The very first night I was in Seoul, I needed to grab a quick bite by myself. So, I found a hole in the wall mom and pop shop and got bimibop. This is a traditional Korean dish. It's all sorts of stuff in a very hot stone pot. It's served with an uncooked egg on the top, which you then mix into everything else, and its cooked right in the hot pot. The best part is when you eat your way down to the bottom. There will be this layer of super crispy rice thats been cooking the whole time you were eating. Delicious! Also of note in this picture is the bowl of kimchi in the upper left hand corner. Did I order kimchi? No. Did I get kimchi? Oh yes. Unlimited kimchi. Kimchi is essentially cabbage in some sort of sauce, normally red and spicy. Koreans literally eat it with every meal. It's especially important during the long, cold winters as their only source of veggie. Bleh. One bowl of kimchi was enough for me.
The first day I spent with Tina, she took me to this authentic noodle place. The broth tasted similar to a hearty chicken noodle soup broth, good for cool days or if you're not feeling 100%. The cool thing about this place, other than the food tasting amazing, was that they would bring refills of broth or noodles. So, essentially, this was an endless bowl of soup and noodles. Yum! The dumplings were also fantastic. Notice, more red kimchi! Another nice thing about Koreans is they eat their rice with a loarge spoon. So much easier.
On Tuesday, the four of us went out to dinner for Korean BBQ. This is the classic Korean dish that all must try during their lifetime. Basically, you get a plate of raw meat (beef and pork for us) that you cook over a hot plate in your table. The meat is deliciously marinated, and there are endless side dishes. Best meal of the trip by far! Notice the green bottle of Soju on the table. Soju is the Korean's alcoholic drink of choice. Most of the time they shoot it, but you can sip it too. It's a rice alcohol that has less sting than vodka but is equally potent. All Koreans are expert drinkers, Soju in particular. It is like water to them.
All of the tables with their individual vent fans.
After the BBQ, we had dessert. A little old, curmudgeonly lady sold hand made waffles filled with 5 scoops of ice cream for $1. Yes, please! And the waffle was so much better than a waffle cone, even though I'm sure the ingredients were the exact same. The fluffiness I guess?
Lunch on Wednesday was a traditional Korean lunch, filled with lots of small plates. This was a two person meal for $15 a person. There was so much food, we had no chance of finishing everything! This is another example of the extreme nature of Koreans. There was alot of nice, light salads, and lots of seafood. A banquet for a queen!
Another Korean favorite is fried chicken. They have so many "chicken and beer" restaurants it's incredible. The fried chicken is less like KFC and more like Buffalo Wild Wings, but it was fantastic. I could get used to eating that regularly! Also, the restaurants were very willing to deliver, literally anywhere. You could say, I'm at the park under the large pine tree, and they'd bring it to you.
On Sat., Drew and I spent alot of time eating. You know it's all the same day because of our outfits. Lunch was a meal of ginseng chicken. Basically, they served you a whole cooked chicken stuffed with rice in a clear broth with chunks of ginseng and whole chestnuts. Delicious! There was a line for this place around the building and into the parking lot.
No chairs! Must sit on the floor.
Algonquin!
Broth slurping. In the end, I couldn't finish. But it was so good! Must finish.....
Dinner started with an appetizer course of sashimi octopus. Basically they took an octopus from a tank, chopped it up, doused it in sesame oil, and plated it. The result was a lot of tentacles still moving on a plate. What a dish! It took some courage to eat it, as it is unnerving to see your food wiggling before your eyes. They also fought against you, like it didn't want to be eaten. The suction cups would stick to the plate, making it hard to pick up. Once you put it in your mouth, the suction cups would suction to your tongue, the inside of your cheek, teeth etc. Bleh. To counteract this, I would begin chewing instantaneously so it didn't have a chance to do so. The taste actually pretty good, but I'm not sure if I would voluntarily have it again. Drew, on the other hand, was having a wonderful time playing with his food.
Before:
After:
The first sample.
For the main course, we went to another place that specialized in rice cakes. Rice cakes are actually a street food, and this place made it more fancy. Basically it's a giant pot of red broth piled with rice cakes and whatever else you want to add, including seafood, veggies, boiled eggs, ramen noodles etc. The bibs were very useful. I don't know why all restaurants that serve sauces do this. This might have been my favorite meal of the trip, other than Korean BBQ of course! The rice cakes had the same consistency of gnocchi. Very tasty.
Drew's after dinner snack was essentially a corn dog that used french fries as the batter instead of corn meal. The tray on the right. The bacon covered hotdog was also in consideration. Needless to say, someone was very stuffed after this.
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