Seoul Eats

I went to Balwoo the other day for lunch and I'll be writing more about it soon. Sorry, but with my schedule, there isn't a lot of time left for blogging. Here's a taste: Balwoo 02.2031.2081 Website: http://www.baru.or.kr 110-170 서울시 종로구 견지동 71번지 템플스테ㅣ 5층 71 Gyeonji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-170 Directions: Near Anguk and Jonggak Stations, across from the big Jogyesa Temple in the Temple Stay Building, 5th floor. Balwoo Korean Temple Cuisine: Dodeok Salad with Citron Dressing Balwoo Korean Temple Cuisine: Corn Porridge Balwoo Korean Temple Cuisine:Black Rice Jeon, Nokdu Jeon, Gochujang Jeon Balwoo Korean Temple Cuisine: Mandu, Ssam, and Tofu Balwoo Korean Temple Cuisine: Shitake Tempura in a sour/sweet/spicy sauce

I was recently able to interview Chef Paul Schenks of the the InterContinental Hotels in Korea and he talked about all the amazing food in Korea from Beluga Caviar, Hallabong Oranges, Yuza, and catching wild salmon with his bare hands. By Paul Schenks Paul Schenks is the Food and Beverage Director for the InterContinental Hotels in Seoul, Korea. Originally from Australia, he has been in Korea for 6 years. He is an active member of the Les Toques Blanc: Korea's International Chef's association and he was the star and chef of the Korean cooking show, "Korea Confidental." See more pictures and the map at Koreataste.org  Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

Vegetable Steamed Bread from JSP in Jongno 3-ga Jongno is great for streetfood and in winter there is nothing better. My favorite snacks are the veggie steamed bread from JSP. They come out of the steamer hot and they put it in a plastic bag. What I like to do is to keep the bread in the bag and hold the bread in my bare hands- the hot bun works better than those hand heater things(and they are environmentally friendly). The other things that JSP have are steamed bread with red bean and pork or kimchi dumplings. Directions: Jongno 5-ga exit five (subways 3 or 5) Vegetable Steamed Bread from JSP in Jongno 3-ga

I am on a journalist tour in Chuncheon and here we are playing Baskin Robbins 31 drinking game. You go around in a circle calling out numbers and if you are caught with the number 31, you have to drink. The person leading the charge is Norman, a university student in Chuncheon. I love the drinking song he has at the end. It translates to "Drink, Drink, Flowing so Smoothly inside me, Flowing so smoothly inside me."   You can see more of my food and fun videos on my youtube Channel: Delawheresdan Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

Sandang Today I am on a press tour and we are at Sandang for lunch. More pictures to follow.  Dan Sandang in Yangpyeon: 031-772-3959

Korean Raw Beef or Yukhwae (육회)is amazing. The meat is not aged, so it has a fresh taste to it and it is often mixed with slivers of Asian white pear. The juices of the pear help to tenderize the meat and add flavor. The meat is topped with a fresh egg yolk and this is mixed in before eating. The creaminess of the yolk adds to the freshness of the beef. The meat can be dipped in a roasted sesame sauce and salt mixture or with red chili paste and with raw garlic. It is a taste experience like no other and I recommend you try it. The best place to get it is at the Yukhwae Alley in Kwangjang Market.  Korean Raw Beef topped with Egg Yolk  Korean Raw Beef topped with Egg Yolk

I know...not food related, but this sounds sorta serious: This is from the BBC. 'Artillery fire' on Korea border North Korea has fired artillery shells across its western maritime border, prompting return fire from South Korea, reports say.  Some of the shells landed on a South Korean island, witnesses say. A television station said some houses on the island were on fire, and Yonhap news agency said that four South Korean soldiers had been hurt. South Korea has issued its highest non-wartime alert in response to the incident, the defence ministry said. The incident comes days after North Korea revealed it had a modern uranium enrichment plant. Earlier, the US ruled out more denuclearisation talks while Pyongyang continued to work on the facility. 'Illegal firing'  South Korean officials said several rounds of artillery landed on Yeonpyeong island, near the disputed inter-Korean maritime border to the west of the Korean Peninsula. "A North Korean ...

