It's scary to think this but many of the rice cakes sold at stores and restaurants may have been contaminated with e-coli. This is just irresponsible for it puts a blight on the entire food industry. On top of that rice cakes that were returned for failing sanitation tests were given to charity groups. Shame on you Songhak foods. Readers, I suggest you stop eating rice cakes until they get this all sorted out.  Via soompi ( http://www.soompi.com/2015/07/07/korean-rice-cake-manufacturer-shocks-public-after-knowingly-distributing-heavily-contaminated-food/ ) " Korea’s number one rice cake manufacturer,  Songhak Foods , brought shock to the Korean public when it was revealed on July 6 that the company had been distributing rice cakes containing E.coli and harmful pesticides to large marts and franchises from last June to January of this year. The amount of food distributed amounts to 18 billion won (approx. 16 million USD). Some sources state the contaminated food...

OB Brewery can't seem to get a break. In 2014 there was a rumor that the beer tastes like bleach. ( which was unfounded and was believed to have been started by a rival.  Now they are in trouble again for stealing water from the North Han river for 37 years. They reportedly owe 270억 or 270,000 usd in back fees. OB claimed that they were not liable for the fees since they built a dam for their own usage. However, it was later revealed they did not pay for the dam as claimed.  The controversy has upset individual taxpayers since their tax fees have been raised this year while big companies can get away with avoiding taxes for so long. 

I'm proud to announce that the MAP has been revamped, updated, and organized. In addition to providing excellent news and information on Korean food, it's our goal for this website to be an excellent resource to answer the question: "Where should I eat today?". So before the next time you head out to eat, check the map for something in your neighborhood. On the map we only list our favorite places, so everything there comes highly recommended. And it doesn't only have restaurants. Bars, cafes, and even some activities are there as well. In the future this map can be found on the link on the right side of this homepage, and at the bottom of most restaurant reviews. Each link has a brief summary of our review, and a link to our full review. icons are sorted by color. The cuisine is indicated by the picture, and price by color. Also bars, cafes, bakeries, and activities have unique colors. $ = BLUE | $$ = ORANGE | $$$ = RED | $$$$ = PURPLE Cafes/Bakeries = TEAL ...

There is a lot of controversy over the new Shin Ramyeon Black. Shin Ramyeon is the most popular brand of ramyeon in Korea because the noodles are chewy, let slick and the broth is spicy. It's my favorite brand as well. Now they came out with a more expensive version of the soup called Shin Ramyeon Black. It is a beef broth based ramyeon and it is priced almost double of the regular brand. It is the fastest selling ramyeon in Korea's history. According to the Korea Herald they made over 10 billion won ( http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110627000700 ) in the first month.  However, they are being sued by different groups and were fined 150 million won for falsifying their nutrion label and for false advertising. They promised that the ramyeon was healthy and that it was the nutritional equivalent of eating a bowl of beef soup. People who love reading and learning about food (in addition to eating it) may enjoy learning about a bachelor degree online ...

I found the following story on the NPR iPhone App: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/04/134259889/lazy-cakes-leave-you-well-lazy?sc=17&f=1001 Lazy Cakes Leave You, Well, Lazy by Julie Rose WFAE-FM - March 5, 2011 Convenience stores are filled with energy-boosting products; it seems some companies would be happy if we never slept a wink. But now there's a movement in the opposite direction: products with names such as Simmer, Unwind and Lazy Cakes. That last one, Lazy Cakes, is a particularly hot seller. It's a reasonable suspicion for customers to be a little wary of the fudgy brownies with the psychedelic purple package for sale next to the cigarette lighters at gas stations. The label says Lazy Cakes are "The Original Relaxation Brownie." Even at $4 apiece, a clerk at a Charlotte, N.C., gas station says she sells about 36 a week. In the five months since Lazy Cakes hit the market, co-creator Tim Barham says they're available in two dozen states and sales a...

I just found out that the New Phillies in Haebangchon has been sold and they will be undergoing reconstruction to transform it into a sports bar. If it will keep the name is still yet undetermined. The previous bar was named Phillies, so for the future bar to be called, "The New NEW Phillies" might be a bit ridiculous. The original Phillies, which had its heyday about 5 years ago as a local bar and brunch restaurant, was sold to Y (Yoryang Kim) and another owner. Y bought out the primary owner and has recently sold the bar to an unnamed buyer. Y still owns Jacoby's, HBC's burger restaurant. I also learned that Jacoby's is planning on opening another location in the next year. Does anyone know what's going on with Wing Bakery? I heard that its the owner of Gecko's Bar that started the operation on the main street on the Gyeongnidan side but the shop in Haebangchon, opened and then quickly closed up. Rumor has it that there was problems with equipment. C...

Kim Jeong-il just wants to be loved and the very act of Bill Clinton coming all the way to North Korea was probably enough to obtain the special pardon. Bill is probably getting all the nuclear arms- but they can't announce that yet because they wouldn't want the Great leader to lose face. SEOUL, South Korea – Former President Bill Clinton brought two freed U.S. journalists out of North Korea early Wednesday following rare talks with reclusive leader Kim Jong Il, who pardoned the women sentenced to hard labor for entering the country illegally. Euna Lee and Laura Ling were heading back to the U.S. with Clinton, his spokesman Matt McKenna said, less than 24 hours after the former U.S. leader landed in the North Korean capital on a private, humanitarian trip to secure their release. Click here for the rest

I think that this would be a great idea. I could use my leftover coffee grinds to run my car. Dan http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13174477 Biofuels: A novel form of biodiesel is derived from an unusual feedstock that is more commonly used to fuel mental activities: coffee In the case of coffee, the biodiesel is made from the leftover grounds, which would otherwise be thrown away or used as compost. Narasimharao Kondamudi, Susanta Mohapatra and Manoranjan Misra of the University of Nevada at Reno have found that coffee grounds can yield 10-15% of biodiesel by weight relatively easily. And when burned in an engine the fuel does not have an offensive smell—just a whiff of coffee. (Some biodiesels made from used cooking-oil produce exhaust that smells like a fast-food joint.) And after the diesel has been extracted, the coffee grounds can still be used for compost. Although some people make their own diesel at home from leftovers and recycled cooking oil, coff...

By Daniel Gray In the last year and a half Korean food has gotten a lot of American media attention. The brash glutton, Anthony Bourdain from the travel channel was the pioneer who brought his show, "No Reservations" to tackle Korean food. Then following his trail a year later was Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler, from the New York Times. A month ago Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre foods was here and next month, PBS’s show “Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie” will be here. So what seems to be the attraction? I think it's a snowball effect of many different factors. First of all, there is a growing Korean population in the United States and with that comes an increase in the number of Korean restaurants and grocery stores. American taste buds are changing, so many seek out the spicy and sour. Also, the profile of Korea has been raised in the last decade as it has become a leader in technology and commerce. And since New York City has embraced Korean food and lab...

According to this AP article I just read the US federal courts have ruled that Bush administration, via the Agriculture Department, has the power to prevent companies from testing more than 1% of their livestock for mad cow disease. For my comments and a re-posting of the article (it's not very long), go here. I can't imagine what Koreans would say about this. I wonder what they would have said if this happened around two months ago!