About and Press

Welcome to Seoul Eats: a restaurant review blog and Korean culture blog.

My name is Daniel Gray and I am a Korean-adoptee that was born in Korea, was adopted by awesome American parents and raised in Delaware, USA and returned to Korea in 2005. I came back to Korea to learn about Korean culture and to try to find my Korean mother. I spent my first year in Gyeong Ju (a city to the south east of South Korea). I found that I liked it and then later moved up to Seoul.

Throughout my life, I have had many different jobs but my favorite jobs were while working in the restaurant industry. I was a waiter, a cook, a bartender, and I did some private catering while in the states. At university, I studied creative writing with a specialty in playwriting. In Korea, all of my life experiences seemed to come together and I have been able to find a path in food and writing.

This blog is a hobby that went a little out of control and it has put me in contact with many amazing foodies and have given me many opportunities I never thought possible. I would like to thank all of you, the readers, for helping me to live such a fun foodie life.

These days, I am a partner at the culinary tourism company, O’ngo Food Communications where I do the marketing, do food experience tours, help with cooking classes, write books, mop the floors, and do some occasional cooking. This company which was started by Jia Choi PhD is now one of the fastest growing culinary tourism companies in Korea. Jia is a dear friend of mine and I am honored that I am able to work with someone of her caliber.

People usually ask me, what is it that you do? I work with food. I market it, I research it, I eat it, I use it as a forum for education for the company I work for. The blog and all my activities have created a synergy for my business and my life. I mean it is the only way that I could make a living after all (note: blogging is not a lucrative job unless you get millions of people visiting your site every month).

The goal of this site is to help foodies find the best Korean restaurants here and around the world. I hope that the blog is fun to read, educational, and helpful.

I would like to thank everyone for reading and I would like to send a special thanks out to some friends that have helped me find my path. Thank you Matt Gross for showing me what a real journalist is. Thank you Professor Jeanne Walker for encouraging me to write and to cook. Thank you Jia for believing in me and putting up with my awkwardness. Thank you Mom and Dad for putting up with me even thought I was a jerk growing up. Thank you Jill and Jenna for putting up with me even though I was a jerk growing up Thank you Dustin Cole for helping me revamp this site and believing in this site. Thank you Suji for just being Suji. Thank you Carol, Lily, Paula, Michelle, Zeddy, Ben, Dae Ahn Sunim, Susumu, Laura, Anna, Ben, Nina, Tim, Robyn, and Ashley for just being yourselves.

Press on Daniel Gray, Seoul Eats, and O’ngo Food Communications

Featured in Epicure Magazine January 2012

Gutsy Discovery: Mix Magazine September 2011

RTW Magazine (Dutch) Written by Erik Brusten

Interview of Daniel Gray (In German) in the Kyopo Shinmun February 2012

Politiken Newspaper (Denmark) , Olive Magazine (Britain), Euronews, ABC 7 San Francisco, Korea.net, Chosun Newspaper, Lonely Planet,

Daniel Gray’s Writing and Photography Porfolio

Full Metal Chopsticks: Food and Digest Singapore October November 2011 Written and Photographed

Buddhist Temple Cuisine for Walkerhill Magazine October 2011

Writer: Monocle Alpino Magazine

An Illustrated "How To" Book on Korean Food for Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation December 2009

Korean Food Dictionary iPod Application

Daniel Gray is a credited writer for the following publications: Time Out Seoul 2011, The Seoul Book of Everything 2010, KITA Gangnam Restaurant Guide November 2011, Share the Pleasure: Korean Cuisine August 2011.

Daniel Gray is a regular monthly contributor to Seoul Magazine for their dining section. He appears weekly on Arirang’s Riding Home on Thursdays at 7:30 to talk about food and he is a biweekly guest on TBS eFM’s Mainstreet for their F & B segment.

Daniel Gray’s Television and Film Work

Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods