In
sports,
Cheongdam Sundubu is one of the institutions in Korea for a boiling hot bowl of Sundubu Chiggae.
Sundubu is the soft uncurdled tofu that is boiled with red pepper paste, clams, mushrooms, and onions. It is one of my favorite stews on a frigid winter day.
The stew comes boiling hot to the table and you are supposed to add a raw egg into the still boiling soup. The egg will soft boil and the creamy yolk melds with the spicy broth.
What I love about Cheongdam Sundubu is that they have many different types of Sundubu on the menu. They have Curry, Ham and Cheese, Kimchi, Cow Intestine, and many other variations on this classic dish. However, I feel that their classic seafood sundubu is the best.
Also the rice comes in rock bowl also. What you are supposed to do is spoon the rice out of the bowl-leaving the bits that stick to the bottoms and the sides-and then pour hot water into the bowl and cover. Then you eat the soup and rice and forget about the bowl with water.
After you finish your spicy stew, you uncover the bowl to have delicious rice soup. The bits that stuck to the bottom are now loose and they add a toasted flavor to the water in the bowl. This is sorta the dessert after such a spicy meal. The contrasting flavors are comforting to eat.
Cheongdam Sundubu
Bundang Location 031-739-3555
(They also have other locations throughout Seoul.)
Dan
These guys are awesome. It's a great follow up to their last hit Kicking it in Geumcheon
Dan
Now Available on Itunes.
The EV Boyz have done it again with their new video "A E I Love U".
Be sure to check out the EV Boyz on Facebook for upcoming events and concerts.
Please send booking information to evboyz@gmail.com
Song and lyrics by: Christian Zonts
Sound Engineer: Nic Travis, Kelly Knight
Video Director: Mike Nance
Cameraman: Derek Waleko, Jeff Stern
Production Assistant: Chloe Clark
Photography: Laura Ruble, Brian Petersen, and Christian Zonts
Editor: Mike Nance
Special thanks to Eun Young Dong, Izzy, English Village, and the City of Ilsan.
Dan
In
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
The Korean Winter is unforgiving demon. When they came up with euphemism, colder than a witch’s…glance…yeah…glance; what they should have said was, “It’s as cold as a Korean winter.”
In Korea the winters get cold. I don’t know why but it must be something about this side of the world. I met a woman the other day and she was from Dubai. She had never experienced a winter before and I gave her a laundry list of tips for getting through the season. I talked to her on a Sunday and warned her, repeatedly, that the first really cold day was going to come soon, but she seemed to brush it off as the crazed rants of a lunatic.
Sure enough the next time I saw her, she looked like that kid from the movie the Christmas story. She had a big floppy hat with earmuffs, a huge jacket that looked like fur or something lining it, fuzzy boots, mittens, and a scarf that was easily a meter and a half long. This woman was petite and slim but now she looked like an oompa loompa.
She told me that she wished she took my warning before she experienced her first winter frost.
So I don’t know where you all come from but I wanted to give you a heads up about what you can expect this winter in Seoul. And don’t you be thinking you’ll be all right because you see a girl outside in a miniskirt. She’s cold. She’s really cold; she’s just Spartan.
Here are my top ten tips for surviving the Korean winters.
Tip #10
Long Underwear is your friend. Get several pairs because they’ll get you through the time you must spend waiting for the bus. Make sure they are thick. I recommend BYC.
Tip #9
Winter proof those windows. If those pesky mosquitoes can get into your house in summer, just imagine how much cold air gets in during the winter. Get 3M Winterizing tape at your local supermarket.
Tip #8
Pay your gas bill. Don’t put it off any longer, because they will shut it off. ‘nuff said.
Tip #7
Learn how to work your ondol! That little wall thing heats up your floor as well as your water. I don’t know if you have the same heating panel, but mine is a Rinnai. The dial to the left says “cha-on ì €”온 and “go-on ê³ ì˜¨.” The left side is low temperature and the right is high temperature. The center dial controls the heat. Here’s a poem for those that still can’t convert Fahrenheit to Celsius. “Zero is freezing 10 is not 20 is warm and 30 is hot.”
