Flavor Boulevard

I am obsessed with these doughnuts (or is it spelled donuts?).

I have a mild obsession with doughnuts…as in, once in a while, I will crave them but it’s usually pretty rare. However, after having a bite of this doughnut during a conference at Korea University this summer, I instantly became obsessed and have been craving them ever since. These doughnuts are “mochi doughnuts” and have the same chewy consistency as mochi but a little doughier. It’s like eating super fluffy, chewy, light-as-air dough. The texture kills me. And the chocolate frosting…yum!

I did try a coffee flavored doughnut but it wasn’t as tasty and there is another flavor that is labeled as “olive,” which I have yet to try.

These doughnuts resemble the popular Mister Donut doughnuts and because of their commercials with the little lion that eats its own mane, I call them “moinchy donuts.”

This Dunkin’ Donuts is located in the Pyeongtaek train station, so while waiting to take the train back to Seoul, I usually end up eating one because I just can’t resist the “moinchy” texture.

It has been a little over 2 weeks since I have arrived in Seoul, although it feels alternatively like I’ve only just arrived here and like I have been here for ages! I have to be honest in writing that I still feel homesick at times and that adjusting is a little more difficult when I realize that I’ll be staying in Seoul for a longer time period than just a vacation. I just began Korean language classes and may potentially audit a course with my faculty advisor at Ewha so I think the routine of being a student will help me to feel more settled. Of course, my partner and his family have been so supportive as well and I feel so lucky to have them because otherwise I would be even more of a nervous wreck than I already am! I supposed I should move on to the food though…this time, I am profiling a restaurant that I ate at over the summer with a friend. The restaurant’s name is PLANT and it is located in Itaewon, an area of Seoul that is particularly known for being foreigner-friendly. I knew of the restaurant through the owner’s food blog, Alien’s Day Out, which I had been following for a while! The restaurant is entirely vegan and while I normally am not drawn to vegan restaurants, the food porn on the blog has had me hooked. After a year of being tortured by those amazing photographs, I finally had the opportunity to go to the restaurant and try it. The restaurant is super cute with comfortable cushions on the back wall and despite its small size, it is super cozy and just the embodiment of cute. The chef and blogger’s specialty is desserts, but I found myself drawn more to the savory dishes, but that is solely because I am just now a cake or heavy dessert person. Which is not to say that these desserts weren’t amazing, because they definitely were! It’s just that I would always pick amazing savory foods over amazing desserts! In any case, the food here was simply amazing and definitely lived up to my expectations! We began with some drinks:

Soy milk tea (right) and strawberry lemonade (right)

My lactose-intolerant body was very happy for the soy milk tea. The strawberry lemonade was perfect for a hot and humid Seoul summer. As for the food, this is where I was really blown away. Between my friend and I, we ordered as much of the menu as possible and seeing that there are two savory choices that rotate every day, we got both:

Vegan burrito

Lentil burger salad

I have to admit that my mind is a little fuzzy and I cannot remember what was inside the burrito, but I did manage to take a photograph of the innards: I was blown away by both the burrito and the salad, but between the two, I think the salad stole the day for me. The lentil burger was smothered with a sauce that tasted very similar to a barbecue sauce and it was so rich that I felt as if I was eating a meat burger. I wanted more burgers despite being stuffed. The dressing was amazing as well: it tasted like a Caesar dressing and the little pieces of tofu(?) had the texture of foie gras terrine – smooth, rich, buttery, and just melts in the mouth. YUM. And on top of that, crusty bread. The non-vegan in me craved some butter and salt on top of the bread, but I was happy noshing on the bread on its own. Even though I was full after the feast, we could not skip out on desserts, especially since I have been tantalized by so many photographs of delicious desserts. We had two slices of cake: dark chocolate peanut butter cake and hummingbird cake, which consists of pineapple, banana, and coconut. YUM YUM YUM. I am not a chocolate cake person but I enjoyed this cake, especially that peanut butter frosting. If I could, I would eat an entire jar of it. As for the hummingbird cake, the fruitiness fit my style more and I love the dried bits of fruit inside.

