Seoul Eats

Sculpture by Takashi Murakami The Leeum is one of the most excellent art museums in the world with eclectic architecture and a collection of art that pushes the imagination in new directions. They have an excellent Korean collection that shows off excellent pieces of pottery, sculpture, and paintings. A walk through their Korean collections gives an insight to the Korean collective. Their modern western collection is also top notch with pieces from Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothk, and Yoshimoto Nara. There is also the breathtaking spider sculpture outside called Maman by Louise Bourgeois. Be sure to check it out. http://leeum.samsungfoundation.org/eng/aboutleeum/message.asp Spire Downward Spire Porcelain Maman

Chuncheon Dakgalbi I got a request for a Dakgalbi Recipe today, so I asked Chef Hyejin to send me her recipe and here it is.  This dish originated in Chuncheon which is located in the northern part of South Korea. The city is famous for chicken and it was the place that most chicken farms were originally located. This was originally a dish enjoyed by college students because it was a lot of food that was delicious and cheap. The chicken and vegetables are cooked in a large pan in the center of the table. In Chuncheon there are many many Dakgalbi restaurants. After eating the Dakgalbi, the left over sauce is often mixed into rice and then stir-fried with roasted laver in the center of the table. Different Variations of the dish include Pumpkin, Sweet potato, Perilla Leaves, and chewy rice cake. Foreigners love this dish because they prefer chicken to pork or beef. Also, it's fun and interactive to eat. It's like hot wings but cooked in a pan right in front of you! Re

Our next cooking class on March 5th is Kimchi and Bulgogi. If you love these two dishes and would love to learn how to make them, then this is your chance. It’s a great way to learn Korean cuisine and meet other foodies. You’ll learn Korean favorites such as Daktoritang, Bibimbap, Japchae, and Sundubu throughout the 2 month course. You’ll get a deep understanding of the culture and the techniques of Korean cuisine from our award winning chefs. First, you’ll see a demonstration from the chef, then you’ll have a chance to make your own, and then you’ll get to eat what you made. March 5th: Kimchi and Bulgogi March 12th: at 10am: Vegan Kimchi Class for the Seoul Veggie Club 3pm:Daktoritang and Vegetable Side Dishes March 19th: Dolsot Bibimbap and Bean Sprout Soup April 2nd: Banchan (Korean Side Dish) Class April 9th: Mandu and Bibimguksu April 16th: Sundubu and Seafood Pancake The classes will be offered in English at 11am. You can sign up for 1 or all of the classes. There are 3 clas

Dessert Destruction at Le Saint Ex. Seoul Le Saint Ex is a mainstay in the Seoul Restaurant scene for they always have a consistent product while innovating. They were one of the first in the city to do brunch and to offer a daily, seasonal, gourmet lunch set. I believe that many of those 20,000 won lunch sets you see around the city with entree, a salad, coffee and dessert got their idea from this restaurant. The owner Benjamin Joineau loves Korea and he has written books on the restaurant scene and learned how to make many of dishes. He has a farm outside of the city where he grows many of the ingredients for his restaurant and where he experiments with making Korean jangs such as soy sauce, red chili paste and doenjang. Anyway, the other night I was with my ex-student and I wanted to show her cosmopolitan Seoul because she lives in Gyeong Ju. She was one of my first and favorite students. Now she is studying to become doctor. Here we are at Le Saint Ex destroying his desser

Lamb Chili Sandwich from Casablanca I spent the day in search of the perfect sandwich and by nightfall, I had found it. One of the newest additions to Haebangchon is Casablanca. It has vampire hours for it opens at 5pm and closes at 9:30ish. They only do takeout for their most valued guests and, and, and ... all of this is moot for the sandwiches are delicious. If Chef Wahid said that I would have to hold my breath for 3 minutes while he stuck my hand in a tank with piranas, I...might actually do it. The lamb chili sandwich I had for dinner was a delicious. Flavorful ground lamb that melded with mouthfuls of potato, refreshing pops of lentil and chick peas, and a cool acidic dollop of yogurt. The bread was plush and the crunch of pickle and lettuce made this a sandwich to remember. I think I'll go back there tomorrow to see what else I can try. Dan Casablanca in Haebangchon Casablanca in Haebanchon Chef Wahid

In restaurants when you fire a dish, it means that you are to start cooking the dish for service. There is no way that one can cook a dish from scratch so the food is kept in a suspended state before it is heated just before it arrives at the table. When you pre-fire the dish this is when you set the plates and garnish plates before the waiter gives the cue to fire the dishes. To orchestrate the perfect meal takes timing. The chef and the service must be in cue. Everything should be planned out so that wine flows freely and the conversation never stalls. The service should be invisible. A couple weeks ago, our company was asked to do an off-site catering event and these are some of the pictures that I took. Cheers, Dan Table Setting Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart Cream of Tomato Soup Chef Hye-jin in the state of pre-fire School of Salmon Dessert We would like to thank Suji's Restaurant for providing the cheesecake for dessert.

