What We've Been Eating Round 2
You cried out for more, and we have heard you. Here is more of What We Have Been Eating:
Bingsu - Shaved Ice
Even as summer came to an end, it was hot in Seoul! One of our favorite discoveries was the humble Bingsu- shaved ice with toppings. Pictured below is the absolutely mammoth first bingsu we tried. Thanks to this titan of refreshment, we hesitated to get another bingsu for far too long, fearing it would be too big for our fragile appetites. Thankfully, this turned out to be an unusually generous portion.
Popular toppings include fruits like melon and mango, as well as chewy nubs of rice cake, sweet red bean, and black sesame. But the number one best topping, in our opinion, is gomul- a dried soybean powder with a nice sweet, nutty taste.
As we reached the end of bingsu mountain (pictured below), commenting on how unusually filling it was for simple shaved ice, we realized it's not shaved ice, per se, but milk that has been frozen and shaved.
A bingsu behemoth we eventually vanquished
The menu at our first bingsu purveyor
Seoul's Craft Beer Scene
We just barely dipped our toes into Seoul's craft beer offerings, being too distracted by makgeolli, our favorite fizzy rice wine. But we did find time to stop by one of the more successful and ubiquitous breweries, Artmonster, for a flight. They make a variety of styles, all of which are at least "pretty good" and some of which are "quite good."
Kimbap (don't call it sushi!)
Sushi it ain't, but you'd be forgiven for thinking this was Korean sushi at first glance. It rarely contains raw fish, and is a popular on-the-go snack. One popular variety with dried fish and perilla leaves is called "drug kimbap" because of how addictively good it is. This kimbap featured sauteed sweet potato stems!
Kimchi Pancakes
Acorn Jelly
This was more of a novelty than anything else, but we did try it a second time as a banchan (side dish) in the famously food-obsessed city of Jeonju. Jeonju is known for its fresh ingredients and thoughtfully-prepared food, and for what it's worth, the nutty and bitter acorn jelly had a more pronounced flavor and better seasoning there.
One of Seoul's Top-Ranked Bakeries
Bakeries are very popular in Seoul, so we felt we ought to try a few Korean baked goods. One particularly trendy new bakery, Cafe Onion, is right next to a palace we visited, so we got there early to try some pastries. The line was long - maybe an hour - but wound through a traditional Korean house, so at least it was pretty. This is by far the longest food line we have waited in on our trip. We chose an avocado-and-fish roe baguette and a hazelnut creampuff. Both were good, but perhaps not great.
More tteok-bokki
Tteok-bokki round 2! We went to this place near our apartment, which caters to the many college students in the area. This big dish of tteok-bokki came with seafood, mushrooms, and a bunch of instant ramen noodles. Great for late-night studying! They only have one size available to order and we saw a few people on their own with the entire pot!
Mongolian Buuz (dumplings)
Next to the center of the design district in Seoul, you can find Little Russia, a few square blocks loaded with grocery stores and restaurants selling food from Russia, Mongolia, and many other Central Asian countries. These Mongolian dumplings were meaty, and went excellently with sour cream. It was nice to change things up a bit.
Korean BBQ
We took a gamble on this KBBQ place, which wasn't very crowded. We were vindicated by both the taste (excellent) and by the fact that it was packed by the time we left. We tend to eat lunch and dinner just slightly earlier than Koreans and often find ourselves beating the rush without even trying. Vegetables, garlic, and kimchi were grilled alongside the meat and carefully arranged so that the fat from the cooking meat would run through them. In the US we've never seen KBBQ done quite this way. And also, the waitress did most of the cooking- probably because she didn't trust us to know what we were doing. We enjoyed dipping the meat in salt and sesame oil- a classic duo!
Potato Bread
In a fancy food court in a fancy mall in Busan, we saw a huge line of people to waiting to buy... baked potatoes? Koreans are so into perfect, beautiful fruits, we were almost ready to believe that a company could succeed by selling gorgeous, photo-worthy potatoes. We went closer and it was true! People were buying bags of three perfect little steaming baked potatoes. Some people left with boxes full.
The next day Matt went back to buy one and see once and for all what was going on. It turns out they weren't potatoes, but a peppery, slightly sweet and salty mashed potato filling inside a glutinous wrapper that was decorated to look strikingly like a real potato. They're honestly delicious, and at a market we were lucky enough to try a version made with purple sweet potato too.
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