Dark chocolate peanut butter cake

Hummingbird cake

The food was so good that we got some little snacks to take out! We ended up noshing on them a few hours later while lounging on the top of Namsan Tower! My favorite were the Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles – it ended up being the most popular among me, my friend, and my partner. The coconut chews were a close second and they tasted like coconut macaroons. The pomegranate cranberry cookie bites received mix reviews, but I liked the tartness of the little cookie. The gluten free lemon drops were not liked by my friend and partner – the taste was described as “weird,” but I still enjoyed them, although I would agree that the Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles stole the show. They were perfect though to sustain us after our trek to Namsan through the rain.

High-fiving the Seoul mascot!

Rainy day view

SO much rain

There’s a Mister Donut near our apartment, but I still haven’t walked into it once (*). As much as I like Mos Burger (which is better than McDonalds Japan, which in turns is inarguably better than McDonalds US, of course 😉 ), I prefer the fastfoods that we don’t have.

1. Takoyaki

Fluffy and bouncy. Inside each of these shining orbs is a piece of real octopus. When I die, I want to be buried with takoyaki (which is also the name of my phone, by the way)…

2. Taiyaki

Normal taiyaki is a-okay (I’m not THAT into red bean paste, but I like the doughy part outside). Nonetheless, Gindako makes these croissant-crust taiyaki (210 yen) with croissant dough instead of pancake batter for the outside, and they sprinkle sugar crystals on it. Oh man….

3. Sushi

Few things can be faster than sitting down at a conveyor belt and picking up plates of food floating by you. This kaienzushi (conveyor-belt sushi) is rather more intimate (less fastfood-y) than other kaitenzushi’s because the chef is right there, and you can ask him to prepare specific nigiri to order.

The most rewarding plate that I look forward to all night was after the fish, though. My friend said that I can buy loads of these puddings at the store. Well, what does that matter? Little Kana in Papadol! likes the pudding at kaitenzushi, and we can’t get it at a traditional sushi-ya, that makes it plenty special!

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Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika.

Foodnotes:
(*) I have had a Mister Donut donut, however, in the form of a dessert Mos “burger” with strawberry sauce, chocolate with rice puffs, strawberry whip cream and fresh fruits (290 yen):

More Mos Burger + Mister Donut creations here. (I want the French Cruller so bad!)

When I saw GaijinPot published 2 pieces on summer food and summer festival food in Japan, I wanted to write a piece on the same topic, but I got skewered like a dango stick in work. Now that summer is on its way out, here’s an account of what we can (and should) eat in summer in Tokyo – for next year, that is 😉 .

THE SAVORY:

Unaju at Oodawa (~ $20 per set)

1. Eel: this is THE summer food. We Asians believe that eels help cooling the body. Do I feel bad helping to decrease the dwindling number of eels? Yes. Do I get scarred for life by the horrific eel massacre scene in “Jiro: Dreams of Sushi”? Yes. I can proudly say that I had not eaten any eel this summer except this one unaju because my friend’s boss recommended my friend to recommend me of this Oodawa shop near Kashiwa station.
(Gotta say though, most Japanese dishes are naturally 548 times better in Japan than in the States, BUT unaju is not one of them.)

2. Grilled ayu on a stick: basically you should eat anything on a stick. This “sweet fish” is grilled on coal, coated with enough salt to pickle your stomach, and full of tiny bones. You eat it for the spirit of festivals, mostly.

Katsushika Iris Festival in Katsushika Park – a rainy Sunday in June

3. Cucumber on a stick: can’t get any more heat-combatant than this.

4. Cold noodles: soba, somen, cold pasta with boiled anchovies. They’re MUCH better than they sound to our hot-soup-acquainted ears.

5. Okonomiyaki: not the ones in okonomiyaki shops, but the ones highschoolers make at their school festivals. We chanced upon one of them right next to Kencho-ji when we were exhausted by heat and humans in Kamakura. It was cheap and delicious.

