Eating Korea

Before we came to Korea for the first time more than three years ago we exchanged some currency at a bank in Rothesay, NB. The bank teller saw that we'd ordered Korean Won and told us about her niece who had recently taught in Korea. She hadn't lasted very long. Why? "It was the food", she told us.

Ahh, Korean food. For every foreigner that loves it, there's another that resents it deeply. Of course we knew all about kimchi before we'd left home thanks to some Korean students of Mel's who'd invited us to a picnic of galbi and kimchi before we left. They all stared at us as we choked down that first pungent taste of spicy, fermented cabbage. "Yummm", we lied. But there's a lot more to Korean food than kimchi. When we lived in Suwon our school lunch sucked and probably turned me off of a lot of foods I would have otherwise liked had they been cooked nicely. If we wanted to eat something that wasn't Korean in Suwon our options were pretty limited unless we wanted to travel, so we even started to get sick of bowls of pho and Outback steaks after a while.

Seoul is totally different. If there's something you're craving, it isn't too hard to find. There are hundreds upon hundreds of restaurants on our street alone. We'll never be able to try them all. I'm loving the food here, Western and Korean. Even my school lunch is usually pretty good. As someone who is guilty of complaining about Korea's selection of food in the past (I recall going home after the first contract and admitting: "It was pretty good except for the food") I feel like it's time to make a post about all the awesome food we eat here now. Dining out is a daily event for Mel and I. We have a kitchen but I can't even remember the last time I cooked something. The restaurants around us are just too cheap, convenient and plentiful to ignore! So here it is, some of our favorite foods in Korea. Hope you're not too hungry when reading this!

Korean Food

Galbi- Who doesn't love barbecued meat? I'd say approximately every 3rd building in Korea is a galbi restaurant! They usually serve either marinated pork or beef with 5 or 6 complimentary side dishes for about $10 per person. Although we rarely eat pork at home, we almost always choose it in Korea because Korean pork tastes so much better for some reason! My favorite is the samgyupsal, which is basically a barbecued slice of bacon that's an inch or two thick. There's usually one or two side dishes that I like and Mel eats almost all of them, but the best (in my opinion) are: cabbage salad with kiwi dressing, macaroni salad, greens in lemon juice, potato salad, soybean paste jiggae and the vinegar-cabbagey soup. If I could only find a galbi place that serves all those things I would never eat anywhere else!

Sinpo Woori Mandu- A chain store with the most delicious mandu I've ever tasted. We love the bibimbap mandu, which comes fried, stuffed with noodles, pork and onion and is served with noodles and bibimbap toppings in the middle. Sinpo Woori Mandu also serves my favorite soup in Korea- a jiggae with a clear beef broth, strips of beef, veggies and clear glass noodles. Oh my god, it's so good, and there's not even a hint of spice. The place is a chain restaurant, but the one we go to is a block or two behind the big Giordano store near Gangnam Station, exit 6.

Mandu Ramen at Kimbap Nara- Kimbap Nara is a chain store (and there's loads of similar knock-off stores that are just as good) that sells Korean comfort food. There's lots of bibimbap, kimbap and doncaste on the menu here, but my favorite is the mandu ramen. Maybe I just love Korean mandu? It's just your average bowl of ramen noodles with kimchi broth, spiced up with 3 onion/pork dumplings and a little egg. The savory mandu compliments the spicy ramen so well. If you're in Korea and you need directions to a kimbap nara then you need glasses. That joint be everywheres.

Nangmyeon- this is a dish I'd heard about but never tried during our first year in Korea: ice cold noodles. I didn't know why anyone would want to eat cold noodles, but actually it tastes really good, especially in the summer and especially with barbecue! You can get it with a cucumber-vinegar broth or a kimchi-vinegar broth which are both highly recommended!

Honorable mention for excellent Korean food goes to chicken galbi (a spicy chicken stir fry with rice cakes, sweet potato, cheese, cabbage and noodles), ttokboki (spicy rice cakes), and cheese doncaste (a breaded pork cutlet with cheese inside and curry sauce outside).

