Last month when reporter Anne Devineaux came to Seoul and asked for advice on Korean food I was ecstatic to help. I made a few recommendations (but not all of them) and I think she did a great job on her report on the state of Korean food. Here is the story. You can see the video report on their website (link below). I was especially happy since she wanted to interview my good friend and business partner, Jia Choi.  The South Koreans are keen for the world to develop a taste for their country, and they’re using food to do it. Now there are culinary tours for overseas visitors in Seoul. It is designed to shine the spotlight on South Korean cuisine, which to many western eyes is something of a mystery compared to that in neighbouring Japan or China. Jia Choi is a Korean food expert who organises them. “In western culture, you have appetizers, and then main and then dessert,” she explained, “but in Korea, we just serve all everything in one table, and you design your meal. So...

Here are some of my past reviews on the restaurant: http://www.seouleats.com/2010/10/chez-simon-french-cuisine-done-right.html http://www.seouleats.com/2010/11/chez-simon-redux.html You can see more of my video food adventures at  http://www.youtube.com/user/delawheresdan Chez Simon Address: Seoul, Jongro-gu Samcheong-dong 63-10 Phone: 02-730-1045 Reservations recommended. Directions: Go out Anguk Station exit 1 and make the first right and walk about 10 minutes until you get to Samcheongdong. Walk on the elevated walkway and you’ll see it up on a hill. 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

A hat tip to my foodie partner in crime Zenkimchi Pierre Gagnaire will be  among four international chefs coming to prepare Korea-inspired food  at the end of October for a festival called “Amazing Korean Table,” sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and whatever else they want to minister. They’ll also be teaching cooking classes for 60,000 won each.  I want to reserve a spot for any Pierre Gagnaire class, but alas, the “Reservation” page currently says, “The Detail information will be noticed” on the English version.  The Korean version has classes and reservations, but it looks like I’ll be at work when Gagnaire’s classes occur. I’ve noticed this about Korean festivals like this.  They mostly occur during the week, and the big events are over with by the time most people have time off work to go to them. [ Amazing Korean Table official site ]

I am playing around with Picasa for Mac to see if I should start using it to blog. Here is a collage that I made for Jung-Shik-Dang My other posts on Jung Shik Dang, http://www.seouleats.com/2009/08/jung-shikdang-chicken-breast-wrapped-in.html http://www.seouleats.com/2009/08/jung-shikdang-ginseng-field.html http://www.seouleats.com/2009/08/jung-shikdang-chicken-breast-wrapped-in.html