Basil Cream Croquette at Fingerfood Bar A croquette is the French deep fried pasty that is often filled with a bit of meat or fish and potatoes. The outside is crispy with nice bread crumbs and the filling is usually greasy spoon goodness. When I first came to Korea these were my go-to dishes because I worked at an academy and I would often have 10 minutes between classes to grab a snack dinner. The flavors varied but it could be kimchi and pork, spicy chicken, and curry. Now the curry ones were often the yellow packaged curry mix that has a slight semblance to real stuff mixed with a ton of MSG. I got tired of them pretty fast and I never looked back. Well, that was until I discovered Fingerfood Bar  (길모통이 칠리차차) near the backside of Hongdae (out Hapjeong Station Exit 5). The ajumma that runs the place is a little quirky and sassy. When we asked her if her basil and cream croquette was good she answered, "Of course. Everything I make is good." Finally, someone gives a d

Espresso and Scone at Cup and Bowl Cup and Bowl Across and up the hill from Itaewon's McDonalds 070-4190-3642

Straw Around a Trunk

This Saturday at Cafe The Air, I started to really take a look at my Hoegaarden bottle and decided to take pictures of it using different presets built into my Panasonic DMC G-2 Camera. I also used my macro close-up lenses to really get up close to the bottle. Here are some of my shots. Cheers, Dan Monochrome Elegant Pure Close-up Dynamic Art

This weekend I had a bit of a day off on Saturday so I headed up to the Hongdae Area near Hapjeong with my friends to take photographs and eat food. The places I checked out were: Cafe The Air, The Fingerfood Bar, and Le Four. Pics and directions are coming soon. On Sunday I had 2 food tours, so I ate mostly Korean food all day. Good weekend and good eats. How about your guys? Any recommendations? Cheers, Dan Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Pictures are taken either with my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera with 20mm Lens or with my iPhone 4G Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the latest events.

It's going to be at the same place as last year at Dublin Terrace in Gangnam on March 19, 2011 starting at 1pm. According to Seoulite it is going to be hosted by the Irish Association of Korea. No time for the party yet, but I think last year it opened around 5pm. It was a raucous party and lots of food and beer. My group and I got there early so the line wasn't too long. The Irish Parade is going to start at 1pm at Cheonggyecheon Place   UPDATE: It has been moved to Insadong! According to 10 Magazine it will be from 11:30-5:30. Directions are here: To get to the festival in Insadong take a subway to Anguk Station on line 3. Leave by exit six and take the first left down Insadong-gil. Daesung Plaza, venue for the event is about one hundred metres down, but don’t worry the music and banners will keep you from getting lost. (Map and more info here:  http://www.meetup.com/Seoulite/events/16599145/ ) At this 11th Annual St. Patrick's Day Festival there will be: -Guin

You can subscribe to my youtube channer at Delawhere's Dan :  http://www.youtube.com/user/delawheresdan I am at Chugun Nakji in Seoul and we are eating live roasted octopus. It's over by Insadong down the alley across from McDonalds to the right. It's spicy and delicious! Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Pictures are taken either with my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera with 20mm Lens or with my iPhone 4G Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the latest events.

Finally, restaurant owners in Korea are starting to understand the power of the internet. Just recently, two restaurants in the Itaewon have invited power video bloggers to do videos on their restaurants. The first is from my good friend Steve Miller of Qi Ranger interviewing Suji Park and orgastically eating a sandwich. The second is Simon and Martina of the quirky, popular blog Eatyourkimch i doing a video on The Wolfhound Pub. I think they both did an excellent job on their videos and they definitely make me feel hungry. Wayne owner of the Wolfhound sent me an e-mail saying that he was surprised about how popular the video had become and Suji's Video has a number of positive comments about the food. Here are their videos. Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Pictures are taken either with my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera with 20mm Lens or with my iPhone 4G Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the la

Chef Angelo's Bibimbap Burger at Social Eatz in NYC I saw this on my newsfeed on Facebook and I was just like woah. I had watched chef Angelo  Sosa on Top Chef and I heard about his new restaurant Social Eatz. At first I was like...interesting name. Now I know that he is bringing his A-game. Look how scrumptious this burger looks and its shocking no one has thought of it earlier. Yum. Check out Chef Angelo at http://www.angelososa.com Thanks Bobby Kwak for the tip. Cheers, Dan Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Pictures are taken either with my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera with 20mm Lens or with my iPhone 4G Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the latest events.

So...I'm trying to diet because I have gained a bit of a pot belly in the last year or so, but when you are around so many delicious foods, it's a bit hard to do. Here is a round up of some of the good eats that I have found. 1) Roasted Live Octopus at Chungun Nakji 02-734-1366 2) Narcotic Kimbap at Kwangjang Market 3) Lamb and Onion Pastry at the Uzbek Bakery 02-2277-9211 4)  Hakatabunkko Ramen  5) Korean Tempura and Tteokbokki at Sak  6) Desserts at Aa Design Museum                                         1 3 4 5 5 5 6