Sweet Willie

Can anyone tell me what is cooking on this Seoul street stall in this photo?

http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=380&pID=1054


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mosburger

Those are various skewers about to be deep fried. It's el cheapo style street food mostly eaten by school kids.

Sweet Willie

hmmm, that doesn't sound like something special, I'd probably try a few of the skewers anyways. thanks.

Sweet Willie

Just read: Early kimchi dishes were relatively mild, spiced with fermented anchovies, ginger, garlic, and green onions. Koreans still use these ingredients today, but the spice most closely associated with modern kimchi is red pepper powder, though even today some recipes call for little or no red pepper. Korea boasts more than two hundred types of kimchi, all rich in vitamins, minerals, and proteins created by the lactic acid fermentation of cabbage, radish, and other vegetables and seafood.

I'm fairly certain all the kimchi I've had in the US is the "modern kimchi" typical heavy on the cabbage and red pepper powder/chilipaste. Is it the same in Seoul or can one readily find other types of kimchi ?

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Sweet Willie

Fellow FT'er from Japan pm'd me and mentioned that Matsutake Mushrooms might be present on our Sept visit to Seoul. Supposedly an expensive delicacy in Japan but cheap(er) in Korea as they grow quite a few of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsutake
http://japanesefood.about.com/cs/veg.../matsutake.htm

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mosburger

A good place to try the "aged", more acidic kimchi are the "Nolboo" (http://www.nolboo.co.kr/ ) chain outlets. Even my Korean gourmand friends like their pork & kimchi combo platters. And the rest of the menu is good too. (http://www.nolboo.co.kr/english/brand/bossam.asp)

HyperMKIV

i hope i don't get bashed for this...but koreans also eat dog meat.

i've tried it on two occasions there and i didn't really ASK for it or I didn't want it but it was in front of me so i tried it. i must say it's rather good.

many of my friends were mad at me (so was my mother) but hey, i'll try almost anything once...

jpatokal

You're not going to run into it by accident though -- it's technically illegal (although the law is not enforced at all) and finding some in Seoul actually required a bit of effort. But it is pretty tasty

Sweet Willie

bumped for some fellow FT'ers going to Seoul this weekend !!!!

Sweet Willie

Here are the places we dined in Seoul:

Were in the Myung Dong area. Found some tents that served food cooked from the nearby storefronts. A Korean friend translated the business card that was given to me as the following: Restaurant Gahnaeree phone: 776-0037. We ordered some soju and Korean Beer while we looked over the menu. Couldn’t really read it but there were pictures. So we chose pajun (a Korean seafood/scallion pancake of sorts), a pot of mussels, and fresh chopped live octopus legs. Mussels were ok but because they were cooked too long, they were too soft. Pajun was quite tasty, especially with the chili paste sauce. The live octopus legs were the best tasting of the evening, slightly citrus w/a taste of the sea, quite delicious (MAKE SURE TO CHEW THOROUGHLY).

Also tried a number of street food stalls in the Myung Dong area. One that had a large wok of heated oil, the maker would roll this fluffy looking stuff into a log and drop into the oil. Some of these logs contained sausages; others were wrapped by a leaf. I followed the locals and put chili ketchup and mustard on mine. The next stall was serving fried tofu on a stick, complete with chili dipping sauce. The final stall we actually sat down at, at this one we purchased some mandu (Korean dumplings) and what we termed Korean pasta which was actually thick (1/2” circumference x 2” long) pieces of pasta (maybe rice flour?) that had been heated in a red tomato/chili sauce. The heat of the sauce was the long, slow to build kind that burned nicely. All of the above were delicious and I would order again in a heartbeat. We then went to the nearby Hof and Soju Bar (actually the name of it) which was close to our tent dinner of the night before. That soju is tasty stuff.

