Midam Cafe

April 6, 2015Leave a comment

Midam Cafe is hidden in a complex just off North Road. It’s been a year since I’ve visited, and K was desperate to get some shikye (a Korean rice drink). So desperate that we drove almost an hour to get here to find out they didn’t offer it right now. Probably because it’s more of a summer drink. Anyways, Midam is famous for their rice cakes, and I have to say they are pretty good! The spot is filled with diners at night for drinks and food, but we were surprised to be the first diners here during your typical lunch time on a weekend.

We were served the complimentary ban-chan or Korean side dishes. These were all very good, consisting of kimchi, sweet potatoes and marinated kelp. The kimchi was a lot spicier than your typical, but was still delicious.

Korean Traditional Rice Cake Soup

I chose the Korean Traditional Rice Cake Soup, which was surprisingly a very large bowl of soup. The broth was flavoured well, but definitely not salty. The rice cakes were cooked perfectly, so they were slightly chewy. It was filled with green onions, egg and seaweed. I put some of the kimchi in to give it some spice, which complemented the dish very well.

Fresh Vegetable Porridge Set

K got the Fresh Vegetable Porridge Set, which again was a very large bowl. It had chopped vegetables and the porridge was flavoured just right. Very delicious!

Grilled Mochi with Red Bean

We finished off our meal with dessert, which oddly came at the same time as our food. I would’ve appreciated it more if the dessert was served after we finished our meals. The Grilled Mochi with Red Bean came on a hot plate and didn’t look too appetizing, but was actually quite delicious. The mochi was soft with a slight chew, and the sweetness from the red beans and roasted almonds worked well with the dish. The only concern was that the mochi was slightly burnt, so you could taste the charcoal.

Overall, Midam has solid Korean dishes and is great for desserts and drinks. I would suggest you try their rice cakes as they are probably some of the best in town. Service is just average, and there honestly isn’t much since you need to press the button to get the attention of your server. Parking is pretty good as well, although I can imagine the complex getting busy with the Korean supermarket also located in the complex.

Pros:
– Delicious home-made rice cakes – both savoury and sweet
– Great selection of desserts and drinks

Cons:
– Lack of service

Price Range: $10-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 2
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3

Korean Twist – Portland

October 17, 2014October 14, 2014Leave a comment

Near S.W. 10th Ave. & Alder St., you’ll find Portland’s largest hub of food carts. However, when we arrived it was noon and there weren’t large line ups like the ones we have in Vancouver. Taking a stroll along the food carts, nothing really struck me either. I’m sure the food is good, but there weren’t really unique menu items that made me desperately want to try.

Anyways, I ended up going for Korean Twist, which seemed slightly more interesting. It’s run by two young men and there was a steady customer base. They essentially sell tacos, burritos and rice bowls with a Korean twist to it.

Chicken Burrito

J and K shared the Chicken Burrito, which was huge! They said it was flavourful and very filling.

Spicy Pork, Bulgogi Beef, Tofu Taco

For myself, I shared the taco set with K. The taco set comes with 3 tacos, but we added an additional taco at regular price. She got two of the Tofu Tacos, while I got the Spicy Pork and Bulgogi Beef Taco. Both of the meats were super flavourful! It’s the sauce that really does it for me. A mix of coleslaw and cilantro, but they fill the tacos with a lot of meat. You definitely get your money’s worth as these tacos aren’t small!

Overall, I think Korean Twist is a great place to try if you want to get value out of your money. You’ll be full and the flavours are great if you want some Asian flare.

Potter’s Garden

October 4, 2014October 4, 2014Leave a comment

Since we were in the Metrotown area, we decided to grab some food after hiking. We ended up going to Potter’s Garden. There were customers constantly coming in, which is always a good sign! I believe the owners are Korean as well, but they can speak fluent English, so no problem with ordering here!

They first start you off with some appetizers. Here, we have marinated seaweed salad, beansprouts, sweet potatoes, and kimchi. We actually got two sets of these for 5 people, and I’m pretty sure you can ask for a refill.

They also provide you with lettuce so you can wrap your grilled meat, some dipping sauces, and my favourite ssamjang.

