Originally Published in the February Issue of Seoul Selection Magazine. By Daniel Gray Finally, I have found some modern cuisine in Korea that doesn’t date back to the Shilla or Chosun dynasty with roots to royal court cuisine. Steamed shellfish and grilled shellfish don’t have a long history. According to food historian, Professor Jia Choi of Ewha University, “it became popular in the early 90’s and died out around 96-97. When they were popular, you could see these restaurants everywhere and everyone thought it was going to be the next big thing, but then they just died out.” So I asked Professor Choi, why she thinks they died out and she said, “Restaurants need to do business all year long and not many people want to eat shellfish in the summer so…it’s not a good concept.” In winter, I get a hankering for shellfish. It’s when they are in season and freshest. Normally, I prefer grilled, but a friend introduced me to steamed shellfish over at Gyomokgil in Nonhyun-dong and it was a ...