11 Best Korean Chicken Joints
My rule of thumb is this. To tell a good chicken place, look at the people inside. If it’s full of beautiful young women taking selfies, likely isn’t good chicken. If it’s full of middle-aged men who look like life has kicked them in the teeth–GREAT CHICKEN!
Top 10 Korean Food Tours With Prices & Crucial Details
Korean food tours, especially Seoul food tours, daunt travelers with all the choices. There is no one-size-fits-all experience. As I said on a previous post, TripAdvisor/Viator tours and others like them tend to be reposts of other companies' tours with 15-30% sucked...
Filet-O-Fish is back in Korea
https://youtu.be/cMncXqyS2RY McDonald's Korea discontinued the Filet-O-Fish in 2008. Today, April 1st, 2021, it is back. I try my first one in maybe 15 years. Will it live up to expectations? And what of the Double Filet-O-Fish?
10 Days in Seoul: A food guide
This is your ultimate Seoul food guide. Reader (and friend) Żaklina had this question: Do you have recommendations or a 10-day restaurant tour guide for Seoul? My parents are coming to visit for 2 weeks, and I'm looking to take...
Kimchi and Cheese: How crisis made dairy dominate Korean cuisine
The spicy stewed pork ribs emerged from the kitchen. Two attractive TV hosts gawked at them in wonder. They gazed at a dish of decadence. A dish that broke all the rules. A dish that was Korean but smothered in mozzarella cheese. With small tongs one woman grabbed a...
Nashville Hot Chicken in Seoul: Rocka Doodle vs. Brave Rooster’s
Nashville Hot Chicken has hit Seoul. There’s been buzz about this new style of fried chicken in Seoul, a feat that is hard to imagine in a country that alleges to have more establishments selling fried chicken than there are McDonald’s worldwide. What is Nashville Hot...
Today’s Dosirak: Deodeok Gochujang Samgyeopsal
There's a Bon Dosirak franchise near my day job's location. This is the latest concept from Bon Juk and Bon Bibimbap. I've had a few of these dosirak (lunchboxes) before. I particularly like the way they pay tribute to regional cuisines, like the Andong Jjimdalk...
The Surprising Korean Burger Foodies Are Crazy For
There's a Korean burger that has been the must-try in Seoul's foodie community. And it comes from a surprising place. Lotteria. Yes, Lotteria. The Korean-Japanese fast food franchise known for its culinary abominations--soggy fries and cardboard tasting burgers...
3 Korean Diet Foods To Help You Lose Weight
Korean cuisine already has a reputation for being healthy. Not everything in Korean cuisine is so. Yet like most world traditional foods, it's well-rounded and whole. South Koreans are also some of the thinnest people in the modern world. You'd think that would come...
What Is Korean Buddhist Temple Cuisine?
A quick rundown of temple cuisine and eating meditation
Winner of California culinary contest: ‘Korean food will become more popular’
The first-place winner of the recent Korean Sensation Culinary Contest at The Culinary Institute of America's Napa Valley campus is neither a traditional North American college student nor a stranger to Korean cuisine. A native of Montreal, Stephen Neumann came to...
CIA Greystone hosts Korean cuisine contest
The Korean government doesn't want Korean cuisine to be Los Angeles' best kept secret, so the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Greystone, based in St. Helena, Calif., in cooperation with the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (also called aT for...
Another Copycat, This Time in L.A.
Soon after Vatos Urban Tacos opened and became a hit, people from rival restaurants showed up, vigorously taking pictures of each detail for "research" and "benchmarking," business Konglish for "straight up ripping off and copying." A few months later, dishes that...
I Love You, Bae 배 사랑해요
Groovy Find: Spicy Lamb Bulgogi at Home Plus
Yes! I found this at Home Plus. Even though I found proof somewhere that Koreans used to eat lamb, it's not common today. Lamb can be found only in foreign supermarkets. Until recently. I saw this at Home Plus. Mr. Beaks Premium Chili Paste Lamb Bulgogi. Out of the...
Three kinds of bulgogi
Over at Sorae Bulgogi in Soraemaul we tried three types of VERY traditional bulgogi. The Eonyang Bulgogi comes from the southeast near Ulsan. It's thin slices of been mixed with garlic and sesame oil and pounded like hell. It's squeezed and massaged and eventually...
The Secret to Great Kimbap
Put tasty grilled sausage in there. EJ threw some li'l smokies in these. Ni-i-i-ice.
Another Hilarious Bibimbap Ad
CORRECTIONS AND UPDATES: The Bibimbap Backpackers contacted us and informed us that they have been working separately from Seo Kyung Duk since 2012. Even though it wasn't mentioned in the post, they also want to verify that they get no government support. They regret...
WTF: Domino’s Korea’s New World Cup Monstrosity
I ain't gonna be gentle about it. Korea has some fucked up pizzas. The American-based chains are the worst offenders, trying to outdo each other in how outrageously disgusting their next pizza will be. I think they're doing some high stakes trolling competition with...
Critic Burns Trendy Itaewon Restaurant via Epic Email
Background on this. An Itaewon restaurant wanted a local magazine to review it. After eating there, the reviewer sent this email in reply. I was given permission to re-post this. Names have been redacted. Hi XXXX, how are you?I'm writing concerning the status of the...