A Taste of Korea: Korean Food Gift Sets When we were approached by KTO to develop prizes for the Koreataste.org Blogging Contest , we were ecstatic. We thought this was a way to show the beauty of Korean culture and cuisine though an physical gift. We wanted to give something that showed off Korean craftsmanship and ingredients because there are things in Korea that can't be found in other parts of the world. These are test shots of the prizes that we have participants for the blogging contest and they are gifts for VIP visitors to Korea. On the top of the box, the hangul, 손맛, literally means "hand taste," but the idea is that the hands can enhance the flavor of a dish. The hands are also the most sensitive instruments for cooking and Korean master chefs can distinguish a taste simply by the texture and feel. It's a skill that requires countless years of experience. Also inside the box, we have wrapped unique Korean ingredients in Korean traditional cloth a...

It's an intriguing idea. I wonder if other people have thought about it? Pieman in Korea , a baker and pastry chef down in Busan has been blogging his creations for a while. I have been following his stuff for awhile and I admire his creativity. Now this Frankenstein bread might be start of something new in the realm of baking. Dan Kimchi powered bread...kind of. I love sourdough bread... So much so that it was one of the first breads I introduced to our bakers. But for sourdough bread you need a starter. In the past I've used grape based and raw cabbage based starters. It's basically the natural white powdery yeast that cover grapes and cabbage leaves once used to consuming flour they go bananas and excrete lactic acid and CO2 which give the sourdough the tang and lift. So it was actually about a year ago while eating some very mature and sour shin kimchi that I thought if I can capture the yeast and eliminate the chili/garlic taste it would make the best starter...

McDonald's Quarter Pounder at the Itaewon McDonalds It has been a foodie's weekend. After this weekend, I have to do a lot of exercise, because I went way over my recommended caloric intake for about a week. Friday was dinner at Chez Simon: Fresh Oyster, Pumpkin Soup, Mushroom Pasta, Steak, Creme Brulee, with red wine and espresso Saturday: Early Morning Fish Market Tour so I had flounder sashimi at 9am. Then I ran back to the cooking studio to help with the Warmth: Vegetarian Thanksgiving organized by Jessica and Ryan. Great event. The menu was: Salad, Sweet Potato Latkes with persimmon chutney, Pumpkin Risotto, and gingersnap cookies. That evening I had makgeolli and tofu and kimchi with a friend. Sunday : For breakfast I had kimchi chiggae sans rice. Lunch, as part of a story to find the best steak in Seoul (any recommendations?) I went to Sam Ryan's for a Ribeye Steak and to try their "Tour" breakfast with a New York Strip. Sam Ryan has good steak and ...

Red Wine at Chez Simon in Seoul, Korea Friday Night, I went back to one of my favorite French Restaurants in Seoul, Chez Simon. It was a good experience. The waitstaff was nice, the atmosphere was comfortable, and the food...well, familiar. It was good, but it was the same meal that I had at my previous visit (about 2 months ago). Plus, since it was prefixed, we couldn't change it, I felt a bit disappointed. Chez Simon, was famous for having changing menus that utilized local, seasonal ingredients. There were some elements of this: fresh oysters topped with pear, peppers, and lemon and pumpkin soup whipped into a foam. The steak was just as it was before: cooked perfectly and with a minor flourish: a thin stalk of asparagus wrapped with bacon. The pasta was nice with the oyster mushrooms and roasted cloves of garlic, but...it didn't blow me away. The creme brulee, was excellent as before as well with its specks of vanilla, but it was what I had before. I wish the chef ...