Standing in line with all those kids in uniforms, I felt as if I were in an anime.

One of many temple structures in Kencho-ji, the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura.

THE SWEET:

1. Mitsumame: I know some people would MUCH prefer kakigori, but thirst-quenching as it is, I have a morbid fear of eating shaved ice because in some distant past, my mom said kids who chew on ice would soon lose their teeth. So I seek shelter in ice cream. Mitsumame has ice cream, and mochi, and fruits, and syrup.

Two types of warabi mochi on the far left – at a mochi shop in the Sky Tree center.

2. Warabi mochi: of all types of mochi, dango, and daifuku, warabi mochi is the lightest, mildest, and coolest. It just soothes your throat. Green helps too, I felt like I was eating something healthy.

3. Fruits: eat fruits if you have no more windows to throw your money out of. Remove 2 zeros from the price tags and you get the price in USD. $14 for a pound of grapes and $35 for a few peaches?! This is one of those times when I don’t like Japan.

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Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo.

The third installment of the “Flavor Japan – Noodles” series: somen, i.e., Noodles Part 3. Somen is thin white wheat noodle, much thinner than udon and much lighter than soba (buckwheat noodle). Why have I not seen any somen in The States?!! It most closely resembles the Vietnamese bún in bún thịt nướng (grilled pork with rice vermicelli). Is that why I love it the most now, more than ramen, udon or soba? Maybe. This noodle is such a beauty.

The day we had it was also a beauty. We were wandering around Fukagawa at 10:45 or so and no restaurant that we wanted to try was open. Then I heard drumming and chanting, so I dragged Mutsumi toward the sound and ended up in Naritasan Fukagawa Fudoudou. Two imageries of this big temple will stay forever in my head: 1. a modern hall whose white outer walls are covered with a Sanskrit mantra in black, and 2. the fire ceremony with powerful drums, beautiful garments of the monks, and exceedingly warm and mellow chanting. We came in the middle of the ceremony, and it went on for at least another 30 minutes. The experience was so serene and so efficacious that I felt blessed being there. (Actually, the monks perform this ceremony daily, but chancing upon it without knowing about neither the temple nor the time of the ceremony beforehand is pretty miraculous already, don’t you think?). Photos were not allowed, and the atmosphere made me too obliged to be sneaky.

Our luck improved after the ceremony: restaurants had finally opened. By myself, I probably wouldn’t have wandered into this unassuming little shop though, because I wasn’t in the mood for noodles (!!!), but Mutsumi was, and how wise she was!

The menu outside.

The inside. Just enough room to seat 10 people downstairs, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s some seating upstairs too, for Mutsumi recognized a famous comedian walking upstairs to lunch.

Mutsumi got the regional specialty: fukagawa don – rice bowl topped with clam and tofu. The clam and tofu are simmered in some miso-based sauce just sweet and savory enough to contrast the refreshing quick-pickle and grated daikon on the side. Story (from Mutsumi) has it that the geisha of this district liked fukagawa don, and I’m inclined to believe that the geishas were connoisseurs.

My lunch set was more captivating than I expected: a small bowl of fukagawa don, tsukemono, the most pillowy piece of fried egg I ever had, tempura, SOMEN, and its accompanying dipping sauce. The somen went down so easily I had to refrain from finishing too fast. Little did I know, my eating was a spectacle to Mutsumi. She thought to herself at first that there was no way I would finish everything, and to her amazement not only did I finish it, I had room for dessert a few minutes later. (^_^)

I can’t read the name of the shop, but if you’re ever in the vicinity, visit Naritasan Fudoudou and walk a few steps to this shop. A lunch set like mine will set you back for only 900 yen (~ $9), but you’ll feel so elated that you can eat a whole street of desserts, too.

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Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo.