Bulgogi

We started off with the Bulgogi, which is just stir fried marinated tender beer with vegetables. Since we only ordered two grilled dishes, they did not open up the grill for us to grill on our own. I actually prefer that since I don’t exactly enjoy the grilling part and smelling like grilled food afterwards. The meat was very tender and flavourful. Along with ssamjang and wrapped with lettuce, it was very delicious!

LA Galbi Jui

Next, we got the LA Galbi Jui, which are grilled marinated prime ribs. I found the ribs to be slightly disappointing as the meat was a bit tough to chew. And of course, there weren’t too much meat as well. The sauce was very good though.

Nakji-dolsot-bibimbap – rice mixed with assorted vegetables, octopus, optional red pepper paste in a hot stone pot

My favourite of the night was the Nakji-dolsot-bibimbap. This was your typical bibimbap or rice in hot stone bowl with a twist. It has assorted vegetables like bean sprouts, carrots, and zucchini, but also octopus! The octopus was very tender and easy to chew. It was also dressed with the red pepper paste so it was very flavourful and feisty! Recommend!

Japchae

We got our all time favourite Japchae, which is potato noodles stir-fried with vegetables and beef. This was a small size and was a good portion to share so everyone could get some. It was filled with lots of vegetables and beef, so you would get some crunch to it.

Haemul Pajeon (seafood)

Lastly, we got the Haemul Pajeon, which is the Korean style pancake with seafood. Again, this was the mall size. I thought this was done very well as the top was crispy, and they didn’t cheap out on the seafood. It had a mix of squid, shrimp, and of course lots of chives.

Overall, Potter’s Garden was quite good for the value. Nothing too outstanding, but I would probably revisit again when I want Korean food near Kingsway. I believe they are also open until 2 a.m., so a perfect place to get some drinks and late night snacks.

Japanese Snacks

September 17, 2014Leave a comment

Last post to wrap up my trip in Japan is going to be about all the random snacks I had along the way. First up, was MOS Burger near the Shibuya station. We grabbed a quick bite here while waiting for our Airbnb host. MOS Burger is a fast food chain and the second largest in Japan after McDonald’s. I got the beef, onion and cheese melt. Tons of flavour from the onions and the cheese was really good.

In the mornings, we would sometimes go down to Family Mart to grab a quick snack. Family Mart is a convenience store, similar to 7-Eleven. We got the onigiris, which are rice shaped like triangles and wrapped with seaweed. Inside, they are filled with different ingredients, but ume or pickled plum is probably the most common. I chose the Spicy Tuna Onigiri, which was super delicious! It’s under 200 yen for one as well! Such a steal.

At Family Mart, we also found many alcoholic beverages. We got this lychee cider, which was so good! Wish we have this in Vancouver. Only 4% of alcohol content, so the lychee fruity flavour really comes through.

We also checked out Tokyu Food Show, which is connected to the Shibuya station. It’s located inside the Tokyu Toyoko Department store and offers many different stalls with food. We decided to get some nigiris at one of the stall. Here is the Tuna Nigiri, which was slightly disappointing. It wasn’t as fresh as the ones we had in restaurants and slightly overpriced.

We also got the Geoduck Nigiri, but it was only alright as well. All the ingredients didn’t seem very fresh for the price we paid.

Address: 2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Hokkaido Milk is very popular, so we had to give it a try. Hokkaido milk has a very unique taste and is very creamy, but light at the same time. It has to do with what they feed the cows. You could definitely immediately taste a distinct flavour, which was very good!

While in the Harajuku area, we got hungry and spotted a crepe kiosk. It’s called Cafe Crepe Harajuku, and offers many pretty looking crepes. We chose the Matcha Tiramisu Crepe. The crepe was thin and filled with a slice of matcha tiramisu, topped with whipped cream and matcha powder. It was actually very good! Not too sweet!

While in Yokohama, I picked up this super cute bag of ramen at a shop in World Potters. It features the Sapporo Maruyama Zoo Bear. So cute! I have yet to try it, but hopefully it’s as good as how the package looks!

