Chinese Food for the Chinese New Year

Happy New Year, one and all! It is now the year of the pig, as if you didn't already know that. Tomorrow (Sunday), is the big holiday which will see the general population of Seoul migrate out-of-town to visit their ancestors and bow. Over the holiday, the younger generation bows to the elders and then they eat a traditional rice-cake soup (rice cake looks like rigatoni, but it's damn chewy and made of rice) and then they all age a year. Everyone ages on the same day in Korea, which is why if you ask a korean who was born in 1990 their age, they will tell you they are 18.

Though most english villages and schools in Korea close to observe the holiday week, Suwon English Village is boldly staying open, though we do have Monday off. We didn't have much planned for today, so Mel and I decided to head into Seoul to find a Canadian-style chinese restaraunt that we'd read about. My favorite kind of food is chinese, and there are a few chinese restaraunts in every town at home. Being so close geographically to China you'd think that there'd be an abundance of sweet-and-sour chicken places in Korea, but there isn't. You actually can't even find sweet and sour sauce at the grocery stores, and you all know that's my dipping sauce of choice when french fries are around. Although some restaraunts here identify themselves as being 'chinese', the stuff they serve still looks a heck of a lot like Korean to me.

It was a pretty nice day... about 6 or 7 degrees, and I only wore a light jacket. I've never experienced February weather like this, for sure, though if it were even warmer I wouldn't complain! In fact, it's been so mild lately that we've noticed some green grass growing in the field by the school. Weird! So, back on topic- we set out on this beautifully mild day in search of a restaraunt called "Ho Lee Chow".

There are a few Ho Lee Chows in Seoul, so we decided to go to the closest one, which is in Seolleung. When we got off the subway and noticed the lack of people in the streets we got to thinking.... is the Chinese New Year the best day to find a Chinese restaurant that's open for business? Answer: no. The place was closed, just like every other shop on the street, so we headed back to the subway station in the direction of the one place in Seoul that refuses to respect any culture or tradition: Itaewon!

It wasn't too hard to find and it tasted so awesome. The service was quick and the prices were on par with what you'd pay at home. We had sweet and sour chicken, kung pow beef and some fried rice. I would highly recommend Ho Lee Chow if you're in Korea and craving some good ol' chinese comfort food.