Western Food

Ho Lee Chow- The best and closest thing to the Chinese food we're used to from home, which of course is absolutely nothing like actual Chinese food. We love the sweet and sour chicken, Mongolian beef and savory Ho Lee Noodles. It's a little expensive but worth the splurge every now and then., and I've never ordered a dish I didn't like. We always go to the one near Hanti Station (near the Lotte My Super) but the easiest one to find is probably behind the Hamilton Hotel right outside Itaewon Station. We used to travel all day from Suwon for this pretty often!

Santorini- This Greek restaurant in Itaewon is a recent find for us. I love Greek food and even though the prices are a bit much ($20 a plate for a main dish), like Ho Lee Chow it is worth a random splurge. The chicken souvlaki with tatziki, rice and potato wedges is flavorful and well worth the trip to Itaewon. If you go behind the Hamilton Hotel near Itaewon Station turn left and it will be on the left side of the road a few buildings down from the hotel. Look for the sign and menu on the street. Yum!

Handmade onion rings from Big Rock Tavern- Big Rock is a Canadian pub that serves really great poutine, fish and chips, burgers and Canadian beer, but my favorite dish is the onion rings with spicy southwest dip. Beats a crappy BK onion ring any day. To get there go out Gangnam Station Exit 7 and turn right going up the hill full of restaurants on the street behind the Starbucks. It'll be on the left near Pizza School. On Sundays from 10a-2p they also have a great all-you-can-eat breakfast with bacon, sausage, taters, omelets, OJ, coffee and lots more for only 12,000 won.

California Pizza Kitchen- The pizza is nothing special but the avocado-bacon-chicken egg rolls are awesome. Exit 6 of Gangnam Station, walk straight and take your next left. Walk a few minutes and look for it at the end of the street on the left.

Oriental Spoon- A restaurant just a few shops up from the Sinsa entrance of Garosu-gil that serves Thai-inspired dishes at reasonable prices. The apricot chicken and noodles are worth a visit.

Mr. Pizza- My favorite pizza place in Korea offers a wide selection of very Korean pizzas (sweet potato mousse-filled crust, brocolli, corn and chicken wing pizza) and several traditional pies as well. The star of the show, no matter what pizza is ordered, though, is the garlic dipping sauce! I literally take a knife and spread that sauce all over my pizza like butter on toast. It's probably about as healthy as it sounds.

Kraze Burger- The prices are a bit high- close to $10 for a burger and no fries- but their hamburgers are really, really good. McDicks and BK are everywhere in Korea, but I'd rather pay a bit more and eat at Kraze Burger. My favorite is the burger with cream cheese sauce and onion rings on it with a side of chili cheese fries. Or you can go with the "nude" burger which is served with an egg on top instead of a bun. Awesome!

On The Border- Tucked away behind the food court in the COEX mall is On The Border, a TGI Friday's-styled Mexican restaurant. A bottomless bowl of handmade chips and salsa are free with every meal and they're the BEST chips in town. Also amazing is the chicken tortilla soup for less than $6, it's loaded with chicken, avocado, cheese, and rice. Just order the soup and pig out on chips for a cheap and awesome meal. You'll feel so smart, S-M-R-T.

Dos Taco- The flautas and chimichangas are pretty good if you're craving Mexican food and it's not very expensive. My complaint about Dos Taco is that I always leave a bit hungry because everything is sold a la carte and there's no combo option. There's only so many tacos one person wants to eat. Still, Mexican food is my favorite, and we used to travel all the way from Suwon for this too. It's a treat to live so close to it now. Sinnonhyeon Station, a few buildings down from the Kyobo building behind Frisbee (the Apple Store).

Sorrento- We don't go out for Italian food very often because it's probably the easiest kind of food to make at home (who can't boil noodles?), but the lasagna at Sorrento is pretty tasty, with a rich garlicky sauce and lots of cheese. There's Sorrentos everywhere- we've been to the one next to Forever 21 in Myeongdong and one in the Kyobo building near Sinnonhyeon.

Butterfingers- I almost didn't put this on the list because it's got the worst service of any restaurant I've been to in Korea, but sometimes I like to have breakfast for supper and the food there is really good. My favorite is the blueberry pancakes with blueberry compote, syrup and vanilla butter, ham, bacon and hashbrowns. Mel loves the french toast. Skip the weak coffee. Gangnam Station exit 6, just before California Pizza Kitchen.