At the Cup Noodle Museum, we purchased this cute box of ramen. You add eggs on top of it, and it’s supposed to be sort of like a ramen pancake. However, we made it the other day, and it kind of failed. Definitely did not look as good as the picture. Perhaps it was because we couldn’t read the instructions properly. It wasn’t bad though.

At the Narita International Airport, we did some Duty Free shopping. We picked up this bottle of Sparkling Ume Wine. The packaging definitely caught our attention. We had it on the plane and it was really good! Sweet and fizzy!

We also picked up a box of the Yubari Melon Pocky. They were the giant Pockys, so they are individually packed inside. It actually had a very strong cantaloupe flavour. Yummy!

At the Narita International Airport, after you pass security and customs, there isn’t much to eat in our terminal. We ended up having a last meal of Japanese food. K got the Soba Noodles which came with a side of fried potato croquettes.

For myself, I got the Shoyu Ramen. It was quite salty and very oily! Not good at all…

This probably shouldn’t be in this post, since it was a Korean snack we bought, but I’ll throw it in here anyways. These were banana puffs! Crispy and light chips with a strong banana flavour. It’s weird how Koreans make banana flavoured everything… So weird, but so good. We found it at Walmart in Vancouver!

And here were our suitcase filled with our goodies. Just some of them actually… A trip to Asia isn’t complete if you don’t bring back tons of goodies!

Warawara – Seoul

September 4, 2014September 3, 2014Leave a comment

After dinner, the boys took us to look for some fruit soju! We took a 10 minute walk and ended up in a street full of bars. And this was a random Wednesday night, but the street was busy! Shows how much Koreans love to drink! Anyways, we ended up Warawara, which is supposed to be famous for their fruit sojus. The dining bar was in the basement floor, and the decor is all wooden. I liked how they had little rooms with blinds separating you from other diners so it gives you some privacy.

Italian Creamy Fried Chicken

Apparently, you must eat when you drink! It’s drinking etiquette to always order at least one dish to share. They say that’s how they get drunk, since you keep eating, and so you’ll drink more… Anyways, we ordered the Italian Creamy Fried Chicken, which was by far my favourite fried chicken we had in Korea. It definitely had to do with the creamy and cheesy sauce! I had thought that the best fried chicken would be the classic, but they really know how to fusion up their classic fried chicken. They were little chicken balls that were boneless, so no hassle with deboning. Filled with vegetables like corn, peppers, broccoli and onions, the dish was extremely flavourful!

Then came our fruit sojus! What’s cool about this bar is that they actually use fresh fruit to make your soju or other alcoholic drinks. None of that cheap processed juice or powder! What’s even cooler is that they actually present the drink in the fruit’s shell! So here we have the server actually physically bring us all the equipment to make the soju. His blender was filled up half with soju already. He then pulls out the pineapple with a metal tool.

He then actually blends the whole drink in front of us! Super cool! Plus, you’re guaranteed it’s fresh!

Pineapple Soju

And here we have the finished product of the Pineapple Soju! He fills the pineapple shell with half of the soju and places it on a plate filled with ice to keep it cold. Loved the experience and the drink was absolutely delicious! I love how you get some pineapple pulp in it, and it tastes more like juice than alcohol! I see how you can get drunk off of this so easily…

Watermelon Soju

The pineapple soju was so good that we had to get another round of soju! This time, we chose the Watermelon Soju. Unfortunately, they said they ran out of the actual watermelon skin for the bowl, so we were only able to get it in a jar already made. I’m not sure how that works out though, because where did the watermelon come from if there’s no shell for it…? Odd… Again, super refreshing! These fruit sojus are a must try if you normally like calpico sojus that are flavoured peach or grape and such. Never thought these fruits would be so great with soju!

Cass Beer

We mentioned how we liked the Korean beers, since it’s really light and diluted, so the boys taught us how they normally drink their beers. This time, we tried Cass, which is also a popular Korean beer.

Soju

Now apparently, just drinking beer alone isn’t enough to get these boys drunk….so they mix it with soju! Here, the boys were showing us a trick where they spin the green soju bottle, and place light from their phone under the bottle to create a tornado…

Soju Bombs

Typically, you can make soju bombs by dropping a shot glass of soju into a pint of beer. Instead, the boys just poured the soju into the beer. They then took a spoon and poked the drink through, and somehow the drink just mixed itself together. Pretty neat!!