Here is a very interesting question and one that I think requires some thought. I know that there are Kosher restaurants in Seoul, but not too many. Also, some of the restaurants such as Indian Restaurants that you would think would be kosher, sometimes are not. Does anyone have any recommendations? Here's the Letter: Mr. Gray: A friend of mine, who is Jewish and Orthodox, will be visiting Seoul on business.  I heard some time ago that a Kosher restaurant had opened in downtown Seoul, but I have not been able to find any description of it online.  Do you know if such a restaurant exists, and if so if it is worth recommending? Sincerely, Joseph Dear Joseph, I know that Sultan Kebab and Petra's in Itaewon are kosher. Dubai and Arabia are kosher as well. I recommend Sultan, Petra's and Dubai. Now, one of my favorite places are the Nepalese places such as Everest and Durgas. Besides that I would recommend the vegetarian places and fish places. Balwoo in In...

I love my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera. It's lighter, more compact than my Canon 500D and I love the colors that it gets. I'm still getting used to the controls, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I find it best if I shoot in Manual Mode. Yesterday, I bought the 20mm 1.7 lense because, even though I like the option of adding my 35mm Canon F2 lens, it is hard to get fine focus because it doesn't autofocus.The 20mm lens is brighter and faster than the 35mm and works pretty well at night. Here are some of my new shots. Dan Street food in Seoul taken with Panasonic 20mm 1.7 lens Sassy Street Food Cart Gal taken with Panasonic 20mm 1.7 lens JJokki JJokki Sign. I love the color from the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 lens

I got this tip from from Austin and I want to go eat it. I've got a tasty tip---At the Seokchon station stop on the pink line- if you go out,,,exit 3 i think- anyways its across from a mister donut and next to a clothing store- the colors are orange and blue on the sign- its a mandu place--i think it translates to 'illustrious house of mandu' (no shit!) and they servce---get ... this---CHEESY MANDU- and its no gimmick- its the best mandu i have ever eaten- a bit porky, buttery, cheesy- amazing- fried or steamed! Austin, thanks for the tip. Cheers, Dan

Food stylists live tortured lives. They have to make delicious looking food and then wait as photographers click shot after shot after shot. The food gets cold and it loses the vibrancy it once had to the camera. And on top of that, the food (something i just learned) is often not seasoned for it often clouds the broth. Over the weekend, I helped with a food styling shoot and it made me want to eat Mushroom Hot Pot all week (Bosot Jeongol). My friend and business partner, Jia, did the cooking and I washed dishes and wrote down the recipe. The shoot was done at Elysian Ski Resort in Gangchon, which is a beautiful place. I'm going to have to go back there one day. Mushroom Hotpot: Shitake, Oyster, Pine Mushrooms, and Enoki Mushrooms Table Setting (we had to later iron the table settings) Jia at work Mushroom Hot Pot Rice Topped with Lemon Blanched Clams

Samgyeopsal Inception from PlanetCerritosBlog on Vimeo . The Korea Taste Blogging Contest is really taking off one of my favorites is Planet Cerrito who has been teasing this Samgyeopsal Inception video for weeks. It has finally arrived and it is awesome. Help Planet Cerrito by voting for him on his post (the winner will get a culinary vacation to Korea). All you have to do is go HERE and click on the thumbs up. Be sure to check out all the blogger blog posts on Koreataste.org. Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

Here is the dakgalbi (Spicy Chicken Barbecue.) Dear Seoul Eats Readers, I am happy to announce that O'ngo Culinary School is offering weekend special classes for expats for only 55,000 won and 50,000 if you wire the money in advance. This weekend (November 20, 2010), O'ngo Culinary School is having a dakgalbi cooking class this Saturday at our studio in Insadong at 10am. We'll be making dakgalbi, bean sprout soup, and a vegetable side dish. We have 5 spots left for the class. The cost of food and tour are included in the class. All classes are taught in English (not translated) by a Korean chef. Also at 2pm, there will be a vegetarian thanksgiving celebration dinner party. Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

