I’m finally getting around to building my long-awaited, mouth-watering food page. There is just way too much good food in this town, and so much of it is being eaten when I don’t have my camera!
sidenote: apologies for my bastardization of the Korean names into English. i don’t really know how a lot of these words are spelled in English…or Korean for that matter…
DukBokki – it’s Korean comfort food at its best. I LOVE this dish. You can’t really find it at any restaurant back home, but I had a friend who used to make it. Here in Seoul you can find this dish at any street stand. It’s got thick rice noodles and fish cake (i think) in a spicy/slightly sweet red sauce. perfect food with a beer (but then i think all Korean food has to be drunk with a beer). by the way, the bottle on the left is my newly discovered favorite brand of Soju (it’s sweeter than most others) called Chung/Jung Ha.
Songpyun – it’s Korea’s dessert that they eat during the moon harvest festival (i call them the Korean version of the Chinese mooncake even though they’re nothing alike). it’s basically a crescent-shaped rice cake that is filled with sesame inside. songpyuns are steamed with pine needles so they’re eaten warm. this is a really bad picture of some packaged ones that don’t do it justice.
Portable Waffle with Ice Cream and Maple Syrup – all of my friends know that I love portable food…it’s part of the crazy advocacy lifestyle where you never have time for lunch but you’re starving as you’re running to your next meeting. One thing that I know I will miss incredibly from Seoul is this great invention of a portable waffle that’s sold at little street stands (or even right in the subway station). For about a dollar, you get a waffle with maple syrup and ice cream! they basically make the waffle in a wafflemaker. you know how those waffles are divided into 4 sections? put maple syrup over two sections, then ice cream over the other two, and fold the two halves together. voila! you get a portable waffle sandwich. Delicious and so easy to eat – ingenious!
corndog and french fries on a stick – another example of Korean efficiency. imagine a hotdog covered with french fries and some swirls of ketchup, all on a stick. yes, it’s a heart attack but oh so delicious!
dak-galbi – chicken marinated in a flavorful spicy sauce fried in a huge skillet with cabbage, sweet potato, carrots, and potatoes. you eat about 3/4 of it, and then they add rice and fry everything together for a second meal of fried spicy rice. one of my favorite new korean dishes that I’ve had.
curry soondobu – soondobu is a spicy tofu stew that i had a million times in k-town before i came. BUT, i’ve found a place that makes it even better by making a curry version of it! it’s a curry sauce with lots of tofu that you eat with egg and rice. perfect meal on a cold day.
jim-dak – tender chicken (falling off the bones) braised in a spicy/sweet soy sauce with carrots, glass noodles, and potatoes. another favorite new korean dish that i’ve discovered.
mandu – huge dumplings stuffed with pork, glass noodles, and vegetables.