And here is what it ended up like! Some foam at the top, and the beer and soju mixed up! This definitely gets you more drunk quicker!

Overall, an absolute fun night to finish off our trip in Seoul! Can’t wait to visit these crazy boys again. Warawara is definitely a great place to hangout and have a few drinks in a comfortable environment! If you’re not a heavy drinker, those fruit sojus are perfect for you! I believe they have several franchises all over South Korea, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one!

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.

Street Food & More – Seoul

September 2, 2014Leave a comment

A trip to Seoul isn’t done properly if you don’t have some street food! I was actually surprised that there weren’t as many street food stalls as I had imagined. Anyways, if you’re looking for street food, Myeongdong is a good option since you can shop and eat. However, most of the stalls don’t come out until the evening time. I love grilled sausages, so this stall caught my eyes immediately.

Grilled Sausages stuffed with Rice Cake

This sausage skewer isn’t your typical American sausage skewer. We had some spicy beef sausages, but there were also pork sausages that were filled with rice cake! I thought that was pretty neat! Yummy too!

Another stall in Myeongdong offered a large variety of grilled squid, octopus, and fish.

Some seemed to already be grilled, while others needed to be grilled.

Grilled Octopus

We had originally wanted to get grilled squid, but we couldn’t really figure out what was written on the signs. I believe that we ended up ordering grilled octopus. They placed these slices on the grill right away for a few minutes to heat it up. Honestly, these were terrible! They were so hard and tough that I’m pretty sure I had a difficult time digesting it. Won’t recommend this!

Another area with lots of street food is the Dongdaemun area which is filled with shopping malls like Doota and is filled with many wholesale shops. We found a stall with more sausage like skewers. These were dipped in a red sauce!

On the left is a fish cake wrapped around squid. To the right, I got a skewer with a variety of sausage, rice cake, fish cake, and meatballs. The sauce was not even very spicy. It was more sweet than spicy. Cheap and delicious!

Green Tea Parfait – O’sulloc

O’sulloc Tea House is a modern looking tea house that offers Korean traditional teas. It specializes in green tea, but also offers many other items like ice cream, desserts, and juices. They have several shops, but we stopped by the one in Myeongdong. I decided to share the Green Tea Parfait with K. The parfaits are quite expensive, at more than 8,000 won! Honestly, I didn’t think it was that good. The bottom was green tea ice topped with lots of whipped cream and red bean. It was then topped with a scoop of green tea ice cream, some green tea cake, and a tea biscuit. We found that the parfait just tasted like cream. I would’ve much preferred the parfaits at Mimibuloveme in Vancouver. I find that O’sulloc is overrated with high prices! I know they specialize in green tea, so I’m guessing their teas are probably more on the right track. Definitely not going back for the desserts though.

Dumplings in Oxtail Soup

On another day, K and I went out early in the morning and walked over to Insadong to look for some quick breakfast. We ended up heading up to this random cafe on the second floor of a building. I never got the name, but it was filled with office people! It’s more like a fast food/ cafeteria type of setting but still with full service. I chose the Dumplings in Oxtail Soup, which was absolutely delicious! Filled with roughly 6 dumplings, and topped with onions, seaweed, and egg, the broth was the best part! It didn’t taste like MSG, but rather a hearty broth filled with flavour. As for the dumplings, they were pork and chive dumplings, and a great way to start the morning! Must try!

Tteokbokki with Cheese

We also found Tteokbokki with Cheese on the menu and thought it would be quite interesting. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment. There wasn’t enough cheese on it! They definitely skimped out here. There were only a few strings of melted cheese, but not enough to create a cheesy effect. The rice cakes were soft, and sitting in a spicy hot pepper sauce, and topped with white sesame. It also came with half a hard boiled egg. Overall, these were just decent. I would highly recommend trying their soups instead, since most of the locals were ordering that.

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!

Every Day is a Food Day

Tag: Korean