Cheap Eats: Good Food at Good Value

Samarikand

I was told over by the man who ran the Samarikand that there are 17 locations all over Korea and the same family runs them all. The food is authentic and portions are hearty. You can get a giant, flaky pastry bread stuffed with savory lamb (Samsa) for only 3000 won. 2000 won gets you a hearty frisbee sized sesame roll (Lepeshka) and 6,000 won gets you a big bowl of Borsch. The entrees don’t cost all that much either. You can get cabbage rolls stuffed with meat (Golubtsy) for or, my favorite, fried lamb over french fries (Chiz-Biz) for only 7. And you can wash all this down with big Russian beers labeled 3, 6, and 9.

Samarikant
02-2277-4261
Directions: Go out Dongdaemun Stadium Station Exit 5 and walk until you see the 광교빌딩 and Woori bank. To the left is the A+ noraebahng, Samarakand is a few buildings before the A+ noraebahng.It is across the street and down an alley. Ask someone on the street. They all know where it is. (Thanks Paul for the update)

영진수산 (Yeong Jin Su San)
What recession? For 5,000 won you can usually go into any Korean restaurant and get a feast. This place is called 전짐회수산 and it is right down the street from the Institute for Korean Traditional Foods . If you want to find it just go to Jongno 3-ga (Lines #3,5) exit 7. Walk straight for a block and cross the street. You’ll see tanks with fish out front. The food is good. For lunch I just had the 알 탕 (Al Tang). This is a spicy fish soup that has fish eggs in it. It’s great on cold days. Now accompanying this main dish came a plethora of side dishes. I had some grilled mackerel, fried fish cake noodles, kimchi, two pieces of sushi, a spicy turnip kimchi. It’s just amazing I got all this for so little.

영진수산 (Yeong Jin Su San)
02 747 1868
서울시 종로구 묘동 139-1

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.

Tidbits of Zen