Ramen is all hip now and if I were that into ramen, I probably would try a ramen shop everyday until I exhaust all options in Tokyo (it will take only a few lifetimes). But honestly, there’s SO MUCH MORE about noodles in Japan that I’m glad I didn’t spend all my time with ramen. I don’t regret one bit that I had only ONE bowl of ramen in Tokyo the entire stay. When I think about the spaghetti with boiled anchovy (you can also have it raw) or somen and rice with clam(*), I’m filled with joy. (I really am!)

Ziggy’s Pasta is an unassuming shop a stone’s throw away from Koutoku-in in Kamakura – the temple with the great copper statue of Buddha, where 60% of the tourists stick their hands out for a statue-carrying pose.

When we visited in Kamakura, my life goal was too eat shoujin ryouri (精進料理) – traditional Buddhist vegetarian meal, but that goal was quickly quenched because everybody and their grandma were lining up outside every restaurant during lunch time, and no shoujin ryouri restaurant was opened for dinner. So we walked along the street in dejection, and suddenly I saw Ziggy’s Pasta. If I can’t have what I want, I might as well eat the first thing I see – pasta.

This is their menu. The guy recommended the left page as their specialty: cold spaghetti in 3 different types of sauce topped with shirasu (which I didn’t understand but was in for the thrill anyway), which can be served either raw or boiled. I’m not into tomato sauce and I didn’t know what “sudachi” was (the first category), so that’s that. With “bajiru”, I just felt a chance of knowing what it meant, so I asked him what “bajiru” was. He thought and thought, and tilted his head, “bajiru desu ne…? sorewa, italy no …” (loosely mean “bajiru huh? It’s an Italian …”) and tilted his head some more. I tilted my head too, to search for an Italian thing that is green and starts with “b”. It took me a good minute. Can you guess?

Here is spaghetti with boiled shirasu (anchovy) in bajiru sauce. Admittedly it neither sounds nor looks too heart-warming – I had never had cold pasta with fish before, much less boiled fish, but this dish confirms that the Japanese knows how to work their fish into everything. The fish is not at all fishy, just a tiny bit salty, the pasta and the sauce work together splendidly, and the coolness from the plate to the silverware to the pasta lifts you up from the afternoon summer heat like no other. I was revived.

The sudachi option with raw anchovy has more zest, but I think I’m not quite there with the raw fish, they go down a little too… smooth? This dish was definitely going for the slimy smooth theme, considering the raw egg and ikura (salmon roe). The myoga (Japanese ginger flower buds) adds a much appreciated crunch, though.

Thinking back, the evening at Ziggy’s Pasta was one of the more memorable meals I had in Japan. It’s worth missing out on the traditional Buddhist meal. Sure, spaghetti is much less Japanese than shoujin ryouri, but where can you find spaghetti like this but in Japan?

Address: Kamakura Ziggy’s Pasta
神奈川県鎌倉市長谷1-16-25
Kamakura, Japan

(To be continued)

Foodnote:
(*) Somen and rice with clam will have to wait until Noodles Part 3. Originally I intended to do them with cold spaghetti, but as I wrote on, I realized that cold spaghetti deserves it own post, and so does somen. 🙂

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Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo.

Unagi rice with cold soba (680 yen) at some noodle shop on Waseda Dori, Chiyoda.

When I was slurping ramen with Mai at The Ramen Shop, I vowed to drown myself in ramen when I get to Japan. When I’m in Japan, I get so overwhelmed that I resign to konbini foods. It is too easy to find a soba, udon or ramen joint in Tokyo, the former two often together. Every 20 meter is likely to pack a few shops, and any shop we see likely serves superior fares to the places we’ve tried in the States. June air in Tokyo is as heavy as the steam from the bowl, but it never stops our appetite.

One minor setback: the order machine. It’s simple enough: you decide what you want, insert the money, push a few buttons (or one, if you don’t want to add anything to your order). The problem is reading the all-Japanese labels. I always feel like an idiot when I stare it down for minutes when everyone just punches away. Granted I’ve never taken less than 2 minutes with a candy vending machine in the States either.

Inside a soba and udon shop on Waseda street:

We didn’t pick this place for any reason other than it being on our way to Yasukuni shrine, but I had the best soba here.

