Hey everyone, Sorry, I haven't written anything today, but I was super hungover from a Night Dining Tour that I ran last night for a couple of travelers to Korea. A Chef from Shanghai, Willy Moreno and his crew joined me last night as we ate the night away. Willy, I hope you had a good time and I look forward to visiting your restaurant in Shanghai. I'm going to post a couple restaurant recommendations from readers. Here's one from Mark: Hi Dan, met you a few months back at Wolfhound meetup. Love Seoul Eats and actually am heading to 정식당 tonight after your recommendations. Thanks for doing what you do. Wanted to give you a heads up. In the middle of an extravagant P-turn at 도산공원사거리, I noticed a restaurant with an unforgettable name: 배꼽 없는 요리사 (e.g. Cook With No Belly Button). In checking out some photos and reviews online, it is a French bistro and damn the food looks pretty good judging from the pics on the site below. It's right next to where I work (gmap http...

Rule of thumb: When a restaurant is always full and they start turning people away at 8:30, there's a good chance that the food is good. That seems to be the case at Bori-ool. Every time I've wandered down my favorite road, I've seen countless people inside. Last Wednesday, I finally went inside. It was alright. I mean it wasn't mind-blowing, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to go back, because I do. The place has comforting homemade food- the turnip water kimchi or turnip vichyssoise is refreshing. The turnip kimchi was also quite good- spicy, gingery, and crispy. The handmade pasta soup (sujebi) had thick bow ties of flour pasta. They were chewy and nice. The soup was a tad too spicy- way too many chili peppers. Anyway, the broth was good because it had a bit of dried fish bonito flakes on top. To finish off the meal, we had rice wine: dong dong ju. It's easy to get to. Get out Hapjeong Station Exit 5 and walk down the street. It's on the...

Zed's Curry I got this message from the lovely Susanna  (known as Zed by her friends) . On May 5th, she'll be cooking curry at Phillies in HBC. Susanna is an amazing cook. Her curries are to die for. I'll be there after our trip to the orphanage (if you are still interested in signing up, here's the link http://www.seouleats.com/2010/04/volunteer-to-cook-for-children-on.html)  You can sign-up on Facebook for Susanna's event here. A Spicy Wednesday Date: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Time:        6:00pm - 9:30pm Location: Phillies , HBC Its our favorite bar and its my favorite hobby .................... Come and try my special flavors , have a beer and chat! It will be worth it! A selection of lamb, chicken and vegetable curry served with rice and salad. 10,000 won a plate.................available until sold out! I will donate the profits to charity..................... Hope to see u there! Zed

Jung Shik Dang: New Korean Modern Setting, very sophisicated. The meal starts with an array of seafood and pates intricately displayed. The teapot lets out a plume of dry ice as it arrives. Black Raspberry Reduction over Foie Gras Pate A teardrop of foie gras Vegetable Flower Jung Shik Dang 567-28 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu Seoul, Korea 02-517 4654 (English Spoken) http://jungsikdang.com/

Green Eggs You've heard of Green Eggs and Ham, well, I made green eggs somehow. I think the mushrooms changed the color of the eggs through their exposure to air. At least it didn't taste bad^^ Dan

Myeolchi Guk Su recently opened up in Sinchon, a noodle bar that really takes "fast meal" to a new level. The 24-hr restaurant literally named "Good Anchovy Noodle Soup House" specializes in---you guessed it---anchovy-broth soup. Good Anchovy Noodle Soup House You walk in through the sliding doors and to your left is a menu ticket-machine, where you enter in your order (you can choose between the main dishes: myeolchi guk su, naeng myun, or bibim naeng myun, and appetizers like hard boiled eggs and a myeolchi jumokbab, which is a rice ball with anchovies). If you think one bowl will be too small to kill your hunger (or you just want to share), there is a double-size option, which is what my friend and I ordered, along with two riceballs. The machine spit out three tickets and before I had a chance to hand it to the guy behind the counter, he had our giant steaming bowl of myeolchi soup ready on the bar. Our riceballs weren't far behind. Noodles i...

