One of my favorite parts about Korea was exploring the food! One night I took a dinner tour and sampled many traditional Korean dishes. We basically went to 4 different restaurants and a food market and ate at every stop. I was stuffed by the end of it!
First stop was bulgogi – traditional Korean bbq. This was, potentially, my favorite. The restuarant was down this little pedestrian alley and around a few corners, tucked away amidst businesses, restaurants, and apartments. It mostly has outdoor seating, so there were plastic walls to keep it warm enough. Each table had its own little grill/table thing and on the grill we cooked our marinated beef bulgogi and mushrooms. Then we ate it in these little lettuce wraps. So so so delicious!
Then it was on to the next stop – another restaurant for Royal Toppoki! I enjoyed this dish as well, but not quite as much. It was also prepared at the table, but this time on a sort of hotplate in the center of the table. It was sort of a stew with rice cakes, fish cakes, vegetables, potato noodles, and other tasty bits. The sauce was a little sweet which surprised me!
On our walk to the next restaurant, we stopped by a restaurant that had a traditional kimchi preparation display – and a pet squirrel. Both were pretty interesting! In the pic below you can see the squirrel is getting the most attention (it was pretty cute), but below are the clay pots in which the kimchi is prepared. Traditionally the pots are filled and then buried for a certain period of time. The veggies ferment and thus become the kimchi.
Our next restaurant stop where we tried a bunch of different types of kimchi and one of my other favorite dishes – the Korean pancake! In Korean it is called pajeon, but often on menus you will see it referred to as a pancake. It is as large as a pizza, cut in pieces, and dipped in a delicious brown soy-like sauce. It’s made of an egg, flour, & rice flour batter and layered with green onions and sometimes meat – often squid. Yum yum! I don’t have a great picture of the pajeon but if you click on the link above or this one, you’ll see some recipes and pictures.
Here’s a pic of a woman making some of the panjeon…
Then it was onward to the Kwang Jang Market. Although it was 9pm on a Tuesday night, the market was packed with people and vendors. We walked through the clothing – which was closing – to the food section – which was just getting going! This woman was selling side dishes, just big vats of side dishes!
It was in this market that we found our last restaurant where we tried a type of rice cake thing in tomato sauce and another type of Korean pancake – the mungbean pancake – called bindaetteok. It was a little fatter and had a slightly different taste, but ultimately it was the same delicious concept!
This concluded our dinner tour – thank goodness because I was STUFFED, but the next day, lo and behold, I was starving yet again! That day I took the opportunity to try the street vendors. Here are some of my favorites.
Roasted chestnuts!
A fried pastry filled with honey and peanut butter!
And while not a street vendor, some delicious ginger tea and an unidentified little cake crisp thing…
What can I say? I love food and Korea provided so many great new choices. I can’t wait to find some Korean restaurants in my area and revisit my favorites and try more!
More Than Postcards 