A simple hot soba with wakame (sheets of seaweed – the dark green stuff) and tempura mushroom. You can have the tempura on the side or in the soup, I opted for in the soup because I just love the crunchy texture on the verge of turning soggy. The wakame soba by itself would have been 400 yen, tempura boosted it to 470 yen.

The much shorter wait helps: you place the order and get your noodle in hardly 2 minutes. Not because this place was relatively empty. Jangara in Akihabara had a line of tens of salarymen out the door, and my noodles came out before I could even take a picture of the menu.

The Jangara I visisted is a tiny ramen shop in a sidestreet in Akihabara and known for its Kyushu-style ramen (fatty rich broth from pork bones). An acquaintance recommended this place as his childhood favorite and a contributor to propel the status of Kyushu ramen and shape the modern ramen scene in Tokyo. There’s a Jangara in Harajuku with English menu. This one doesn’t (or they didn’t give me one). I was ushered into the very last counter seat (thank god! I was worried that I’d be put between two serious-looking Japanese men and be judged for taking pictures and eating slowly) and given an all-Japanese menu. (Much preferable to the buttons and machines though!)

I sticked to the top few choices that had “Jangara” in the name, and managed to make out “meat” in the sea of kanjis. That was the most important thing, so I thought.

However, I should have studied harder and remembered the character for “egg”, because my ramen did not have a soft-boiled egg. The customer next to me (a few of them actually, they came and went so fast while I was there that I lost count) all had eggs. 🙁 Regardless, this is the best ramen I’ve ever had. Yes, the broth is superior (rich and hot like melted garlic butter), but the noodle won me over. It was round and thin, very slightly curled, and just the right amount of chewiness. The pork belly was a nice accessory but far from necessary.

I still wonder how the salarymen could eat so fast (and drank the whole bowl of broth too!). It made me feel bad that I took about 10 minutes total and couldn’t finish my broth (I didn’t want to burst). I tried very hard to sink into my corner and weaseled my way out as quietly as possible. Hopefully nobody noticed the only girl in the flow of customers.

Address: Kyushu Jangara (九州じゃんがら)
Sotokanda 3-11-6, Chiyoda-ku, TOKYO
(West of Akihabara station)
Jangara ramen with pork: 800 yen

(To be continued)
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Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo
C. is Asian, female, something of a frivolous nature that wishes to go only by C. and so kindly agrees to blog while Mai is head-deep in work and Kristen is away in Seoul.

— Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo. —

Knowing enough Japanese to converse is an advantage but it can also hurt your wallet. I keep getting drawn into clothing stores everywhere I go, and the staffs keep sweet talking me into trying on stuff. (It doesn’t happen if you’re with a friend though!) As if that wasn’t bad enough, why does everything always fit so perfectly? Damn Asian one-size-fits-all. I feel too guilty to just walk out without an adequate reason, so there goes my college savings. The answer is, of course, konbini foods.

There are 3 convenient stores on the way from Kameari station to our apartment, including a Family Mart 2 minute walk away and a Lawson 1 minute from the Family Mart. Konbini food is so good and so cheap that I keep spending more on clothes!

Pictured, from top:
1. Some pastry – I don’t know what I just ate but it’s good.
2. Yakisoba pan – stirfried noodles on bread with some pickle ginger (the pink stuff)
3. Some chocolate pastry – Look at that bar of chocolate in the middle! It’s so thick it’s literally a BAR. Peet’s “chocolate croissants” (and any kind of chocolate pastry anywhere in America), SHAME ON YOU!

On some days if time permits for breakfast, Michiko san fixed me toast and egg. The bread is just normal white bread from the convenient store, but Japanese white bread is A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE from American white bread. Half-inch thick. Big (ACTUALLY a square, not a puny slice of sadness with 4 squished corners like an abused textbook in a rain-soaked backpack). Fluffy (and stays that way!). ABSOLUTELY AMAZING however you look at it and however you eat it. You know those quiz questions “What will you take  if you’re going to a deserted island or something equally ridiculous?” From now on I will say “A truck load of Japanese white bread”. American bread, good bye.

