Before I went into the world of K-drama, I didn’t know much about Korean food. In fact, when I first went to Seoul (pre-kdrama days), I couldn’t understand why Koreans love kimchi. I thought their food was boring because all they only eat kimchi, fried meat and spicy food. How wrong I was. After I was hooked onto k-dramas, I began to love their food. My favourites are sundubue jiggae, kimchi jiggae, Korean fried chicken, korean BBQ and their banchans.
During my recent trip, my friend brought me to different restaurants to have some of the freshest and best food from Korea. I actually ate carbs! Can you believe it? So I tried the famous Jayeondo salt bread that has a branch near the airbnb that we were staying which is in Hongdae.
It was so fluffy soft and it’s like biting into clouds. The bread was buttery with a tinge of saltiness. Heaven!
On the first day, we had lunch at Grandma’s Recipe restaurant in Seongsu. My friend actually did some research to find out where to eat and she recommended this cafe-like modern restaurant. The menu features comfort food that the Koreas usually associate with such as beef bone soup, bulgogi, spicy pork, grilled fish and more. Grandma’s Recipe is in the 2018 Michelin Guide Seoul.
I had the Spicy Pork Set Menu which came with rice, soup, banchan and sweet pumpkin paste. Served together with my set are the jeotgal which consist of pollock roe, pollock intestines and baby octopus. The server taught me how to eat the spicy pork and that’s to it with perilla leaves, add in some rice and the pollack intestine. Yums! The meal was really good. The food is simple, comforting and well-seasoned, just like a homecooked meal.
We all left the restaurant with our bellies full and happy hearts.
Below are some of the delicious food that we had in Seoul. We wanted to try Tosokchon Samgyetang near the Gyeongbokgung Palace but the queue was very long. So we walked around to look for other food to eat and stumbled upon this Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup restaurant (Baeknyeon Tojong Samgyetang) that’s located at the entrance to Bukchon Hanok Village. They serve naturally raised chicken with ingredients such as ginseng, jujube, ginko, glutinuos rice and more. The chicken comes in each individual pot. We ordered two different types of samgyetang and a plate of fried chicken. Again the soup was so comforting. Ginseng must be heaty for my body as I developed ulcers in my mouth the next day, but no regrets!
We had fish stew, stir fried cuttlefish and vegetables at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market.
Another nourishing meal – Gukbap (pork bone soup with rice)
The meal comes with unlimited banchan
Street food at Namdaemun. I love the Eomuk (fish cakes)
Sundubue jiggae (beancurd and seafood stew with hot bean paste) in the food court inside Lotte World Department Store.
Grilled mackerel set that we share.
My tummy is growling as I type this post. I so miss all the food I had there.
