Seoul Eats

CT Bakery Fresh Roasted Coffee Big, I mean Big cookies CT Bakery This multi-function space does a little bit of everything. They daily roast their own coffee, they bake bread, they offer lunch, they have wine and beer, they cook some food, a reading room, and a gallery space full of designer furniture and antiques. It is a big place with multilevel. There is indoor and outdoor seating along with a terrace and a basement you can go to sit and relax. At CT Bakery, the coffee roasters are skilled in their craft so you can always get a good cup of coffee. They roast a variety of beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, Peru and other parts of the world. They offer hand-drip, espresso-style drinks, and even Dutch Coffee. The bakery churns out a variety of cakes and breads. They are most famous for their giant “Big Cookies” which is almost a meal by itself. This is also one of the only places outside of the hotels that you can get a brunch on Saturday or Sunday. You can also get sandwiches o

China Feng D-Cube City is a gorgeous mall and I was lucky enough to have been given a private tour of all of the facilities by the president of the Daesang Group, Mr. Cha. The department store is a full department store that has many high-quality restaurants, food courts, a 5-star hotel, and a new apartment complex. There is even Pororo park which features the lovable Penguin that is a hit with kids. There is something for everyone at D-Cube City. You'll find shops like Uniqlo, Zara, Adidas, A-shop (the Apple Computer Store) and Guess. You'll also find restaurants like Mist, Chabuya, Vapiano, Paul Bassette Cafe, Setagaya,   and several food courts including China Feng- a Shanghai themed restaurant, Korea food street, and a World Food court. The complex has a naturalist theme with fresh foliage and waterfalls all around the mall including several parks you can walk around. We went to Byeonyangsu restaurant for dinner in a private room in a hanok where we enjoyed a K

Chef Hyejin If you don't like salmon then you should leave my blog. Please just go, I don't care who you might be or why you dislike it, just disconnect your computer and go. I love salmon. I love it even more when I can get a lot of it. The other day after a fish market tour, I stopped over to talk with a vendor and enquired about buying some. So after some haggling, I got a whole half of a salmon - enough to make about 6 good fillets. The good thing was that they already deboned it and put it on a nice fake plank (it's faux styrofoam) for taking it back home. But I didn't go home. I went to my cooking school where Chef Hyejin lovingly prepared it for lunch. The first day we just had some sashimi with sliced onions and lemon. The next day we pan-fried some with some orange miso sauce. The rest we froze for another day. The salmon came out to be about 60,000 won but some times you have to splurge, right? Dan Salmon Salmon Belly Sashimi

Cheong Gwangjang So the other day at Jegi-dong, Gyeongdong Market, I finally decided to try the red ginseng extract to see if it was really as special as people say it is. Koreans say that red ginseng is a cure-all and it gives (men) people incredible stamina, it's good for their minds, and it will be good for their...you know: bedroom prowess. Anyway, not that I have any problems with that (and if I did, I wouldn't announce that here), so I went ahead and bought a small bottle of the 6year, "plus +" Ginseng extract which is supposed to be the highest quality ginseng extract on the market. The taxi driver I showed the bottle to after I bought it, told me that it was the same brand that he uses and he told me it was good for everything especially...my penis. He demonstrated what this would do to me with a lot of fist pumps.  He also told me that Cheonggwanjang brand was the best and that it is mainly all ginseng and not just a little bit of ginseng mixed with a lo

Chef Ciarian Hickey over at the W-Hotel is one of the last foreign head chefs in Seoul. He has had his position for almost 5 years because he is constantly innovating. Over his tenure he has made the W-hotel 'The Hip' venue for Seoulites in Seoul. His champagne brunch is top notch and so are the meals over at Kitchen. Chef Hickey also came up with the  humongous X-burger (which I haven't had a chance to try.)  I have had his other burger and that is pretty darn tasty. These days over at the W-Hotel, they have a BYOB promotion. BYOB is bring your own bottle night. You can bring your own bottle of wine and have it with the menu the W-hotel will prepare. This is a great idea and something I am looking forward to going to again. Now you can pick your own bottle and share it with others without having to pay Hotel prices for wine. Plus the food is darn tasty. The dinner per person is only 100,000 won and with the luxury of bringing your own bottle, I'm totally there.

