New soju models

My husband told me a funny bit while he was out with his friends.


His Korean friend went on a rant while looking at the soju bottle ("chu-eum-chu-rom"),

new models; girls from girl groups..

"Who are these?!  Call girls?!!"

"Why did they have to take Lee Hyori out?!"

"These are call girls!!!"

"Who are these on the bottle, do you know?!"

"No!"  While peeling away the label to see if it was a "sticker ad(?)"..


And so they went on ranting about the call girls on the bottle and their disapproval of it...


Conclusion:
Grown men do not approve of "skanky looking models" on soju bottles - at least Lee Hyori had some class, so they say.

Kkan-Bu Chicken! Newest favorite chicken place

yum yum yum
We found our latest favorite chicken delivery place!  KKANBU CHICKEN!

It's located in our apartment building - but we order it to be delivered..^^
Somehow delivery chicken tastes better, much better at home :D

wow wow wow - look at the size of the chicken cuts! 

crispy and yummy potatoes

It's "yang-nyeom" chicken for 17,000won and half an order of wedge fried potatoes for 6000won.  The quality of the chicken is really juicy and heavy(in weight)!

I've had some skinny Korean chickens before - but these are a lot bigger and heavier!  Very juicy and the sauce is delish!  Not too spicy and sweet~~

salt & pepper and "sauce" for dipping

KKANBU chicken is a smaller chicken place located in few locations across Seoul.  You can also dine in if you want.

But we prefer delivery ;)


Location for KKANBU CHICKEN in Gongdeok;

Get off Aeogae station (line 5, purple color) - exit 1 - walk down the road until you see a GS Mart on the corner - turn right to that road and keep walking up until you see a Raemian Apartment complex ahead.  The chicken place is located right off the left of the parking lot entrance to the apartment complex.

My new health & food thing at the moment

Food/vegetable/fruit prices are ridiculously volatile in Korea.  A bundle of onions were almost 5500won, when it was just 4000won couple months ago.

I can't stand paying that much for basic veggies - there was even a recent case of theft of onions!  I hope the new government will do something about this like they are promising.

So anyways, we need our veggies no matter what - there's no escaping that.  So I came across drying veggies - supposedly it also allows more nutrients as it is dried.  You can google it more if you are interested^^

I came upon drying veggies like pumpkin, broccoli, leafy greens...

I started with pumpkins - I like to add them to "dwenjang jjigae", side dishes, and with rice.

getting some sun

I used to store them fresh on the freezer and they would take so much space!  Now it only takes 1/4 or less of space :D

It took about 5 days to completely dry them - you can also use the oven/crisper(?) - but I don't want to use anymore electricity.

It takes some space - but it's pretty seeing these heavy chunky yellow cuts transform to crispy leafy pieces.

dried pumpkin cuts

Pork galbi & pig's skin at "Choi-deh-po" restaurant (Gongdeok, Mapo)

It's been a very cold winter in Korea.  It's not such a bad thing because it gives you a very good reason to sit in front of a hot grill as you warm yourself - a mini fireplace right in front of your face - while meat grills away~ the sound, smell, and warmth...  sounds pretty perfect for a -15 C or 5 F night.

What to eat on a day when you're not in the mood to eat anything in particular - jajangmyun

What do you do on a day when you don't know what to eat (cook)?

JA JANG MYUN.   ring ring ring~~ Yes, delivery to APT 000-000.

Set #2 please (2 bowls of jajangmyun & Tangsooyook for 14,000won)

20 minutes later on our table.  Pretty pink plates & food!

The jajangmyun was a bit disappointing this time, but their Tangsooyook was much better than the last time we had it.

We have about 10+ coupons worth 300won each - but supposedly we can't use them for "set menus" (cheapos) - but for regular dishes that costs 20,000won for one plate.


Although after eating jajangmyun, we always end up brewing ourselves coffee almost immediately after finishing up... you can't help but feel a little guilty and oily with this meal, but so worth it.

Mapo-Naru - traditional Korean food & makgeoli restaurant

We headed to MAPO-NARU in Mapo for our adieu 2012 dinner.

This restaurant serves traditional Korean food from "jeon" to "spicy Korean chicken stew".  It was my first time there and I've only heard good things about this place from my hubs who frequent this place with his buddies for makgeoli.


We ordered the "hong-uh" (skate fish) and "bossam" set and "gool-jeon"(oyster-pancakes). 

They served the basic side dishes and "dwen-jang" soup for each of us.

a richer "dwenjang" side soup - a tad bit on the salty side

We got their "house" makgeoli - I can't recall what it was called.. 

makgeoli - sweet and rich

School Food (food court at Emart - Gongdeok)

There's something special about our combo that we get when we're hungry in Emart.

We've been getting this exact combo of food in School Food for "snack" - never for dinner or lunch.  We claim to just want to nibble on something, but we always end up with "nengmyun"(cold noodles) and "#2 mari" (spam & egg roll kimbap!).

perfect nengmyun........ I think I'm drooling now

Their nengmyun is just too good to skip.  It has the perfect spice and flavor - it does get pretty spicy at the end - but worth the little burn!  If you like nengmyun, this one is too try!  About 7500won.

spam & egg roll kimbap......perfection!

