Hello Interwebs, I know. It's been a while. Sorry, but I have these things called kids and blogging and dining out at nice places just don't mix. Yeah, I'm the guy trying to hold one kid while feed the other while the wife cleans up some spill or another from one or the other kids. It's fun and chaos. I don't know how my parents did it. My parents were great and they raised us well and they talk us all the right things, they were principled and patient. We got into arguments but mainly because my sisters and I were just jerks. When I found out I was going to be a parent, my wife and I talked and set rules and thought out how we would raise them. We were going to read them books, play classical music, travel with them, cook all their meals and all that other stuff. We tried all that but at the end of the day, we just got by doing what we could. You get into a pattern of survival. A book could keep a kid entertained for about 15 minutes and then they migh...

Everyone loves ice cream (and gelato), however, the definition of what ice cream is or what would be relative equivalents might differ in the eyes of Koreans. Since 2013, sales of ice cream market size has decreased from 1.6 Billion USD to 910.9 million USD due to increased competition from shaved ice stores, juice shops and cafes. All these sell what would be considered "ice cream equivalents." Subsequently, sales of ice cream have suffered as well dropping from 850 million USD in 2014 to 810 million USD in 2016 ( Food Industry Statistics , Nielsen Korea). However, ice cream is not suffering an irreversible downtrend. The largest competitor for the last few years have been the popularity of the snow shaved ice chain Sulbing. In 2013 they had only 33 stores in Korea but in 2014 this number exploded to 482 in 2014. However in 2015 they only added 8 more stores ( Joeilbo News ). I have personally seen a number of these stores close in the last year in prominent areas. In c...

Chocolate Croissant For a society whose staple food is rice, the consumption of bread has grown exponentially in the last 25 years. The leading bakery corporation, the SPC group has seen their Paris Baguette franchises grow from 3 in 1988 to 1400 in 2005 to 3316 in 2015 (Hankyung News 2015). The per person consumption of flour foods has dramatically increased from 11.5 kg per person per year in 1965 to 33.7 kg per person per year in 2015 (avg. 32.8 kg). While in the past flour was mainly used for noodles, batters and dumplings; these days bread and pastries have become increasingly popular. In 2015-2016, it has been all about the full-fat, cream filled breads. This started from the “kopan” bread which is a red bean and cream filled sweet roll. This style of rich cream has since moved to choux, donuts and rolled cakes. Koreans tend to like more of a less-sweet, milk-taste cream but currently green tea flavor has come back into fad. Also, the cream craze has since grown to includ...

Experimenting with homemade yogurt at home. The Korean whole milk works well with the Bio Plain yogurt as the starter. I boil it for about 30 minutes before letting it cool and then mix it with some starter. I put it in the yogurt maker for 9 hours and then I have a nice thick yogurt. The family likes thick yogurt so the extra long boiling helps to thicken the milk. I have tried it in a Korean pot and it worked pretty well. #homemade #seouleats #frugalliving 

I have been enjoying my lovely sour dough loaf from Bob's bread for the last few days. It has a perfect crust, chewy interior and slight sourness. It is made from all natural yeast cultures they have kept alive since 2008. I also ordered some ciabatta bread for my family, they liked it more than the sourdough bread- which was fine for me me. The bread is large as well and can be used to make manly sandwiches or great open-faces ones like I did. If you are headed over to the Costco by Yeongdeungpo, this is a great spot to spot by. They are open from 12-7 Tuesday-Saturday. Oh, and once they sell out of bread for the day, they close. Often they sell out by 5-6. You can order on their website as well www.bobsbreadkorea.com   Address: 77-71 Yangpyeongdong 3(sam)-ga, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul https://maps.google.com/?q=near%2077-71%20Yangpyeongdong%203%28sam%29-ga%2C%20Yeongdeungpo-gu%2C%20Seoul&hl=en-US&gl=us   #seouleats #artisanbread #bobsbreadkorea 

Bagels so good I just had to come back. Got the spinach bagel which had a delicious, crackling parmesan crunch. These bagels are not NY bagels -they are localized for the Korean palate. The crust is chewy and so is the interior. They are delicious. I like the slight smokiness from the wood burning oven. They are slightly expensive compared to USA prices at 2,000-2,500 won but that is on par for Korea- especially since they are each handmade. Their brick oven is awesome! I think I might want to make one over a weekend or two!  #bagels #koreanfood #seouleats #breakfast Elephant Bagel 코끼리 베이글 69-22 Yangpyeong 1(il)-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul https://goo.gl/maps/ZrKxstPKdZ22 Sent via my dancing thumbs named thumbalyn and thumbadum. Plese excuse any typos. For immediate assistance contact me at WhatsApp: +821067067769, Kakao: seouleats