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C. is Asian, female, something of a frivolous nature that wishes to go only by C. and so kindly agrees to blog while Mai is head-deep in work (and classic novels) and Kristen is away in Seoul.

When I wasn’t presenting at my conference in Seoul, we were eating, eating, eating! I learned that it is pretty typical to have a table covered entirely with food and drinks until there’s literally no space left so dishes started piling upon each other! It’s definitely the best way to eat in my opinion! Rather than writing a detailed post about each of the dishes I ate, I’ll showcase the food itself by displaying the photographs I took with little captions. Everyone was wondering why I was so intent on taking pictures of food, but when I’m in a new place and trying new foods, it’s just too hard to resist. This will probably be my last post on eating in Seoul, so I’ll end it with lots of pictures!

Day 1 – Dinner at the Seoul National University Hoam House

Our private room!

I ordered the top option: 한식 스페실 메뉴 [han shik special menu]. It comes with: “seasoned with shrimp, abalone, pear, chestnut,” “Today’s fried food,” “Grilled minced rib,” “Grilled dried yellowtail fish,” “Beef (brisket) and soy bean past stew and rice,” and “Fruits.”

Beautiful silverware! I found myself taking a lot of pictures of silverware.

First course: seasoned with shrimp, abalone, pear, and chestnut. Interesting combo of flavors and textures – chewy and crunchy and each bite had a hint of the ocean. It was interesting since I’ve never tasted these flavors together before!

“Today’s fried food.” This was one of the best pieces of fish I have eaten in Seoul AND in general. The flesh was so flaky and tasty and the skin was perfectly crunchy. There were a lot of bones, but I didn’t mind digging around because the meat was just that good. The highlight of the meal for me!

“Grilled minced rib.” I’m not sure why these burger-type patties are popular at 한식 [han shik] restaurants, which serve multi-course Korean food. I went out to dinner with some friends the weekend before the conference and was also served a beef patty as part of the set meal. This meat was super dry and lacking in flavor. Imagine an overcooked burger patty and this is unfortunately what this dish tasted like.

Grilled dried yellowtail fish. Oh boy…what the menu describes as “dried” is correct. This fish was DRY. Such a disappointment compared to the first fish course! It was cooked to death to the point that it was nearly inedible.

“Beef (brisket) and soy bean paste stew and rice.” It is customary to end these set course meals with stew and rice, rather than eating rice alongside the meal. This was an okay doenjang jjigae…not good, not too great.

Rice!

Day 2 – Lunch at the top of Seoul National University

Walking up a giant hill and so many stairs in Seoul’s hot and humid weather while wearing conference clothes was quite the challenge, but the food at the top was worth it!

I don’t remember the name of the restaurant we ended up at, but I took a picture through the doors. It seemed like it was at the highest spot on the SNU campus!

Banquet hall! (And air conditioning as well.)

I didn’t go for a multi-course menu, but looks like no matter what there are always banchan and appetizers! I love it! One of the banchan was this salad…nothing fancy, just a salad.

More banchan! On the top (from left to right): shellfish (abalone? clam? not sure…), kimchi, and pickled beansprouts. On the front left, tuna – delicious. On the right right, jap chae (noodles), also delicious.

I was debating whether or not I should get kalbi or bulgogi, but I realized that I haven’t yet had bibimbap in Seoul yet! So when I saw the doenjang bibimbap on the menu, I couldn’t resist! This is quite possibly the best bibimbap I’ve ever tasted – the greens were so fresh and delicate and light! But what really made this great was the doenjang paste…

The doenjang bibimbap came with miso soup too (doenjang is made from soybean paste and it tastes similar to miso). This doenjang paste had little pieces of abalone in it, which gave it a more complex salty flavor than regular doenjang. I could have probably eaten an entire tub of this, but I just cleaned my plate instead. It was the perfect entree to eat before a presentation: filling yet didn’t make me feel so grossly stuffed that I’ll feel lethargic.

