Quick Bites: The Spicy Edition in Seoul Magazine


Quick Bites: The Spicy Edition
Seoul... digested? A selection of fiery dishes that will lead you into the depths of Mordor
Written by Daniel Gray

A Bowl of Spicy Noodles at Suanla
Beodulgol Yeeyagi: Spicy seafood tteokbokki in Itaewon
Sometimes you need a big, hulking vat of chewy rice cakes, fresh shellfish, octopus and fishcakes doused in spicy sauce. My favorite place to get it is at Beodulgol Yeeyagi in Itaewon. The kitschy walls covered in notes, the hip staff with a flair for good music, and the awesomely, spicy food will leave your lips aflame. The spicy baby octopus is darn good as well. You’ll need the white, soft noodles to cool down your gums when eating here. Be sure to bring some milk or some antacids.
Spice Meter (4 out of 5 Chilies)
T. (02) 797-0167
Getting there: Itaewon Station, Line 6, Exit 4. Make a U-turn, then turn right. At the first street at Chef Meili’s make a right and walk to the bottom of the hill. You’ll see a tent outside.
 
Read the rest over at Seoul Selection's Website: http://www.seoulselection.com/seoul/?p=3613



Suanla CLOSED
Kim Seong-Heon didn’t just make a spicy, Szechuan noodle bar—he made an authentic one. He studied the art of making spicy soup in China before coming back and opening up his noodle bar in Hongdae near the famous Prince Edward “Su” noraebang. The signature dish, suanla noodles, has glass potato noodles and bean sprouts in a spicy, star anise broth studded with ground pork and roasted peanuts. The addition of the sour, aged, black vinegar gives this dish a complex note. I commend the chef for staying real.
Spice Meter (3 out of 5 Chilies)
T. 070-4095-9363
Getting there: Hongdae Station, Lines 2 and Arex, Exit 9. Turn left. At the main road, turn right and go up the hill towards the Hongdae University main gate. At that corner make a right and go up the hill towards Hongdae park and when you get to the corner where you see Prince Edward “Su” noraebang make a left. You’ll see it in the half-basement.


Dong-in Dong: Your stomach will hate you the next morning but…
Daegu is famous for a few things: apples, pretty girls and Dongin-dong Style Spicy Garlic Braised Beef (maeun galbijjim). Of course, you might not be able to make the 3.5 hour trip there, but there is a good substitute over by Sinsa Station. I must warn you: this dish is hot. It’ll leave a ring of fire around your… mouth, and you’ll have to eat bowl after bowl of rice (while using the grains to sop up all the deliciously spicy garlic sauce.) Also, there is so much garlic in this dish that your breath will be able to keep Dracula off the entire Korean Peninsula. Like I said, it’s all about the sauce and if you have any left over at the end of the meal, I recommend you have the spicy fried rice. Oh, and you can’t go wrong with the pork pancakes.
Spice Meter (5 out of 5 Chilies)
T. (02) 516-5765
Getting there: Sinsa Station, Line 3, Exit 6. Make a right at Bean’s Bin Cafe. Dong-in Dong is about two blocks down on the right. There is usually a 20-minute wait.

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.

Popular posts from this blog

5 of the Best Jajangmyeon 짜장면 in the City of Seoul, Korea

Image
The Best Jajamyeon in Seoul by Daniel Gray Jajangmyeon 짜장면: Korea's favorite hand pulled noodles in an black sauce is also a favorite dish of mine. It's so famous they even have a holiday for it. It's filling and hearty like a bowl of spaghetti but with Asian flair. It's one of those dishes that you can get whenever you need a quick meal and it doesn't break the wallet. It's a pretty ubiquitous dish and every Chinese restaurant must have it. If it does it well, the place becomes famous. If it is just alright, it is just a meal and gets classed in with all of the other places in the city. I can't say I have had any seriously terrible jajangmyeons except maybe some delivery places (where the noodles are overcooked and terribly clumped together so it takes like 10 minutes to get the sauce mixed into it) but even then it is still edible. With the noodles, I love to get fried dumplings and a place is good fried dumplings or some other sides like tangsuyok
Read More, See More >>

Calories in Soju and other things I Know about Korea's Famous Swill

Image
Just in case you were wondering, one bottle of Soju contains 540 calories. That's like 4 beers. So to put it in perspective, you would need to walk about two hours to exercise it off. (Walking two hours with a soju hangover is not an easy task.) Soju originally was made from rice but whenever there were rice shortages, people were forbidden to make Soju. Alcohol producers the started to use sweet potatoes and tapioca to make an ethanol based alcohol. Overtime they doctored up the taste so it has a smooth, crisp taste that goes great with raw seafood and grilled meats. The world drinks a lot of Soju. 61.38 Million cases of soju were produced in 2012 with Korea consuming about 2.75 billion bottles of Soju a year. You would think that everyone would be falling over drunk in Korea, but this is not the case. The alcohol is only about 17-19% so a bottle won't wreck you (but two or more might.) Koreans judge how good of a drinker you are by the number of bottles o
Read More, See More >>

5 of the Best Gamjatang Restaurants in Seoul: Korean Potato and Pork Stew

Image
Seobu Gamja-guk One of the dishes that came out of necessity is gamja-tang or pork-bone potato stew. This dish has its origins from the Incheon dock area where laborers that were working in the construction wanted to have a cheap and hearty food after a long day of work. The soup consists of pork spine that is slowly cooked with potatoes and topped with sesame leaves. The result is a satisfying dish that goes great with a bowl of hot rice. This was often cooked throughout the day and then eaten at the end of the work day. This dish goes perfectly with a chilled shot of Korean soju. After the first train line was built that would connect the Incheon area with Seoul, one entrepreneur decided that he wanted to make a restaurant focused on this dish. The first restaurant of this type was built near Noryangjin station, which was near the end of the han river railway construction. The dish became a big hit and soon many copycat restaurants started popping up all over Korea. The name gam
Read More, See More >>