I find that 24 is good enough. NOW, very important on the right dial it will say “nanbang oansu 난방온수 and oansu chan young ì˜¨ìˆ˜ì „ìš©.” Just remember that bang “ë°©” is room, so it will heat the floor if the switch is to the left and just the room if the switch is to “oansu chan young ì˜¨ìˆ˜ì „ìš©.”
Ondols will maintain their temperature for a long time. When it gets really cold, it is better to sleep on the floor instead of the bed.
Tip #6
When the weather gets extremely cold-below -5-, be sure to let your faucet drip a little. The dripping will keep your pipes from freezing. If they freeze you’re looking at a bill that will be at least a couple million won, so just let it drip a bit.
Tip #5
Get a Polar Bear hat with mitten paw like attachment. They are so cute. I’ve even seen these in other animals like pigs, rabbits, and even Disney characters. You can find these all over the place and they make great gifts for people overseas. Buy one for yourself and buy another for a niece or cousin and mail them for Christmas. They’ll love it.
Tip #4
Eat a lot of Chiggae, Juk, and Guk! Korean stews and soups come boiling hot to the table and they are the best thing to warm you up from the inside. You’ll basically make your stomach a hot water heater. You know what they say, a Korean stew a day keeps the doctor away. (Actually, they don’t say that, but they should.) Kimchi Chiggae, Pumpkin Juk, and Kalguksu are my favorites.
Tip #3
Get a hand warmer. There are a variety of kinds. There are those that have the powdery things inside that get hot when they are exposed to the air. If you want something with a bit more use, you can get an electronic hand warmer/phone charger from your local electronic mart. I saw them going for about 40,000 won.
Tip #2
Make a girlfriend or boyfriend. Koreans hate to spend the winters alone. This might be the perfect opportunity to cash in on the winter blues to catch your that hottie you’ve had your eyes on.
Tip #1
And the Number 1 tip for surviving the Korean Winters is: Go eat Korean barbecue and wash it down with a bottle of soju. A Korean barbecue, with the charcoal burning in the center, is like having a campfire and a fireplace at the same time. Plus the liquor will cover you with a nice soju blanket. And be sure to get rice because then you’ll get complementary tengjang chiggae.
So those are your Korean tidbits for today if you follow these tips, I promise you’ll get through the fierce winters in one piece.
In Korea the winters get cold. I don’t know why but it must be something about this side of the world. I met a woman the other day and she was from Dubai. She had never experienced a winter before and I gave her a laundry list of tips for getting through the season. I talked to her on a Sunday and warned her, repeatedly, that the first really cold day was going to come soon, but she seemed to brush it off as the crazed rants of a lunatic.
Sure enough the next time I saw her, she looked like that kid from the movie the Christmas story. She had a big floppy hat with earmuffs, a huge jacket that looked like fur or something lining it, fuzzy boots, mittens, and a scarf that was easily a meter and a half long. This woman was petite and slim but now she looked like an oompa loompa.
She told me that she wished she took my warning before she experienced her first winter frost.
So I don’t know where you all come from but I wanted to give you a heads up about what you can expect this winter in Seoul. And don’t you be thinking you’ll be all right because you see a girl outside in a miniskirt. She’s cold. She’s really cold; she’s just Spartan.
Here are my top ten tips for surviving the Korean winters.
Tip #10
Long Underwear is your friend. Get several pairs because they’ll get you through the time you must spend waiting for the bus. Make sure they are thick. I recommend BYC.
Tip #9
Winter proof those windows. If those pesky mosquitoes can get into your house in summer, just imagine how much cold air gets in during the winter. Get 3M Winterizing tape at your local supermarket.
Tip #8
Pay your gas bill. Don’t put it off any longer, because they will shut it off. ‘nuff said.
Tip #7
Learn how to work your ondol! That little wall thing heats up your floor as well as your water. I don’t know if you have the same heating panel, but mine is a Rinnai. The dial to the left says “cha-on ì €”온 and “go-on ê³ ì˜¨.” The left side is low temperature and the right is high temperature. The center dial controls the heat. Here’s a poem for those that still can’t convert Fahrenheit to Celsius. “Zero is freezing 10 is not 20 is warm and 30 is hot.”
I find that 24 is good enough. NOW, very important on the right dial it will say “nanbang oansu 난방온수 and oansu chan young ì˜¨ìˆ˜ì „ìš©.” Just remember that bang “ë°©” is room, so it will heat the floor if the switch is to the left and just the room if the switch is to “oansu chan young ì˜¨ìˆ˜ì „ìš©.”
