Samarikant Samarikant Sometimes I forget how transient of a city Seoul is. There are always people coming and going and new people are always looking to find places to eat. I got an email from a reader that said, "PLEEASE STOP TORTURING ME WITH THESE DELICIOUS PICTURES! Can you put the addresses and contact info so I can find them!" Why, yes, that is a good idea. I'll be putting places that I eat on google maps and embedding them below the post. I'll ask my writers to do the same. Now on with the food. Samarikant is an Uzbek restaurant over by Dongdaemun that specializes in Uzbek Food. They have great Russian Beers and Vodka as well. The food is made fresh in house and a local baker brings their bread. I did a food tour for the fine ladies of SIWA   and this was our first stop on the tour. The food is rich and filling and the beers are authentically good. I love their soups and meat dishes like the meat-stuffed golstovy. Their beet salad is good ...

UZBEKI FOOD- VERY NICE! It was raining when we tried to find it. No surprise there. But finally we did, out of exit 8 at Dongdaemun Cultural Centre station, straight ahead about 50 metres and then left, down the first alley you hit on the left hand side. The whole alley is littered with Russian lettering, passport services, phone cards, and then the tastier words like 'shashlik' and 'somsa' in welcoming neon lettering.  My friend and I chose a place called Tabassum. It's non-descript, a few tables inside a fluorescent room, us and a table of Korean men the only inhabitants. The waiter, speaking perfect English and Korean (and undoubtedly Uzbeki and Russian) quickly navigated us through the menu. Prices are good, nothing really exceeding 8,000. We ordered somsa, shashlik, palmeni, and qozon kebab. We also ordered a few 5,000 won bottles of 9% Russian beer. Good stuff. The first thing to arrive was the somsa, a savory pastry stuffed with minced ...

I don't know why I didn't post these before. These meet-ups have been really going well and I think it's a great way to meet other foodies. Here are pictures of the last meet-up we did at Samarkand: Uzbekistani Restauran t near Dongdaemun Stadium. Good Beer. I recommend the 3 and the 6. The 9 tastes like it has vodka in it (and it is super strong). Got lamb? Miso: Korean Smile Chez Biz (fried lamb over fries) I LOVE THEIR CARROT SALAD! Samsa! Flakey pastry stuffed with lamb and onion. Golstovy: Cabbage and Pepper Stuffed with meat! Pelemeni! Lamb Mandu. I wonder what they are looking at? I'm sure it's probably delicious. Good times and good company. Asian Pose: Big Heart

Samarikand I was told over by the man who ran the Samarikand that there are 17 locations all over Korea and the same family runs them all. The food is authentic and portions are hearty. You can get a giant, flaky pastry bread stuffed with savory lamb (Samsa) for only 3000 won. 2000 won gets you a hearty frisbee sized sesame roll (Lepeshka) and 6,000 won gets you a big bowl of Borsch. The entrees don’t cost all that much either. You can get cabbage rolls stuffed with meat (Golubtsy) for or, my favorite, fried lamb over french fries (Chiz-Biz) for only 7. And you can wash all this down with big Russian beers labeled 3, 6, and 9. Samarikant 02-2277-4261 Directions: Go out Dongdaemun Stadium Station Exit 5 and walk until you see the 광교빌딩 and Woori bank. To the left is the A+ noraebahng, Samarakand is a few buildings before the A+ noraebahng.It is across the street and down an alley. Ask someone on the street. They all know where it is. (Thanks Paul for the update) 영진수산 (Yeong Jin Su San) ...