Honorable mention goes to Yum Thai (the BEST Thai restaurant in Korea! With real Thai chefs! And papaya salad! Located near Sinsa Station... I would've given it a proper slot on this list but I had no pictures...), Pizza School (Potato and bacon pizza is always good just before payday!), China Factory (each person gets to order 3 dishes from the menu to share, plus a free dim sum and dessert bar!) and Quiznos... good old reliable Quiznos.

Chicken

Goobne Chicken- Chicken gets its own category here because Korea has so many freakin' chicken and beer restaurants, and there's just something extra tasty about the way they cook their chicken. I discovered Goobne Chicken because it was served at one of my students' school birthday parties. It's just oven roasted rotisserie chicken like you'd make at home- no spice and no batter. It's so good! Search for your closest store here: http://www.goobne.co.kr/store/areaStore.htm

The Frypan- This is a new chain store that's been popping up all over the city. Basically it's just a plate of handcut potato chips topped with fried chicken breast or legs and dipping sauce. It's all cooked to order and tastes great with a cheap mug of draft for less than $15 all together.

Kyochon fried chicken- another chain store that you can find almost anywhere. Korean fried chicken is cooked in a way that removes the fat from the skin which makes it thin and crackly. They fry up a whole bird for you (even the neck!) and it tastes great. The place is always packed. Puts KFC to shame.

Drinks

Garten Bier- A favorite from Suwon. The charm of this place is that each table has a refrigerated hole in it to keep every glass frosty and cool. We like the cherry soju but the beer is good too.

Smoothie King- Dude, I love having regular access to Smoothies! I missed them when I lived in Taiwan. I've never had a smoothie I didn't like from Smoothie King and they make for a good breakfast. When I wake up and my stomach is feeling a bit off it's usually the only thing I want to eat.

Honorable mention goes to some drinks you don't "go out" to buy: good old Nestea peachee ice tea and cherry ade from 7-11. Oh and, of course, 막 걸리, because I'm an adjoshi and I love it.

Dessert

Cake Opera-I've never had anything but the banana bread from here, but I love it. For some reason I got a mad craving for banana bread (something I don't usually buy) a few months ago and luckily our friend Pip knew of a place that made it. Tastes just like home as far as I can tell, and it's a good treat for $3 per half loaf. Cake Opera is a little tricky to find... Sinnonhyeon Station, exit onto the side of the road opposite Kyobo... by the Burger King. Walk 5 minutes or so and turn right at the Dunkin Donuts. It's just past the Paris Baguette.

Baskin Robbins- The ice cream is just alright for me, but the fondue is pretty fun to order. The fondue sauce is chocolate, and you get a bunch of ice cream, fruit and cake to eat with it. A nice dish to share or an indulgence for one.

On The Border- Another round of applause for the Mexican place in the COEX. We love the generous slab of apple crisp served on a sizzling platter, topped with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce. There are no words.

Finally, Cold Stone Creamery-We don't go out for dessert very often, but since summer has hit we've been at Cold Stone probably three times a week. This isn't helping the moob situation. Cold Stone takes a bunch of ice cream, a bunch of toppings, mixes the two on a cold stone and throws it all in a dish or cone. Schwing! I see my peeps in SJ just got a Cold Stone last week... enjoy! It's nice to know it will be waiting for me when I come home.

All right, after typing up this blog I feel like I could use a good binge so I'm going to log off now and raid my cupboards. I hope I've made amends to Korea for slagging their food in the past! I take it all back. I want to eat Korea!!

Anyone know if an Arby's will be opening here soon, so I never have to leave?!

Self-Esteem

2006:
"Wow, teacher so handsome. Looks like Beckham!"

2009:
A kid pokes my moob: "teacher is she"


A different kid pokes my moob: "What's this??"


A student feels my arm: "What is that?"
My response: "My big arm muscle!"
Student's response: "A HA AHA HAHAHAHAHAA H AHA HA HA AHA HA HA HAHAA!!!"