Wow...I am so thirsty for Banana milk now... Actually, you could sell me anything as long as SNSD (Girl's Generation) were in the commercial. I think I'll go now and buy a case. 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.

Opps, I don't know why I didn't let you all know earlier about the halloween parties. I guess I have been a bit busy with work. Here are some halloween events people asked me to let you know about. The Seoulite, Han River Booze Cruise . You can get dressed up, eat junk, get drunk, and then get all green in the face on a boat. Scary huh? On Saturday, October 29th at 3pm  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141263262639433 Monster Bash V is going on at the Wolfhound. They will have 1.6million won in prize money for the best prizes.  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=291222990888554 Shakespeare's Gore and Madness over at Algwha Haek Theatre (Hyewha Station exit 2). This looks pretty darn cool. Here is what they wrote: Severed hands, dismembered tongues, loved ones driven to suicidal insanity; is this Shakespeare or the set of John Carpenter’s latest Halloween film? Pull your loved ones close, for it is indeed bloody Shakespeare and not for the faint of hea

Songgi Mushroom These days, I am into snacking and I love carbs. It must have something to do with the exercise that I'm doing. I try to run a couple of days a week so my metabolism is a bit quicker than it was. So...I can snack and go and not worry so much. But being busy with a couple different projects I haven't had many full meals. I eat and I go. So here are some quick bites I have had in the last couple of days. Up first is Songgi mushrooms which are considered to be the highest quality mushrooms in Korea. A box costs 100-120,000 won and I think you might get 8 or so. While I was stopping by in the morning to visit my favorite monk, Dae Ahn Sunim, she insisted that I have a few of these mushrooms. They were cooked simply -just steamed, yet they had a wonderful punch of flavor that felt like an endorphine high. Lovely stuff. I recommend you try them. Pumpkin Rice Cake Another thing I've been eating a lot of are pumpkin rice cakes. I think they are much bet

Are you a buyer coming to Korea on November 7th to the 11th for Korea Food Expo? If you are we have a special Night Dining, Business Networking Dinner for guests, courtesy of the Korea Food Expo. The cost of the tour is free and you'll be able to able to enjoy a wide variety of Korean foods and Korean alcohol while meeting other buyers and exhibitors at the Korea Food Expo. Instead of going to a stuffy, business dinner this is a way to meet people in person in a fun and exciting environment. See the sign-up sheet below. For an overview of our night dining tour, you can see the video (note: the COEX tour is a little different because of the location). Daniel Gray O'ngo Food Communications View thi

Brown Rice and Fish I have been trying to be healthier and one thing that I'm trying to eat more is brown rice. The only problem with brown rice is that you usually have to soak it overnight or it will be overly al dente when you eat it. Since I am always quite busy, this is not possible so most of the times I will just go without breakfast.  A trick that I learned from a guest on one of my tours is to soak the rice for about 20 minutes in hot water out of my water heater. This is enough time for me to check emails, go for a run, or to take a shower. After I do this. I cook up the rice and serve with any side dish. These days our fish market tours have been quite busy so I have been getting some fish- whatever is the freshest and I have the market grill it for me. Afterwards, I will reheat it at home and I have a great breakfast that is fast and healthy. Yummy! Dan

Seoul Nights These days, I love to go out and just shoot pics with my camera. I am trying to get better with it as well. Here are some night shots that I took while I was out when I spotted a rotisserie pig by a tent. Dan Tent Restaurant Late Nights with Pork Here comes the pig It's still coming. Look at that skin! He's wondering if he could have some pig Here it is again. Wanna Bite?