I think this was a type of 수정과 [su jong gwa] since the predominant taste was that of cinnamon. I’m not sure why or how it got so pink! It was a nice and refreshing palate cleanser and end to the meal though!

Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the restaurant that we ended up eating it, but after a long day of conference presentations, I was definitely excited for food! And there ended up being so much food, I could barely keep track of it all. Literally, dishes were piled on top of dishes because there wasn’t enough space for everything!

The table…we ended up moving to a different room because this one wasn’t big enough, but the table settings and table looked similar enough!

And then the food began and never stopped coming. Jap chae – delicious!

I intended to only take a picture of the salad, but didn’t want to reach across the table since I was already getting funny looks for snapping photos of food! I didn’t end up eating this salad but I can’t imagine that I would have missed anything.

I didn’t get a chance to ask about a lot of the food, so unfortunately I can’t identify everything accurate. The foreground was some type of seafood – oysters maybe? The background is a kimchi!

One of my favorites!!! Pumpkin with jujubes…so sweet and perfectly cooked. I think I ate more of my share of these…I couldn’t get enough of the pumpkins/squashes that I ate while in Seoul!

Broccoli with a gochujang dipping sauce

Fermented skate (홍어 hong uh) with pork belly (삼겹살 samgyeopsal) and kimchi. I had no idea what this was at the time so I just ate it without any hesitation! A few of the other Korean graduate students from UC Berkeley told us that fermented skate is one of the dishes where your family either eats it or is repulsed by it. Since I was coming in with a clean slate, I have to say that it didn’t taste so bad. I’ve never had fermented fish before and with the pork belly and super old kimchi, the taste isn’t quite as strong as I would have thought it to be. On its own though…it’s not that bad either but the aftertaste becomes super pronounced. My mouth became numb (not in a bad way but like I ate an entire stick of mint candy) and that sensation of cooling numbness stuck in my mouth for a while. I definitely would eat it again though!

A close-up of the unidentified seafood dish. Anyone have any idea what this is?

Fried mushrooms. A little oily but super delicious!

Black sesame porridge – more savory than sweet. We each got our own individual bowl. I love black sesame so I enjoyed this a lot!

Sweet sticky rice! As for what’s in the bowl in front, it’s soju!

Anchovies! These are so addicting and yummy…another one of my favorites. I’ve had some chefs describe them as “fries with eyes.”

Another variety of kimchi!

Bulgogi soup. I also ate way more than my fair share of this dish also! The beef itself was delicious, but the broth was so rich and flavorful that I kept on going back for more of the broth! It was meaty, sweet, and savory – the perfect combination of flavors! Definitely one of the best-tasting dishes at this restaurant!

Another type of soup…but I can’t really recall what specifically this is.

Another one of my favorites! Potatoes – sweet and starchy, the best. I did restrain myself with this and only took one, but I wanted to eat all of them and more!

More kimchi! You can never have enough kimchi!

I don’t know what type of fish this was, but it was dry (in a good way) and bony (in a not so good way). I’ve gotten pretty good at eating bony fish while I was in Korea, but I think I ended up eating more bones than meat with this fish…The few pieces of meat that I was able to successfully extract though were delicious!

So much food on the table~

Sashimi

Octopi (the tentacles were not still moving!)

Another type of fish!

Steamed egg…another one of my favorites! So good – I kept on eating more of my fair share of this dish too…

…And more fish! I love fish so I was definitely having the time of my life during this meal. And maybe the raspberry wine and soju and makgeolli helped with that too…

So. Much. Food.

The meal always ends with soup and rice. This is doenjang jjigae (bean paste soup).

…and the accompanying rice. (With raspberry wine in the background)

Of course there is still dessert! 식계 (shikkye) Rice punch! I’m not really a fan of this and I was so stuffed so I only had a little bit.

…And some sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch 수정과). Yum – the perfect refreshing end to the meal!