Dear Seoul Eats Readers, You can't just eat all the time, right? I wanted to let you know about some events in Seoul. Some have to do with food and wine. It's a great way to get to meet other foodies in the community. Seoul Players will be presenting Wintertime by Charles Mee at Roofers in Itaewon from November 26th to December 12th. They always do a great production, so I am definitely looking forward to it. My friend Benjamin Joineau of Le Saint-Ex in Itaewon will be celebrating his 10 year reunion. He is the person that started the whole Itaewon restaurant trend and I'm glad to hear he has been successful. He is having his anniversary party on December 1st and there will be cooking classes and cheese (mmmm...cheese) tastings this month as well. Click Read More, See More to see the complete details. Another French friend, Thomas Scheidt from World Vine will be having their Harvest celebration on Saturday, November 27th. Finally, my culinary school, O'ngo F...

The blogging contest is heating up over at Koreataste.org. When we started the contest on September 5th, there were only 7 people blogging on the site, but now there are close to 200 participants. There are 258 blog posts (as of November 17, 2010). There are even some people making videos! Here's a trailer for Samgyeopsal! Samgyeopsal Trailer 2 from PlanetCerritosBlog on Vimeo . You can see the full Samgyeopsal Inception Movie on the 18th here: http://www.koreataste.org/lang/en/category/en/blogging-en/ Some other great posts I've notice are: Feels Good to be Gangsta: Adventures in eating raw oysters with pork belly. College Entrance Exams: A Day of Rice Cakes and Candy Hanyang Shopping for your Korean convenience The Bulgogi Bully Vs Etiquette Equation And much more. You should go over and vote for your favorite posts because the winner will be flown to Seoul for a culinary vacation! Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofoo...

Dear Seoul Eats Readers, These days numbers are up and so are comments, so I wanted to invite everyone to share where they ate over the weekend. Let us know the skinny: was it good, bad, mediocre? Share so we all know. As for me, on Saturday, I made Chicken Kalguksu for breakfast (just a taste, because I had to help with a cooking class). For lunch I had Korean tuna sushi rolls at a place in Insadong (I don't remember the name but it was down the alley across from McDonalds). The place was good and I'll be posting a video about it soon. Sunday was very interesting. I was writing the recipe for Mushroom Hot Pot for a food stylist and helped clean and prep. That evening we stopped at a road stop to have rich soybean stew (doenjang chiggae). All in all, a very Korean food weekend. Let us know where you ate in the comments! Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

I love the Frypan. I love the style of the restaurant, the crisp chicken that is well seasoned and the freshly grilled potato chips they serve the chicken on. The only think I don't like is that I can't get pitchers of beer and it is a tad expensive. The chicken is crisp and well seasoned- like awesome KFC before the colonel sold out and added MSG to his secret original recipe. The chicken is also crisp and the breading is more southern than the crackling Korean style chicken you often fine. It's good chicken. the Frypan: Fried Chicken and Beer the Frypan: Fried Chicken and Beer: Cool Style, but when I was in there they were ready for Christmas the Frypan: Fried Chicken and Beer's Fleet of Chips topped with Crisp Chicken But I'll tell you what, it's a place that I love to go to because often its like the 3rd round or something and you don't want to have a lot of food, but since you have to order food with your drinks in Korea, shouldn't you...

Pet Peeve: going to a restaurant thinking you're going to get one thing, but it can't be found on the menu. This is exactly the case at Fish N' Grill. You would think from the name that it would be something like Surf N' Turf or they might have grilled fish or grilled meat and sushi. I would think it would have SOMETHING Grilled and SOMETHING FISH! Well this is what our appetizer was: WTF: Patbingsu at Fish And Grill And Chicken Wing Tteokbokki topped with Cheese and WTF: Waffles topped with Strawberry Syrup I would normally say, restaurant owners: WTF, but in Korea it seems to work. It seems to work very well. Bloated menus with thousands of items and little novelty things like PATBINGU and WAFFLES WITH STRAWBERRY SYRUP seems to work. Especially in a college town (This Fish and Grill was in Gyeongju's Seonggun-dong), but all I have to say is WTF. Next time, I will insist on picking the restaurant, because here it was quite bleh. We didn't go for t...