Nobizib a Korean BBQ joint located a couple doors away from the TGI Friday’s in the Myung Dong area. Nobizib has an active blue “oven” outside the front where the charcoal is lit before transferring to the pots that they will bring to your table to cook over. The western style seating downstairs did not fit our group of 5 so we went upstairs to the Eastern style of sitting on the floor. A photo of the restaurant and its interior (and food) can be found here: www.pusannavi.com/food/restaurant.php?id=24
The site is in Korean and I can’t find an English translation tab. The phone is 02)756-4084 & 02)756-4030. We started out with raw crab in a sesame chili oil/paste mixture (this was phenomenal!!!) and then proceeded to the marinated beef on the table side grill, of course there was the obligatory bachan or sides that come with it. The whole meal was excellent and not too expensive at 50,000 won per person and that includes some beers/soju.

Beneath the InterContinental COEX hotel on the Lower Level is the IC Bakery. I tried a couple of bakery items and a roast beef w/shitake mushroom sandwich. The pastries were a bit underdone and not flaky like a French pastry but I believe that is how Koreans like them. The sandwich was terrific.

Went to the Noryangjin Fish Market for lunch. This place is not as big as Tokyo’s but with a great benefit, you can buy your own seafood and then proceed to the second floor where there are restaurants who will prepare your newly purchase seafood for you. Talk about fresh. We purchased common crabs, king crab, scallops, prawns, oysters, and octopus. We then regrouped and walked up to the second floor to choose our restaurant, the restaurant we choose was called Pusan First but my Korean bud mentioned that anyone probably wouldn’t know that and you should ask for Pusan Ilbunjee. This place was one of the restaurants that faced the open market.
The raw oysters and live octopus were served first, oysters were just ok and I think that is because they had been pre-shucked. Live octopus was good but not as good as first night (don’t know why). The scallops were grilled and were the sweetest scallops I’ve ever had, simply amazing. The two kinds of crab were steamed, again amazing stuff, sweet as can be. The restaurant serves beer and soju (YES!) as well as sides to go with the meal. They charged us 10,000 won ($10USD) per head to prepare the meal. We stayed somewhat conservative with our seafood selections, there are far more exotic items to choose from which next time I go back, I certainly will try.

Afterwards it was a bummer that we were still full from our lunch as one of the alleyways we walked down had a number of tiny restaurants grilling fish in the narrow alley and packed with Seoulites, these restaurants we passed were I believe on Pima-gil, perhaps Pimat-gol (or at least near where these two alleys meet)

The bulgoki burger at McDonald’s or Burger King was interesting but not worthwhile.

bjf

I leave tomorrow for 9 days in S Korea.

Sweet Willie

the last URL had me drooling. We have 5 days, I think we'll stop at one of their outlets as I'm heading back to Seoul this Dec with Mrs Sweet Willie who has never been to Seoul before.

Anyone try a restaurant or dish in Seoul that one shouldn't miss?
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skchin

I recommend "Doo Ori", meaning Two Ducks, located in Gangnam, Seoul. If you tell the taxi driver the name, he'll know. It's pretty popular with the celebrities. What they cook is Korean roasted duck, cooked inside the giant clay pot dug under ground. The duck is stuffed with sweet rice, ginseng and other herbs. You can also have it roasted inside a pumpkin. I was there 3 weeks ago and I enjoyed it. I paid around $100 USD for dinner for 6.

dsquared37

Wow, that sounds delicious. As my upcoming trip to Seoul and Gyeongju (in two weeks) is only for myself and my better half we'll unfortunately need to skip it, too much food, even though eating is a highlight of all of our travels.

Korean food is probably the best option here in PNH. it will be great to have an even more extensive menu.

mosburger

I've become wiser over the years regarding Korean pork. Please don't go to Nolboo if in Seoul, while not bad. There is a gem of a restaurant for bossam and other pork dishes next to the Pacific Hotel opposite of Myeong Dong, slightly up the Namsan slope.

It's always full with locals and mostly Asian tourists, the menu consists of pork and oysters dishes and they close fairly early in an anotherwise late night neighbourhood. The taste is nothing short of sensational...Sorry that I can't remember the name but it's to the left from the Pacific Hotel when coming from Myeong Dong.