. The festival is held in October and is one of the largest film festivals in Asia.

Obviously the festival wasn’t happening when we were there, but you can still see something similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

There are also various food stalls with long line ups. Food looked pretty good! We were all still full from lunch though.

Also within walking distance is the Jagalchi Market. It is the largest seafood market in Korea and is a top tourist spot in Busan. There are many restaurants here who will cook your seafood right away for you.

There is an outdoor market area as well as an indoor one. We took a peak in the indoor market and the floor was all wet and it smelled really fishy. We didn’t feel like going in, so we headed over to the outdoor market. The stalls sell a variety of seafood, from shellfish to prawns, crab, and fresh fish.

I think the most impressive part of the market were these huge octopi. Pretty much every stall sold octopus. They are ginormous! I believe you can also eat raw octopus here. They are supposed to suck on your tongue and lips, so you need to chew very quickly! I saw some that had been cut into bits already, but they are still squirming! Crazy… As a foodie, I should’ve probably tried it, but I just couldn’t… However, my Korean friends said they are really good and a delicacy!

Overall, Nampo is definitely worth checking out! Plus, you can check out BIFF and Jagalchi Market at the same time!

Mubanna Chondak (무봤나 촌닭): Korean Fried Chicken – Busan

August 13, 2014Leave a comment

After lunch in Myeong-dong, we headed to Seoul Station, where we would take the KTX train to Busan. Busan is the second largest city in South Korea and is the fifth largest seaport in the world! It’s famous for the beaches and seafood! If you want to travel to Busan from Seoul, you can get the KR Pass as a foreigner. You can get unlimited travel from 1 to 10 days, depending on the pass you buy. It’s a much cheaper deal. For us, we purchased the 3 day unlimited pass, and used it for a round trip. You also get a discount if you’re younger than 25 or are traveling with more than 2 people. Purchase it online before you go, and you can select any time after your reservation date. It took around 2 hours to arrive, but since we left Seoul late, we arrived early evening. We stayed in the Haeundae area, which is famous for the beach. We walked around the area and found a bunch of bars. We ended up looking for fried chicken, since we always see it in Korean dramas. The restaurant was called Mubanna Chondak and is a chain restaurant in Busan.

Kimchi and Tofu

It was really difficult to communicate in Busan, since they seemed to know less English. The server was still very friendly and tried his best to recommend us food. After ordering, he brought us complimentary appetizers. There was a size of kimchi, which I found spicier than usual. There was also tofu with sesame seeds on it. The tofu really has no flavour, but K loved it.

Spicy Octopus

Next, we tried the Spicy Octopus. It came on a grill on top of a hot pot stove. There were around 10 tiny octopi! After one bite, we all realized how spicy it was! Super spicy! Not to the point where I couldn’t feel my taste buds anymore, but one where I wanted to keep drinking water. The octopus was so tender though! The sauce was also really delicious. A definite recommend!

Boneless Chicken in Chili Pepper Paste Sauce

The server recommended us to get the Boneless Chicken in Chili Pepper Paste Sauce. He said it’s one of the more popular dishes. Again, it’s in a chili pepper paste sauce, so very spicy. Definitely not as spicy as the octopus though. It’s a mix of chicken that isn’t fried or battered, and is mixed with rice cake, corn, peas and comes with a side of noodles. You’re supposed to mix the noodles with the chicken, which I found quite interesting. We loved the rice cake mixed in and wish there was more. Sadly, we were looking for fried chicken, so we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t have the real fried chicken we always see. He also ended up putting down 2 orders of this, as he couldn’t understand what we wanted. Oh well. Tons of leftover though!

The chicken also comes with a cabbage salad that is topped with ketchup and mayo. This was definitely needed as our food was quite spicy!

Steamed Egg

Lastly, we also got a Steamed Egg, which is filled with green onions. Not bad, and was something to help calm our palettes down.

Overall, the food was actually pretty good here! It’s quite casual and almost seems like a fast food restaurant. I believe you can also choose the spice level for the food. We had asked for mild, but it’s still pretty spicy… I guess Koreans can really take their spice!

Every Day is a Food Day

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