A hairdresser gasps and then points at the back of my head: "Hair is different color!"
Me: "What color?"
Hairdresser: "White"

Oh, the difference a few years can make :)

Neighbors

We live in a pretty quiet building in Seoul, and aside from some random clompy high heels going through the halls some nights, we rarely hear from anyone in our building. This is nice because we've lived near some really annoying people in the past. I'm talking about you, Amy and Quan.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for our neighbors in the next building. They have a baby that cries for hours on end, day or night. At first I thought, "I hate your baby", but now I think I hate the parents. For the longest time we wondered why we've only rarely heard them consoling this crying child and then we figured it out: they're probably not home.

I hope this doesn't wind up like the story from the last apartment building we lived in in Korea:
Couple: Internet gaming addiction led to baby's death

Batman and Kitty

It's animal month at my school and Panda Class has adopted two pet hamsters. Their names, chosen in a democratic vote, are Batman and Kitty and Kitty may or may not be knocked up. Do hamsters eat their young? Their interests so far include chewing on wood, nuts, their cage and the children's fingers. What we do with them at the end of the month is still being considered, but we do have a cooking class coming up in August.

Feel free to predict their life spans in the comments box below.

A Temple, Some Guns and a Museum

On Saturday afternoon we went to Insadong, a traditional area and popular sightseeing place in Seoul. We'd visited the area briefly a few years ago but we were new to Korea at the time and had trouble navigating our way around the sights, despite all the sights being mainly located on a single street.
The bus ride was only about 25 minutes from our apartment and it let us off in front of Jogyesa Temple, one of Korea's most famous Buddhist temples. The temple has three giant golden Buddha statues inside that are definitely worth checking out. There were dozens of people inside praying and saying hi to Buddha.

There were colorful lanterns hung all over the grounds.

We crossed the street onto the main sightseeing street, Insadong-gil, which is full of galleries, souvenirs shops, and antique stores. If you're looking for traditional-looking souvenirs in Korea, this is the place to go. It seemed like every shop has the same supplier, though, because all the shops we checked out had the same selection of carved masks, traditional paper and beaded jewelery. More interesting is the Ssamzie Market, an open-concept 5 story building full of artisan shops selling clothes, jewelery, food and art.

I always find something random to pose with and this s-line robot did the trick for the day.

There was a demonstration about North Korea taking place with this guy dressed like a soldier doing mean business to a hooded prisoner.

We turned off Insadong-gil and walked 15 minutes to the Bukcheon Hanok Villaqe. We'd really enjoyed our trip to the Jeonju Hanok Village, but this place was just a traditional-looking residential area, which isn't quite as interesting as the cafes and souvenir shops we found in Jeonju. It was a nice area to stroll around but I wouldn't make a special trip to go there again.

We relaxed at a nice cafe near Insadong for a while and then carried on to Tapgol Park since it was right next to Jonggak Station, which we were headed to anyway. There's a pretty cool pagoda in the park, which was labeled as being Korean national treasure #2. It was built in 1467 and looks to be holding up about as well as you would expect something from that era to be.

Next we went to Myeongdong to shoot guns. We got this really good tourist guide from Big Rock last week and it suggested a bunch of things to do that sounded interesting, including this shooting range. Neither of us had ever shot a proper gun, and I don't know what this says about us, but we both instantly wanted to do it. When we found the place we were each given a catalog with pages and pages of guns to choose from. Mel chose a Walther PPK, which was described as being ideal for 007 and women, and I chose a 9mm Beretta INOX because I thought I recalled hearing of the name "Beretta" before.

For 40,000 won we were permitted to shoot 10 bullets at a piece of paper. This was, of course, stupidly expensive but we decided to do it anyway since we we already had our hearts set of shooting stuff. We geared up with bulletproof vests, goggles and ear muffs (neither of us can think of a better word for this equipment) and met our guides, who stood with us the whole time. Mine spoke a little English but Mel's didn't, so she was basically given a loaded gun with no instruction as to how to use it. I could hear her start to shoot immediately.

My guide was quite chatty, and he was very curious about my job. It made for a strange conversation as I shot my gun:

"What do you do?"
BANG
"I'm a teacher."
BANG BANG *the smell of gunfire*
"How old are your students?"
BOOM
"They're 7." BAAAAANG "They're really cute."
BOOM *bullet casing flies in face*

We were pretty good shots. Watch yo' self.

After a disappointing night of soccer watching, we got up on Sunday and went to Itaewon to visit the Leeum- the Samsung Museum of Art. It's a very, very nice building and one of the best museums I've visited in Korea.