Spam and eggroll kimbap......... do I have to say anymore?  This one is the one!

I did try a different one and didn't like it.  We're sticking to this.  It comes with a side of "hot soup" by the way.   About 7500won.

The two flavors - hot and cold - spicy and sweet and rich - is perfect to us :)

We'll always be back for more!

Choongmoo kimbap

Plain rolled mini bites kimbap (with just rice inside) with a side of radish kimchi and spicy octopus side dish - this is called "choongmoo kimbap".

I often get one serving (6000won) for a quick meal in Myungdong.

 It comes with a side of hot soup.   It's quite filling and spicy!

eat with a fork (no chopsticks here)

nomnomnom

Don't forget that you can get refills on the hot soup and banchan (radish kimchi and spicy octupus).  So worth the 6000won.

DIRECTIONS:  

Get off exit 6 of Myungdong station.  Walk towards the big street on your left.  Keep walking down about a block and on the corner of the second block on your right (before the M-Plaza building), you will see a small store with these kimbap on display.  

Get inside and pick a table/seat - you have to pay first before you get your food (they take cards).  It is 6000won per serving.  You can even just get one serving even in a group (unlike meat grill restaurants where 2 serving is a minimum order).

Waiting to eat these orange bundles of flavor

I got these semi-organic (?) persimmon from Emart yesterday and am quite eager to eat them!

But we will have to give it a few more days until they ripen and are at the point of bursting!

 That's when it gets really flavorful and messy :)

ttokbokee & soondae - to go

ttokbokee & soondae(liver & heart bits)

Somedays, you just have to have that spicy rice cake & soondae combo.
This was one of those days.  I devoured it fast as soon as I got them on the table.

I don't really prefer the chunky cuts of rice cake - but I really wanted it.


from "a-ttal" ttokbokee in Gongdeok

fresh seafood & grilled (Korean style)

Nothing beats fresh seafood!

ttokbokee - MUK SHUI DONA (Samcheong-dong)

Ttok-bok-ee.. however you spell it in English, is Korean of all the Korean food.

It's what pops up in my head when I think back from my childhood in Korea...I would save my 100won coins and get a "cup"(literally in a paper cup) of this spicy goodness - it was the perfect treat that was worth saving up for. 

It's a food reminiscent of childhood to most Koreans - still being enjoyed by grade schoolers to which continues to adulthood and on..

Oyster Rice (gool-bap) & many side dishes

Gool-bap literally translates to "oyster rice".   They say it is hard to find a good restaurant in Seoul that serves good a gool-bap.

However, we were lucky that our foodie friend showed us the real thing.



Here comes the side dishes~

Bibigo - Korean Casual Food Restaurant Chain

We came across Bibigo while strolling around Jongno area.  We found the restaurant tucked in a corner of a big office building.  

Bibigo is a great start or introduction to Korean food for those new to it, or for people who want to eat a "nicely presented" Korean food.

an order of bibimbap comes with a hot & cold soup on a tray

sweet & spicy chicken - starter

makgeoli nights (Korean rice wine)

makgeoli(rice wine) & jeon (Korean pancakes) is like the ultimate "Korean pub" experience.

specialty-regional- makgeoli(on the left) and seafood jeon as our grub

There are plently of makgeoli and jeon places in the city.

On a rainy night, you will see these places with people packed like sardines.

It's a nostalgic thing to have makgeoli on a rainy day... kind of romantic, no?


I miss nights like these - it's been long over due!


The ultimate grub with makgeoli has to be, JEON.
With kimchi, seafood, or oyster.. actually anything will do!

By the time you have the eats and makgeoli, you will be fuller than you imagined.

A nice way to get your dinner & drinks ;)

BONGA - beef grill restaurant

My husband swears by BONGA.  He declares how good the meat is.  It is, it is, but it's sliced too thinly, like paper sheets which falls apart while cooking.  I'm the "steak-chunky-cut meat" girl, but my husband prefers the marinated delicate meat.

Kimchijjigae hot pot restaurants in Seoul

Kimchi-jjigae as in "kimchi-soup" is a staple dish in Korea.

There are actually restaurants that only serve this dish alone.
No other menus, just the good old kimchi jjigae.

They will usually just ask you how many orders you want.

Edible orange bites - Korean fruit

These are a bit bigger than the "big grapes" and thrown in your mouth and eaten as a whole.

I love these!


They're like the sweeter version of "limes",
but much much much sweeter!

Jeju black pig(pork) grill(bbq) restaurant - HEUK DON GA

HEUK DON GA is a famous restaurant known for its Jeju black pigs - pork.  They are by far the cleanest and tastiest restaurant that serves this special meat.

Jeju black pigs are highly priced for the taste and not many restaurants can boast about its authentic meat like H.D.G.

table setting all ready, except the meat~

yummy fresh side dishes

NoRyangJin fish market - Live octopus & fermented skate

One of the interesting things to do in Korea is checking out the NoRyangJin fish market. 

It's not an overwhelmingly big market, but rather small, so you can get a good look (& smell) of the local Korean fish scene. 

We have visited the fish market mostly during the autumn seasons for the seasonal shrimp and fish called, Jeon-Uh.