Korean Food 101
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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 article about your restaurant. Let me preface it by saying…
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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 all taste the same unless you’ve been drinking them…
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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 have two hands free outside. It looks pretty…
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Sunday Pork Roast Bossam
I’d been craving an old-fashioned Sunday Roast. I didn’t care what meat. EJ saw that some giant cuts of pork were on sale. She bought two for W10,000. She said, though, that she wanted Bossam. I figured we could compromise. If David Chang can do a roast for Bossam, so can I . The night…
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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 elements that are shared, including parts where Korea influenced its…
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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 Wizard of Oz.” This…
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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” and “sherbert.” Maybe it’s just me, but the prices seem to have…
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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 Hongdae last month, and I…
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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 come in different sweet and savory flavors.…
