Seoul Eats

Silky Noodles in a Crisp, Ice Broth One thing you should not get into an argument about with Koreans is who has the best chilled buckwheat noodle soup (naengmyeon). It can turn into a heated debate since many people have strong opinions about the elasticity of the noodles, the crispness of the chilled turnip and beef broth, and of the toppings. One place that has a consensus of respect is Pyeong Yang Myeon-ok in Dongdaemun. They make their noodles, the broth, and their kimchi in house and have not changed much in the last 50 years. It is so famous that they built a parking-garage elevator to combat traffic congestion. The noodles are lively and they swim in the light, chilled, clear broth. This Seoul landmark also has North Korean style meat platters like obokjaengban and jaeok, and their fist-sized dumplings can’t be missed. Pyeongyang Myeonok Seoul Junggu Jangchungdong 1ga 26-14 Zip 100-391 Phone: 02-2267-7784 Directions: Go out Donguk University Station (Subway Line 3) E

A food that is rich in protein and oil is perfect after a long work day (jang-oh). The eel is often killed fresh and then grilled over high heat, covered in sauce and then brought to the table. This fresh approach to preparing eel gives it a delightful crunch and a rich aroma. Over at Nakwon-dong, a famous eel place is called Gohyang and they serve the eel three ways: plain with salt or basted with chili paste or soy sauce. This is one of my favorite places to go after work. However, I try not to go too often because it is a bit high in calories. When you order, bring out a variety of different sauces, kimchis, leaves, and slivered fresh ginger. It’ll take a bit of time before your food will come out though for broiling eel takes time so while you wait they have raspberry wine (which is also believed to increase your health and stamina) or soju or beer. Making a fresh lettuce wrap filled with broiled eel, ginger, sauce and vegetables is one of Korea’s most delicious treats. Gohyang Jon

Here is the fish market at 2am. I went there with one of my food tour guests. The auctions are pretty busy and the market is still open. If you are craving fish at 2am, this is the the place to go in Seoul.

I will admit that I was a Instagram hater at first. I had bought the hipstamatic app on my iPhone because it was so hot back then. I never understood hipstamatic but I did play around with it once or twice. These days I have been playing around with it and it seems to get quite a lot of interaction from people. It makes me want to look at my surroundings more as well. If you would like to follow me, look for Seouleats on Instagram. First picture is of "Old Town Coffee" a popular coffee drink in Malaysia. This was given to me by my guests (thanks Apxara). The beans are roasted in butter so it has a full, mellow taste. The second picture is from De Espresso Room in Haebangchon. I had a mocha cap there and it was very well made (4,000 with extra shot of espresso.) De Espresso Room 38-11 Yongsan-gu Yongsan-dong 07077744168 The third picture is from Take out Drawing. I had the Tod's Remedy tea which had a mix of ginger, orange peel, licorice and other things (7,500 won). It wa

[caption id="attachment_10960" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Daniel Gray[/caption] Hi Seoul Eats Readers, If you are available on Tuesday at 10am, I'll be speaking at the British Association of Seoul meeting about introducing Korean food through storytelling. The meeting will be in the Hallasan Room at the Seoul Club. More information below and on their website: Date: Tuesday, 23 October, 2012 - 10:00 - 12:00 Venue: The Seoul Club, Hallasan Room Cost: 10,000 KRW Members / 14,000 KRW Non-members Join us for our regular monthly meeting. This month, for all you foodies out there, we have invited Dan Gray from O'ngo Foods to speak to us about 'Korean culture through the cuisine.' Check out his biography below: Daniel Gray was adopted when he was five years old and went to live in the state of Delaware in the United States. Growing up, he would often remember a chilled cucumber and seaweed soup that his birth mother would make. In 2007, he w

It has been a busy week at O'ngo Food Communications. This week we have 63 people from Southeast Asia for an event. We are doing their events, gala dinners and tours. It's been a lot of fun working. This is a very motivated group and they did an Olympic's game event, early morning taekwondo event, food tour, and we just finished a running man scavenger hunt. Dan