Here is a letter I recently recieved: Hi Dan, I'm heading to Seoul with 3 of my friends at the end of the year and need some suggestions for good food. My friends are pretty psyched about eating good authentic Korean food and have been counting on me to bring them around. Although it's gonna be my 3rd time in Seoul, it's not like I know where all the good food are. So, could you like recommend any places to try good Korean food like samgyetang, jjajjangmyeon, bibbimbap etc and street food? Since my friends and I are still in college, it'll be great if the food is affordable or cheap too haha. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! Regards, Shazleen Singapore Dear Shazleen, For good cheap food, I recommend going to Kwangchang Market . They have lots of food stalls the food is very good- especially the Kalguksu and the Metdol Bindaetteok. For Samgyetang , I like going to Kuryeo Samgyetang- but this is a bit expensive at 15,000 a pers...

Yesterday was Pepero Day and I think you must all be coming down from the sugar highs of cookie sticks dipped in chocolate. I just noticed my buddies' Pepero Day and it is hilarious! Check it out! Check out more great videos over at Eatyourkimchi.com Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

On November 13th, we are having another expat special cooking class. Since the weather is getting cold, Chicken Noodle Soup is just perfect to beat the chill and just what the doctor ordered. In Korea, it's difficult to get your classic chicken noodle soup, but Korea has an excellent variation: knife-cut chicken noodle soup. You get silky knife cut noodles in a rich chicken broth. During the class, Chef Hyejin will teach you how to make the noodles, the soup, and and a fresh turnip kimchi to go with the dish. On the weekends we have an Expat Special so the class costs 55,000 won and you can get a 5,000 won discount by sending your money by bank transfer early. Be sure to RSVP by e-mailing Daniel Gray at ongofood@ongofood.com Come join Korea's exciting and fun food community. O'ngo Food Communications www.ongofood.com If you would like to send payment in advance you can send us a bank transfer at Woori Bank 1005-480-990616    (Choi Jia, O'ngo Food Communicat...

G20 Seoul Summit 2010 The G20 Global Summit puts Seoul on the world stage. Now even though each country's delegates are all coming her for a specific purpose, there is one thing that unites them all: they all have to eat. Here is a list of of some of my recommendations for people if they would like to eat their way around Seoul. Recommended Korean Restaurants in Seoul This restaurant list has general directions and phone numbers because addresses are hard to find in Seoul. It is often best to ask people where the restaurant is (Rest-au-rant O-diseyo?), have a guide call the place, or call the place to help you.   This is a common thing in Korea so don’t feel embarrassed.   If you are taking a taxi call the place and point to this: 이 번호로 전화하고 여기로 가주세요. (Ee bon-ho-ro chonhwa-hago yogi-ro kajuseyo.) The hot regions for dining depend on the region, the history, and the economics of each area. To the Northwest of Seoul, you can find Hongdae, which has Korea’s most famous Art’s Un...

Were you ever annoyed by bad English on Korean menus? You can change things by becoming a translator. My company, O'ngo Food Communications is heading the project by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to change that. You should be native or have a very strong grasp of Korean to apply and have excellent English writing skills. Oh, and you should know a lot about Korean food. Korean Food Dictionary Job: Korean to English Translator Career Level: Entry Level Job Status: Part-time Degree Level: Currently attending University or a graduate Pay: Depending on experience Location: Seoul Starting Date: ASAP Company: O'ngo Food Communications www.ongofood.com Job Description: Translate Korean food names and descriptions into English Contact: Ranie Lee ranie.lee@gmail.com             O'ngo Food Communications is looking for Korean to English Translators to work on a Korean menu development project. The translated items will go in...