Overall, I had an amazing time in Seoul and I definitely took advantage of eating as much as I could! The conference eating was super nice and I definitely hope that I get a chance to go back to South Korea soon not only for research/academic purposes, but to eat!

The day before my conference I met up with a friend from college and he suggested we eat at 달식탁 [Dal SSik Tak] since he heard many good things about the restaurant. We agreed to meet at the Sinsa station, which is a short walk away from the restaurant. Sinsa is located south of the Han River, which made it convenient for me because I had a pre-conference dinner at attend by the Seoul National University campus. I also haven’t eaten that much at the more upscale Korean cuisine restaurants because I’ve been mostly traveling on my own, so this was a great opportunity to try more traditional Korean cuisine.

We met up for lunch and the restaurant was completely empty, which was very nice and a little surprising! The interior of the restaurant has some really interesting decor (for outside decor, here are some pictures). There’s nothing like eating next to a giant horse statue in the middle of the room.

I love the chandeliers – they look like little bubbles of caviar! Yum~

The walls also functioned as a art exhibit for Lee Jae-Hyo, who created these awesome canvases from bolts, nails, and wood. Even though the sign said “do not touch,” it is so hard to resist especially when a neat design is sitting right in front of your face!

But now onto the food…we ordered the set meal which came with a soup/stew course, a shared entree course, and tea. I don’t remember the price, but I think it was around 48000 won for two people (~$48 USD) including dessert, which we also ordered.

My friend ordered Doenjang Jjigae, soybean paste stew. (And he’s also taking a picture of it too.)

I don’t remember the name of the soup, but it wasn’t a kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew). I think it was a gochu (spicy pepper) stew.

The stew that I had was one of the best stews I’ve tasted! My friend said that he heard that all of their gochujang and doenjang are freshly made and shipped from the southern part of Korea to this restaurant every morning, which is probably why this stew tasted so good.

For our banchan, we received a lot of fresh vegetables and my favorite, honey potatoes.

We also received (from clockwise) kimchi, kelp chips, dried anchovies, and dollops of those fresh doenjang and gochujang. I was almost tempted to eat both of those sauces on those own – once I dipped and tried a little, I wanted to continue eating them all! The gochujang especially had a great depth of flavor and I could just imagine eating it out of one of those traditional jars…I wish I could find out more about how they make their sauces, but that would have to be for a time when I learn more Korean.

As for the meat, it doesn’t really look that impressive, but this was the best beef I have ever tasted. The delicate little strips were sliced sashimi-thin and eaten together with the chives and lettuce, there was a perfect melding of flavors and textures. The beef also had an intensely smoky, charred, and grilled flavor that I wasn’t expecting just from looking at it. Dipping the beef into the doenjang and gochujang sauces was heavenly as well. When I think back on my trip, this dish is one that I can still remember as a “perfect bite.”

Our tea course – I had the green tea. It wasn’t anything special but it was comforting and soothing to drink after eating a lot of meat!

We debated whether or not to get dessert here or elsewhere, but we decided to try the dessert here. I’m so glad we did because this dish is probably the best dessert I have ever eaten in my life and I am not exaggerating – as good as the beef was, this persimmon sorbet is what makes 달식탁 [Dal Ssik Tak] the best restaurant I’ve been to in Seoul.

The sorbet is thick and tasted almost like a persimmon puree. I’ve never had this strong of a persimmon flavor before and it tasted so fresh! The sorbet is sprinkled with walnuts and pecans and topped with some candied persimmon. Even though I was sharing with someone, I was super tempted to wrestle this bowl away and eat it all myself. Good thing the portion is pretty big! I like to think that I had a Ratatouille moment with this dessert – it was the perfect evocation of summer in Seoul and it reminded me of eating persimmon with my grandparents in their kitchen. I could continue to swoon on and on…

Big thanks to my friend for introducing me to 달식탁 [Dal Ssik Tak]! I definitely have to come back to try this restaurant again! And if I have time, I definitely want to go shopping here as well – there are so many cute stores on the main stretch of road and there’s also a Forever 21 here as well!