We are getting settled in and meeting lots of people both Koreans and foreigners. We had a really nice day yesterday with a Russian friend and our new Canadian friend who is originally from Macedonia. We went and checked out a fortress wall and had a nice lunch in the valley of the fortress. Afterwards we checked out a temple with a 33 meter (108 feet) high gold coated Buddha. You can find the pictures at the following link at the bottom.
The answer to the big question is the food is wonderful. The only problem for Chris and I is remembering the names of what we like.
My favorite dish so far is neum myeon (cold noodles). I think that it’s partially because it’s one of the few dishes we have found that is actually cold and a little spicy. Koreans love to eat physically hot food i.e. lots of soups when it is hot out and other things. And in 90 plus degree heat I really don’t want to eat physically hot food.
Chris is very keen on this stew dish called jungul. It comes with big hunks of beef in a broth. A big dish with more then the two of us can eat goes for less then $9.
We both like a dish called bibimbap and love bulgogi. Bulgogi is a Korean BBQ with marinated beef or pork that you put in lettuce wraps. The stuff is fabulous. I loved it before I came though because this was my favorite dish at Seoul Garden at 15 and Dequindre.
Bibimbap is a rice based dish with a lot of things thrown on top of it like beans sprouts, seaweed, a fried egg, some type of spicy pepper paste, and some other things I can’t remember. You mix it all together and then eat. The only thing I have tried so far that I wasn’t to keen on just because it was bland was ox bone soup. I found that pretty unremarkable. Oh and the ginseng tonic. I like ginseng but that stuff was just potent and left a very strange taste in your mouth.
We even managed to find a good German restaurant in Seoul when we were up there that had a fabulous roast rack of lamb. It had rosemary, garlic and mustard on the roast, very good. Expensive, but very good.
Every meal is an adventure especially when you can’t read the menu if there is no pictures then it gets even crazier.
Our lunch yesterday was an example. The only word the waitress could ask us in English was chicken. So we ordered the Chicken. The “chicken” was a whole chicken and I mean physically whole like one you would stuff in some broth. It came with a ton of little side dishes as every Korean meal seems to (called banchan) and a big stone bowl of rice porridge. Everything was great including the kimchi.
Of course you get very use to eating Kimchi which is good. Kimchi is cabbage that has been marinated in red pepper, radish and some other ingredients for anywhere between a couple of weeks up to six months. I like it when it’s not so aged and it’s a little fresher because as it ages longer then the leaves seem to get a little bit of the rotting vegetable after taste. Regardless of whether you like Kimchi or not if you are asked by a Korean if you like it you should always respond yes. This is a tried and true Korean dish and they love it. Pretty much every meal comes with your little side dish of kimchi.
Last night we had sweet potato on pizza for the first time. It was interesting. They put this ring around your pizza about an inch in from the crust of mashed sweet potato. Chris and I both thought it was ok but really could take it or leave it either way.
So to answer the question we like the food a lot. We really have not found anything to salty. In fact, in several of the dishes they serve you salt on the side instead of in the dish. You’re expected to add what you like yourself. They love garlic and spicy foods and are usually surprised to find the foreigner that like spice and garlic.
The only thing that is hard about being here is that they are not big salad people in fact lettuce prices are crazy. I have yet to break down and buy a head of leaf lettuce because it runs around $4.00-5.00 per head. In fact, the running joke here is when the lettuce is served with the beef, the beef is the cheaper ingredient.
Fruit and vegetable prices are kind of high here. However, their pastry prices are ridiculously cheap. There are wonderful little bakeries scattered all over the city where you can pick up whole tarts, 6 inch cakes, or other goodies for under $5.00.
The other good news is that the Koreans love ice cream. They get it all the time. Chris says that at Hyundai’s cafeteria, after every meal every employee gets a free ice cream. That facility is supposed to go through something like 40,000 ice creams every day. They have another frozen dish that interesting. It’s a shaved ice with pineapple, sweet rice paste balls, a little grain powder, a little dab of ice cream and sweet red beans on top. Heather gave it a try one point and thought it wasn’t too bad. Not your usual sundae, though.
Anyways, that’s sort of a preview on the food.
Everyone should go try Seoul Garden (either on 15 & Dequindre or the one on Northwestern Highway) or BiBimBap (in Novi) for dinner one night and give Korean food a try. If you’re uncertain, order the Bulgogi or the Bibimbap and you’ll probably like it.
Hey by the way, we got a preview of the Qin dynasty terra cotta soldiers. There is a traveling exhibit that is in our town until the end of August in celebration of the 30th anniversary of finding them. Unfortunately we could not take any pictures but it was pretty awesome to see.
Link