Ondols will maintain their temperature for a long time. When it gets really cold, it is better to sleep on the floor instead of the bed.
Tip #6
When the weather gets extremely cold-below -5-, be sure to let your faucet drip a little. The dripping will keep your pipes from freezing. If they freeze you’re looking at a bill that will be at least a couple million won, so just let it drip a bit.
Tip #5
Get a Polar Bear hat with mitten paw like attachment. They are so cute. I’ve even seen these in other animals like pigs, rabbits, and even Disney characters. You can find these all over the place and they make great gifts for people overseas. Buy one for yourself and buy another for a niece or cousin and mail them for Christmas. They’ll love it.
Tip #4
Eat a lot of Chiggae, Juk, and Guk! Korean stews and soups come boiling hot to the table and they are the best thing to warm you up from the inside. You’ll basically make your stomach a hot water heater. You know what they say, a Korean stew a day keeps the doctor away. (Actually, they don’t say that, but they should.) Kimchi Chiggae, Pumpkin Juk, and Kalguksu are my favorites.
Tip #3
Get a hand warmer. There are a variety of kinds. There are those that have the powdery things inside that get hot when they are exposed to the air. If you want something with a bit more use, you can get an electronic hand warmer/phone charger from your local electronic mart. I saw them going for about 40,000 won.
Tip #2
Make a girlfriend or boyfriend. Koreans hate to spend the winters alone. This might be the perfect opportunity to cash in on the winter blues to catch your that hottie you’ve had your eyes on.
Tip #1
And the Number 1 tip for surviving the Korean Winters is: Go eat Korean barbecue and wash it down with a bottle of soju. A Korean barbecue, with the charcoal burning in the center, is like having a campfire and a fireplace at the same time. Plus the liquor will cover you with a nice soju blanket. And be sure to get rice because then you’ll get complementary tengjang chiggae.
So those are your Korean tidbits for today if you follow these tips, I promise you’ll get through the fierce winters in one piece.
I am not a big fan of buffet. I have small appetite, so it's always waste of money. Only seeing the many dishes makes me feel full and I usually end up having a few desserts instead of main dishes.
When I stepped in the sea food buffet Muscus, I sighed. There were so many 'looks-so-delicious' sushi, rolls and sashimi. I knew that I could have only few of them. I would feel guilty to eat them all.
Thankfully, its sushi and rolls are in one bite sizes, so I could have few of them without being full of rice. The rolls, overall, are quite good and sushi is also very nice. A few of them are never seen in other restaurants.
The sashimi was little disappointing as buffets always does. It wasn't fresh enough and when it's not fresh, it has a fishy smell.
The sashimi was little disappointing as buffets always does. It wasn't fresh enough and when it's not fresh, it has a fishy smell.
The fried prawns were very crunch and newly fried- just perfect for tasting its full flavor. My other favorite was a crab meat with seasoned rice which was served in a crab shell.
Price was reasonable, 20,000 won for weekday lunch and 26,000 won for weekday dinner.
25,000 won for weekend lunch and 28,000 won for weekend dinner.
There are seven oulets in Seoul including the Yoido branch I visited. It was 7 mins walk from subway line 5 yoido station exit 5, bastment of allianz life building.
Here is a comment from my article on Korean Food in the Media. Here's the article:
here is a comment from Chunbum Park of the United States. I feel he is right on with his comments and I think Korean Tourism needs to change their strategy in how they market. Here's his comment
this is a great article, Daniel!
you forgot about the kimchi pizza craze back in 2006.
korean food desperately needs modernizing if it wants to survive or thrive in competition with japanese & thai food. japanese food is expensive b/c it was introduced to the west as a high culture product & americans view it as an art.
korean food is usually messy mix of bunch of stuffs. that needs to change. some food is very smelly or cause you nasty breaths. that needs to change.
some of the dishes are indistinguishable. once i went to korean restaurants several times in a row & i realized that i really got sick of korean food just b/c almost all the food i could order were spicy & they all tasted same to me. that is not to say that i don`t like korean food. i really appreciate its healthy attributes. i remember reading a chosun ilbo article (written in english) about korean food & read a japanese say something to the effect of "i thought korean food was all about being spicy... but after watching daejanggeum i realized that there were many other kinds of korean dishes & i became more interested, etc."