The Shilla hotel has the reputation of being one of the top hotels in Seoul. While I was there yesterday, I saw a number of police escorts. I was told that members of Korea's Royal Family were staying at the Shilla. I didn't know there was any Korean royalty left. This morning our company was running a taekwondo session at the Shilla Hotel and afterwards I had a chance to enjoy breakfast. It was quite good. It was a nice buffet spread with bagels, smoked salmon, eggs, fried rice, fruit and more. The quality of the food was good- especially the smoked salmon and the cheese. I have to say it was nice to have a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon in the morning. Their figs, pineapple and grapes were very refreshing in the morning. The breads were nice as well and they had a good selection of jams for people to try. Their coffee was quite good as well: dark, medium bodied. There were some things on the buffet I was not willing to try. The scrambled eggs looked like hell and s

There are some foods you dream about. I have dreams about the crunch of garlic stems I had at Mimine. Wow. I don't know how they do it, they just do it well. The tempura is shatteriffic while not being greasy. The Kimmari is also quite awesome. The individual strands of sweet potato noodles are fried crisp and the wrapped seaweed part is flavorful and moist. The Tteokbokki is awesome as well. The sauce is balanced- not too sweet and not too spicy. It is also not too thick so it is great for dipping the tempura in. Mimine is great. It's gourmet. It's also expensive compared to the regular street Tteokbokki (hence, I could seeing people being critical of it). An order of Tteokbokki costs 3500 won and the assorted fried snacks cost 9500 won. The space is cramped, service slow, but the food is totally worth it. Mimine Mapo-gu Seogyodong 367-1 1st Fl 02-3143-7244 Directions: it is in the Hongdae main parking area near Sang Sang Madang.

Sure it is heard to open up a restaurant these days. And yes, I know it is a business. However when your approach focuses more on margins and not on the food, I tend to get a bit upset. Mother's Fish 어머니 생선 in Insadong just opened in a prime location in Insadong. You would think that if they just opened, they would try to wow you with the food. The banchan are subpar and obviously the cheapest they could think of. Limp kimchi, soggy potatoes, stale seaweed laver, and japchae. Meh. It seemed like they decided to make banchan that they think are "foreigner friendly." Then the fish came. It was dry and cool. It was if they had reheated it and forgot to do it fully. The kicker was the rice. Mushy rice that didn't have the right pop it should. Overall, the restaurant doesn't seem to respect it's guests. I think they need to reevaluate why they opened up a restaurant in the first place. Mother's Fish 어머니생선 Jongno-gu Insadong 36-1 2nd Fl 종로구 인사동 36-1번지 2층 0273740

Hello Seoul Eaters. Lately I've had the fortunate opportunity to photograph the moment adopting parents meet and pick up their new children here in Seoul. As you know our site founder Daniel is an adoptee so he's asked me to share my work. It's been very interesting, rewarding, and emotionally charged work. The process takes around two years and I just get the apex of a two year build up of emotion, expectation, excitement, and nervousness. All that spills out in a one hour meeting where the new parents finally meet a child they've only read about and seen pictures of, and the foster parents give up a child they've spent years caring for and getting to know. Needless to say there are tears on all sides, and thankfully I'm not in any of the pictures because I'd be embarrassing. The pictures in the small room with big windows are the initial meeting, and the outdoor shots are post-adoption family shoots. Enjoy. For more photos check out my site .

Sometimes you just get lucky and find a restaurant down an alley that is pretty good. In the alley behind McDonalds in Jongno 3-ga I found Chamsut barbecue place. It looks like your average everyday Korean barbecue place and that is what it is. Here you can get good cuts of pork jowl (hwanjeonsal) and pork belly (samgyeopsal). Their marinated pork rib (wang galbi) is not very good though. Service is friendly. Beers are cold and kimchi is sharp. What else could you ask for? Chamsut Seoul, Jongno-gu Donguidong 168 02-747-0192 서울 종로구 돈의동 168

Korea has some pretty impressive architecture. Here are some shots I took while out on my strolls around Korea. Dan [caption id="attachment_10894" align="alignleft" width="600"] Taeguk Village in Busan[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10893" align="alignleft" width="600"] Gyeongbukgung Palace[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10892" align="alignleft" width="600"] Bukchon Hanok[/caption]                 [caption id="attachment_10891" align="alignleft" width="600"] Ewha Women's University[/caption]