Had an amazing Chicken Bacon Avocado Torta at El Pino 323. Plush, warm bread topped with oozing, flavorful chicken, crisp bacon and creamy avocado. The avocado was perfectly ripe and the whole sandwich was one that you have to grip and hold onto and eat until it is gone. It is not a sharing sandwich unless you cut it in half first. Wow. Possibly the best sandwich I have had in Korea. The bread made the dish and was pleased to hear it was made in house. I had a chance to talk with Chef D. He is intense but passionate about his food and craft. Very interesting but I was polite and understood I was a guest in his house.  We ordered Guacamole but he didn't have it. I let it go and didn't bring it up. He probably used all those delicious avocados on our sandwiches and tacos.  His tacos and enchiladas were also amazing. The rice and beans were definitely Mexican-style since he didn't use the heavier Korean rice. I thought the tortillas were legit.  Directions ar...

Avocado Sandwich from Casa Deli Had a legit avocado bacon sandwich that only cost me 5,500 at Casa Deli by Ikseongdong. Great bread and fresh ingredients. Support this local cafe! I have seen too many great little places go out of business because of a lack of customers. They will also change the concept in order to localize it. This place is good as it is so let's show our appreciation It's right next to the tteok museum in Jongno 3ga. #avocado #sandwich

Avocado Toast in Korea So trying to predict the next new food trend is like trying to figure out what the next world-hit, k-pop song is going to be. It seems impossible...sorta because there are certain variables that should be considered. Avocados are like mangosteens are like limes are like dragonfruit, blueberries, aged beef, dry red wine, IPAs, coffee beans and bananas. They start out as new things that many Koreans don't know much about but will buy based on value and appearances. They are thought to be exotic, premium and healthy. So many foods become food hits each year such as quinoa, teff, fava beans, black garlic, etc. Each item becomes a craze and then is incorporated into different foods to add value such as adding green tea to pork belly, moon pies, seaweed, ice cream, shaved ice and much more. Then the food fad is gone because the food was not really understood for what it was. For example, let's look at avocados and mangosteens. The outside shell makes i...

Eating at Upscale Korean Hawker Center: D-Tower in Seoul, Korea D-Tower is an impressive food complex with 5 floors of all restaurants. It's like a very upscale hawker experience that is focused on food, beer and coffee. We went to the Powerplant which is like a cafeteria but with beer. Very open atmosphere with a large beer selection. We got the Manimal Platter which was good (55,000 won) but I found quite a few chunks in the pulled pork. The chicken and the pork belly were luscious. I also liked their chili mac n cheese. We also got the lobster roll (19,000) which was alright, but meh for the price. The place is great to hang out with some friends for a few hours or so but I find that I prefer smaller hole-in-the-walls. The only problem I had is that after so much eating and drinking at D-Tower, there isn't much else to do such as shopping or anything else. Let's see if this concept will work in Korea. I hope it does, but I find that most Koreans want it all: shoppi...

A disturbing trend I have noticed in Korea is how everyone is moving towards automation. At Mr.Healing you take a rest in a massage chair for 50 minutes in an oxygen room and take a rest. The chair is automated and very few people are needed to work there. The question is that with this new movement towards automation, where will people work? How will they live? Don't misunderstand me. I love the rest cafe and the chairs. I am just curious about the future. The chairs will later become the waiters, cooks, maids and more. Will we eventually become a socialist society? Big questions to ponder over a cup of coffee. Wookie

Strawberry. Again. Koreans love strawberries and so it would make sense that it would revert back to a "safe" flavor. Last season it was green tea (which is a perpetual hit). Before that it was banana. Then it was honey and honey butter everything. Recently tiramisu was a popular hit and they made the popular "tiramisu kiss" dessert which was a bridge dessert with soft serve ice cream and espresso. These days coconut mills, shakes and coffees are becoming popular. What will come next? Well because of the large influx of cheap mangos, I think something mango flavored will get big. It has the essential elements that Koreans look for: exotic, healthy and valuable. Sadly, avocados and mangosteens could not make it in Korea but I think it was because of a lack of education rather than the flavor. It's always a changing market here and it is always exciting to see what takes off. Dan