Woomi Dakgalbi, Chuncheon, Korea
Woomi is an old-school 닭갈비 dakgalbi restaurant that has been in the mountain lakeside city of 춘천 Chuncheon, South Korea, since 1970. This was the Chuncheon dakgalbi I remember from my teaching English in the city in 1997. That was before the 2002 Korean TV drama 겨울연가...
Confessions of a Kimchi Craver
There was a brief stretch in my first month in Korea when I stopped eating kimchi. I blame culture shock. I had not yet grown my Asian palate and had made the expat's error of expecting certain colours and shapes to correspond to familiar tastes. I spent far too much...
Review: Schneeballen Korea's Schneeball Cookies
Like any city, Seoul goes through seemingly random food trends and fads. Once such a trend hits, you're bound to see the same food or dish almost everywhere from street food carts to even high end restaurants sometimes. One such trend that has arrived in Seoul...
How is Hite’s Queen’s Ale?
It's already been a year since Daniel Tudor's column in The Economist about the sad state of South Korean beer, even when compared to North Korean beer. It wasn't the beer itself he bemoaned but the lack of choice. Only three major brands with little variation. They...
Recipe: Kale Kimchi
Recently, I joined a CSA (community-supported agriculture) farm affiliated with our local community college. Our CSA promises, "a share of whatever is ripe and ready to eat." That share recently included a small bunch of kale. Hubby is not a fan of kale, and I have...
Visiting Jackey’s Seafood at Jagalchi Market, Busan
If you visit Busan 부산 and skip Jagalchi Shijang (Market) 자갈치시장, you haven't really visited Busan at all. The market opened in 1924 and gets its name from the nearby pebble beach—jagal 자갈 means pebble or gravel. In other words, Pebble Beach, Calif., is not the only...
Review: Kokoro Bento, Bukchon Village, Seoul
On our first full day in Seoul on a 10-day trip to Korea in mid-May, hubby and I spent a good part of the afternoon wandering the streets and alleys of Bukchon Hanok village. My goal was to find the 한옥 hanok (traditional Korean house) featured in the Korean TV drama...
Jeonju – Cheonnyeon Nuri Bom
Jeonju, the capital of North Jeolla Province is 3 hours away from Seoul. Having done my research, Jeonju was chosen as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network. I was hoping to taste really good Korean food in this city. With an empty stomach, I began to explore the...
Fun food find: Ssiat hotteok at BIFF Square, Busan
BIFF Square gets its name from the Busan International Film Festival. This annual film festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals in Asia. BIFF Square was the original location of the BIFF, which started in 1996. Although BIFF Square no longer plays...
Summer Treat: Brownie Cup-Bingsu
Couldn't resist this one at Cafe Goodovening. They're primarily a cupcake cafe. We have two interesting things going on here. Patbingsu in a cup Brownies! I ordered one today. Rainy season's about to hit us hard tomorrow, so I'm getting this one in now while I still...
Korea’s Collective Belly
The best food and travel writers have taught us that regional cuisine is one of the ways in which culture is made manifest. Food is never simply fuel; it’s ritualistic by default. The way that it is prepared, served and eaten can reveal much about a nation’s histories...
Gary Glen may know BBQ but…
He don't know Korean BBQ. I don't mean he was inaccurate. He wrote a piece that was culinarily and culturally ignorant from the history to the recipe. Gary (@GaryGlen) starts by explaining that Korean cuisine is highly influenced by China and Japan. There are some...
Jian at the Cat Cafe
This is one of those unique finds in Korea. Pet ownership is a relatively new concept, so some cafes have opened up that have cats for people to pet and play with. I took the family up into Seoul to Myeong-dong this past weekend to see an expat production of "The...
Daejon: Three lessons from a hotel breakfast
My first destination on a mid-May 10-day tour of Korea was the city of 대전 Daejeon, more than two hours south of the Incheon airport by express bus. View of downtown Daejeon as we entered near dusk on the express bus from Incheon airport. (credit: Jeff Quackenbush) I...
Can Jian Eat a Patbingsu Bigger than Her Head?
It's summer! Patbingsu season has arrived. It looks like we're again seeing more fruity variations on the shaved ice treat. Still, the English translations are not using the obvious "shaved ice" moniker and are going for the awkward misleading names of "ice flakes"...
TRENDWATCH: Sugar Cane Juice
You can tell when a vendor has had some success at one of the many food expos during the year. It looks like sugar cane juicers hit it big. There are three major areas where I check for street food trends, Insa-dong, Myeong-dong, and Hongdae. I first saw this in...
TRENDWATCH: Schneeballen
These have been popping up in various places around Seoul. They originate from Rothenberg, Germany, one of my favorite places in Europe, but I had not seen them when I lived in Germany. It does look like they do have some copycats jumping on the trend, though. They...
Myth: Choco Pies were Invented in Korea
Everyone’s crazy about Choco Pies in Korea. Even North Koreans are. There is a lot of pride taken in this confectionery. It’s assumed in Korea that the Orion company invented this type of treat. That’s why articles like this irk me.
Nosh of the Day: Poop Bread
Was giving an all-day private tour yesterday. One of the things we had was Insa-dong's Ddong Bbang ("Poop Bread"). It's a lot like IngeoBbang/BungeoBbang (the fish-shaped pastries). It's a pancake batter cooked in a mold and filled with red beans. Just shaped like a...
Ramyeon for One
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first post by guest contributor Jenna Collett 라면 for One I have never seen Ms. Ahn eat alone. I’ve never seen her eat without sharing with the closest available mouth. On any given day I’d be handed a near constant stream of easy-to-share...