Hello, my name is Dan and I'm an Apple Fanboy. Today, I got this tip from a reader (Thanks Tai). It's on Craigslist and the guy is selling a couple 32 gig iPads in Korea for 920,000 won. The price seems right, but what about the product? Honestly, I'm too much of a chicken to find out. I only buy my Apple gear from legitimate sources or from people I know. Speaking of which, my friend Richard is selling his 13.3 inch macbook with 2.4 processor for 1.1 million. Check out Daveseslcafe for more details. Oh, before, I go back to talking and writing about food- I wanted to talk about the new 4G iPhone. I have been drooling over the pictures all day over at gizmodo. 4G iphone I want it. I've been waiting forever for it (that's why I have my stupid LG Viewty Phone. I know, awful). My iPhone sources have told me that it won't come out this summer like the rest of the world because Apple released their iPhone later than everyone else. It would probably come...

Dan

Danny Byrnes with some Gop Chang Tired of rice and kimchi? Tired of the usual kimchi bokeumbap, doenjang jiggae, and bulgogi? Well, nothing says delicious like Gop Chang (곱창), or in the lingua franca which pays off my student loans: Korean style fried pork intestines. My friend took me to her favorite Gop Chang (곱창) place called “Gope Chang House” (곱창하우스) just outside Wangshimni station in the heart of the university district there. This is her favorite because it is void of the strong pork smell which is usually associated with such establishments. Tucked between the noraebangs (singing rooms) and dvd bangs (dvd viewing rooms) you can get your fill of both large and small intestines which make for some good eatin’ in this little restaurant with East LA style gangsta murals on the walls. Here's a pile of intestines in sauce We ordered both large and small intestine. The large was served in a delicious sauce with onions, salt was also an option, and the small intestine was s...

The Les Toques Blanc is a professional restaurant and chef's association in Korea. Last Month, I was invited to attend to speak briefly about Culinary Tourism in Korea. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't go before because I knew many of the chefs at the meeting. The meeting was at the Ambassador Hotel and there was a great spread of food available and many foodies such as Kip fro Kobeak Food, Suji from Suji's Restaurant, Nick Flynn from the Intercontinental, and Tim Mitchell from the Dragon Hill Lodge. Here are some photos from the meeting. You can find out more about the association here: http://www.ltbkorea.com/ A Strawberry in a Tuxedo at the Ambassador Hotel Seoul President Remo Berdux A great spread of food Roast Beef around Spring Vegetables in a curried Lentil Salad

Tteokbokki For some eaters in Seoul, hungry and in a hurry, constitute as the food mantra. There is fast-food edibles ordered at a counter which comes out in minutes and are consumed just as quickly. Then, there is the faster food, the goodies prepared in advance, and in a fervid eater's hands within seconds. Such delights, but obvious diet-breakers, can be classified as “street food,“ The aforementioned edibles are the easiest and most on tap food in Korea. Otherwise known as Pojangmachas, or "covered wagons," these roving street carts offer a smorgasbord of the fastest foods to sate the hungry during daytime lunch hour, the swarming nightlife of Korean drinkers, and the ambling milieu of inbetween snackers. It would be impressive if you have not yet stumbled upon one of these food kiosks. Food vendors camp out in areas usually with heavy foot traffic, including but not limited to markets, metro station entrances, and clubs. Some street vendors are open throughout t...

I would like to welcome a new writer to the Seoul Eats Team: Joel Park. He is a food lover that is going to be focusing on finding great Korean Eats in the city. Here is his first story on Pyeongyang Myeonok. Dan There are four restaurants in Seoul that routinely come up when naengmyun aficionados talk about Pyeongyang style mulnaengmyun: Pyeongyang Myeonok, Pildong Myeonok, Eulji Myeonok, and Wooraeok.  Collectively they are known as 평양냉면 4대천왕 , or the Four Heavenly Kings of Pyeongyang Naengmyun.  However, look up reviews online and you'll find they're mostly negative.  Many Koreans are underwhelmed when they try the naengmyun.  But step in one of those restaurants during lunchtime and you'll probably have to wait in line.  So what's the deal? It's all a matter of generational differences.  Younger Seoulites grew up with foods like candy and chocolate. The clean, subtle taste of Pyeongyang naengmyun just can't excite their sugared-out tastebuds.  ...