korean restaurants need to combine/merge/delete some of the dishes & introduce other food items onto the menu. for example, get rid of haemultang (spicy seafood soup) & merge it with soon-doo-boo-jji-gae (spicy soft tofu soup) to make haemul soondooboojjigae. it should re-introduce some of the korean dishes from the early chosun & koryo eras when there was no red pepper available (red pepper was introduced to korea around 1700s)
thats all for right now.
here is a comment from Chunbum Park of the United States. I feel he is right on with his comments and I think Korean Tourism needs to change their strategy in how they market. Here's his comment
this is a great article, Daniel!
you forgot about the kimchi pizza craze back in 2006.
korean food desperately needs modernizing if it wants to survive or thrive in competition with japanese & thai food. japanese food is expensive b/c it was introduced to the west as a high culture product & americans view it as an art.
korean food is usually messy mix of bunch of stuffs. that needs to change. some food is very smelly or cause you nasty breaths. that needs to change.
some of the dishes are indistinguishable. once i went to korean restaurants several times in a row & i realized that i really got sick of korean food just b/c almost all the food i could order were spicy & they all tasted same to me. that is not to say that i don`t like korean food. i really appreciate its healthy attributes. i remember reading a chosun ilbo article (written in english) about korean food & read a japanese say something to the effect of "i thought korean food was all about being spicy... but after watching daejanggeum i realized that there were many other kinds of korean dishes & i became more interested, etc."
korean restaurants need to combine/merge/delete some of the dishes & introduce other food items onto the menu. for example, get rid of haemultang (spicy seafood soup) & merge it with soon-doo-boo-jji-gae (spicy soft tofu soup) to make haemul soondooboojjigae. it should re-introduce some of the korean dishes from the early chosun & koryo eras when there was no red pepper available (red pepper was introduced to korea around 1700s)
thats all for right now.
CORN ICE CREAM!
So how did it taste? Sorta like soggy popcorn that fell on a pile of yellow snow.
Gross.
And here is a ginger- gochujang stir fry.
Dan
In
Evil Hubble
testing 1,2,3 So I'm learning how to modify my blog and this guy Scrapur has some great hints for adding functionality to blogger. Click the bottom below to get the link.
Here's the rest. This guy Scrapur is awesome.
Here it is!
30 Rock is one of my guilty pleasures. Liz Lemon is an emotional eater. She eats and eats and eats. One of my favorite episodes is season 2 episode 14 Sandwich Day. In this episode the studio gets magical sandwiches from the Teamsters and her colleagues eat hers. She throws a fit (it is an amazing scene where she threatens everyone with an Emmy and giant plastic fork). Her colleagues have to get her a new sandwich by winning a drinking contest against the Teamsters. Liz gets her sandwich, but she has to board a plane to chase down the man that she loves. She has to choose between boarding the plane and eating her sandwich.
Watch the episode^^
Dan
Chamomile Pudding from the 'Alinea' Cookbook
Here is a Donut Hamburger from Donna's Donuts. It's got a chocolate dipped apple fritter like patty. It's a heart attack on a donut bun. Here's a close up.
via A Hamburger a Day
Visitseoul.net has my hamburger review on their website. You can see the top 10 here.
Be sure to leave a comment^^
Dan
Be sure to leave a comment^^
Dan
Indian Buffet= Good Eats.
This is a good curry place that has a wide selection of food and nice service. The weekend buffet is a great deal. For 14,000 you can eat for hours. It starts at 12pm and finishes at 10:30 PM! Also they have 50% off on wine and beer.
They also have great sets for families and couples.
I judge a restaurant based on their palak paneer and it is very good here.
They have locations in Itaewon, Hannam, Songtan, Nohyun, and Suwon. 02-796-2255. reservations@chakraa.co.kr
Here's a link to their site.
Via Mypapercrane.com
These pictures are from Heidi Krane who has many amazing shots of food, toys, and art on her site. You should definitely check it out!
Dan
Kraut and Beer Fudge Cake via The Barefoot Witch
Pumpkin Muffin via And then I do the Dishes
Thanks Photograzing