There are 3 museums to visit: one is full of old vases and boring artifacts, one is full of contemporary art, and one is a mix of sexy video art and an interactive children's play area. Which makes a lot of sense. When we visited the first 2 floors of the BORING VASE museum we started to second guess our $10 admission but then we moved on and decided the art museum was pretty cool.

If my kids did this to my white board I'd be pissed. In a museum it's art. I kind of like it.

I'd put this up over my bed, no problem.

Mel hates this style of painting, but I thought it looked pretty cool.

This exhibit was called "I Must Learn English" and each tile has an English word painted on it. I might copy this idea for my next Panda Class art project.

Next we went to the Children's Museum. On the first floor no cameras were allowed but the exhibits were quite interesting, including a wall of a dozen TV screens showing an image of a naked woman in various stages of hatching from an egg. It's always the most interesting stuff that you're NOT allowed to photograph. Also, this is for children? There were a few running around.

In the basement level of the Children's museum there were some cool exhibits to play around with including this screen that projected your image onto a the wall for everyone to see. You could play with the colors and display and it was fun to tinker with.

Then we visited a corn field.

And just when we thought we would leave, the security gate began to close on us as if we were trying to smuggle out a Warhol in Mel's purse or something. After freeing ourselves, we met some friends for a misleading all-you-can-drink meal at a shitty Indian place, Chakkra before going home for the night. And then it was Monday again- funny how that happens every week.

Booze cruise next weekend!

Get 'Em While They're Hot

Vintage T-shits for sale at A-Land in Myeongdong. Maybe my favorite Engrish sign yet.

A Lazy Friday on Garosu-gil

Friday after work Mel and I decided to take a walk down Garosu-gil, a ginko tree-lined street just a short walk from Sinsa Station exit 8. Get this: this street- in Seoul- has trees! Trees are certainly one way to get noticed in a city that can sometimes feel like an endless concrete jungle. We've actually walked past the entrance of Garosu-gil several times before because our favorite Thai restaurant (Yum Thai) is located close by, but we'd never really taken a good look up the street. At first glance it looks just like any other street in Seoul. That's the great thing about this city- it's a very diverse area that sometimes changes in tone street by street.

My assistant teacher Mindy told me that Garosu-gil was a favorite "date street" for Korean couples and I can see why. The street is full of cozy restaurants, cafes, galleries and unique shops. I guess I'd say the vibe is kind of artsy-European if I were to but a label to it.

There was a few interesting restaurants to choose from but we decided to eat at a place called Oriental Spoon. The restaurant was small but comfortable, and the food was really good. We ordered noodles and apricot chicken.

I made a new friend outside of the restaurant at a cosmetics store that didn't quite fit in with the streets still-evolving artistic theme.

I've always liked the MMMG line of products at Hot Tracks and Kosney and was pleased to see a stand-alone store on the street.

One of the galleries on the gil.

We went to a toy store that was selling some very used, very Value Village-esque toys. Who's buying these?

At the end of Garosu-gil we found ourselves just a short 10 minute walk from the Han River, so we walked down to the riverfront 7-Eleven for a draft and some people-watching.

The people-watching never disappoints by the Han. The cyclists all wear spandex from head to toe, as well as goggles and a bandana across their faces. Exercising ajummas wear a visor (sun or no sun), sleeves and bandannas to cover their faces too. Why can no part of any of these peoples' bodies be exposed to the elements and should I be cloaking my skin as well?? It was dusk so the sun can't be their excuse!

We'd been to most parts of Hangang Park but we walked to an area that was new to us, close to Banpo Bridge, and were surprised to see the walking trails lined with 7-foot tall grass. And bugs. Millions and millions of bugs. Maybe that's what the bandannas were for.
There was some kind of water and lights show off the Banpo Bridge at 8pm (set to the music of Josh Groban's needs-to-be-retired "You Raise Me Up"), so we walked down to the water to get a better look (due to the tall grass obscuring our view). Turns out the waterfront in this area is lined with white sand. It looked quite nice and felt a bit like a proper beach! Except for the part where parts of your body would probably start to mutate should they come into contact with any of the Han River's water.

Mel's nosebleed on the beach. Seoul <3