All Korean Food For You !!

ITAEWON, foreigner's street in Seoul

2011-12-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

ITAEWON town is long known for foreigner's street in Korea. There is history about this town.

After Korean war, US Army had been stationed at Yongsan. Korea was ruined by war and there was not many place for young US soldiers to enjoy.

US Soldiers want to enjoy, and poor Korean want to earn money. Naturally a marketplace formed to exchange money and entertainment. Koreanized western style bar, club, casino, and restaurant started their business. Also pawn shop for bankrupted soldiers, black market to distribute tax-free army materials.

It was almost the only place English is spoken. Unlike other parts of Korea, it was very natural to stay with foreigners. Not only soldiers but also other foreigners beginned to gather this area. Very unique culture was developed.

This is all pre-historic stories. Now Korea is developed country. There are a lot more decent place to have fun at Seoul. You can see foreigners at any place in Seoul. And US army has moved to other city. But Itaewon still have the heritage. You can feel cultural diversity in this area.

You can try Italian, French, Japanese, American dish at any part of Seoul. But you can not see Nigerian, Egyptian, Greek, Thainese, Brazilian, Scandinavian food except at Itaewon.

Itaewon is almost the middle of Seoul City. If you stay at Gangnam or near by city hall, you can visit here by taxi at lower than 10$.

Airport Metro subway, from Incheon to Seoul

2011-07-21T02:44:00.000-07:00

The easiest way to get Seoul after you get to Incheon airport, had been Limusine shuttle. But now we have Airport metro, which is a lot faster and cheaper transportation.

It costs 13,300KRW (=$13) for express which takes 43 minutes to Seoul Train Station, or costs 3,700 KRW (under $4) for regular which takes 53 minutes.

It drops from Incheon to Kimpo domestic airport, Seoul Digital Media City (Where you can transfer to Metro #6 line), Hong-ik university (Where you can transfer to Metro #2 line), and Seoul Train Station (Metro #1, #4 Line).

If your destination is around City Hall, you have two choice. You transfer to #2 line at Hongik university to get City hall station, or stop at the final station and get Taxi (should cost under $5)

Useful Link
Other transportation : http://visitseoul.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-get-in-from-incheon-airport.html
Seoul Metro Map : http://cafefiles.naver.net/data10/2005/6/13/78/subway_seoul_eng.jpg (this map doesn't show you Airport metro)

Korean Pan-fried tofu

2011-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tofu is available all over the Asian country. You may see tofu in all Asian restaurant in western world. But upon my experience of visiting Asian country, tofu is most beloved in Japan, Korea and China.

Three asian country use same chinese character 豆腐, but pronounce in a little different way. "Tofu" is Japanese pronounciation. China says somewhat like "Ddo-pfu". And Korean says "Du-bu". 10 years ago many western people used 'Bean curd", "Bean cake", but now Tofu can be understood to any people.

Tofu literally means "Expired beans" or "fermented beans". But it is not actually fermented. The way of make tofu is similiar to the cottage cheese recipe, but more difficult. I will not describe the way because it's hard to follow. The best way to get tofu is going to grocery and grab one.

Almost every Korean loves tofu. Actually Korean people don't realize how much they love tofu, because it is not special food but daily food consumed with every rice meal. We use tofu for Korean soup, soju(Korean sake) helper, and so on.

One of best way to enjoy tofu is pan-fried style. Korean says "Dubu gu-i" or "Dubu buchim".
Recipe is
1. Slice Tofu (1cm thick)
2. Put some salt on tofu and lay on the kitchen towel to drain water.
3. Hit the pan and put some sesame oil.
4. Fry it !
5. Serve with soy sauce (Usually seasoned with chilli pepper, onion, green onion and garlic)

There are some variations, using corn-starch to make it more crispy, using eggs to enrich the taste.

Many restaurant provides Pan fried tofu as a side-dish, which means you can not order pan fried tofu as your main meal. Some restaurant with tofu specialty offers pan-fried tofu.If you would visit Korea to taste real good pan-fried tofu, please leave me a reply message to this posting to let me introduce you about a nice restaurant nearby your place.

Korean Bacon BBQ (Sam Gyeop Sal)

2010-11-05T02:46:00.000-07:00

Korean loves pork belly bbq. They call the pork belly [Sam Gyeop Sal], which literally means three-tier-meat (Fat and meat is overlapped three times). In western country, the most similiar cut is bacon. As you expect, it is really greasy. Usually people cook it on the table with portable cooker. You need a big kitchen towel to absorb the fat.

Sam Gyeop Sal is a really party food in Korea. Of course the party style is very different from westerns. Korean drinking party is usually happen in restaurant with a lot of Soju(Korean vodka). Usually they don;t add any seasoning but eat with spicy side dish (such as Kimchi or Gochujang) or salty sauce (sesame-oiled salt, or wasabi soysauce). Cooked Kimchi is very spicy and special.

Many restaurant offer minimum 2 servings. But Koreans are kind to strangers. Foreign people may order 1 serving. If you visit Korea, never miss to taste it.

Introduction of real Korean Kimchi

2010-10-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

One of the most famous Korean food is Kimchi. Some survey says 20% of American knows about Kimchi. It sometimes translated "Korean Pickle", "Korean vegetable salad", "Korean fermented vegetable", "Spicy korean vegetable" and etc. All the translation will give you the basic idea what it is.

Kimchi is made from asian cabbage and radish. Of course chilli pepper is one of main spice, but there are a lot more such as garlic, salt, fish sauce, ginger, stock, and so on. Recipe is kind of complicate, especially for the people who does not experienced the taste. To describe the big step,

1. Put the salt into radish and cabbage for a while.
2. Mix spices together and put them into 1
3. Keep it outside for some time. It depends on weather, temperature, salty degree, and so on....
4. Keep it in fridge.

If you really want to make it, I strongly suggest you to buy and try it first. Also you need some supervisor who will guide you first time. Remember, you need not 1-time instructor, but supervisor who can check the status from time to time. If you keep it outside too long, then it will be very sour and a lot of bubble.

Like all other fermented food such as strong cheese and fish sauce, fermented food is not easy to approach. but once you like it, you will be addicted.

If you visit any Korean restaurant (whether in Korea or out of Korea) you can try Kimchi of no charge. Basically every Korean restaurant serves Kimchi as much as you want as a side dish. Be careful, many western restaurant or chienese/ Japanese restaurant offer Kimchi but it is not usually fermented. Maybe you prefer the unfermented thing, but the real stuff is fermented.

Ra-myeon soup (Korean Instant Noodle)

2010-10-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Ra-myeon soup as a dish originated from China, and modern instant ramyeon is first produced at Japan. However, the biggest consumer is Korean people. From a statistics, average Korean people eat 90 pouches of ramyeon soup a year. If you visit Korea then Korean ramyeon soup is one thing you must try.

You can get ramyeon soup in your home country. But even if the brand is exactly same, the taste will be different because they make export edition. Upon my trial, american edition is reduced chilli pepper and increased sweet taste. Japanese edition enriched the vegetable bits. Chinese edition added special spices. Korean ramyeon noodle is usually 120g, which is almost twice of western ramyeon soup. (As far as I remember Nissin noodle is 65g per pouch)

The way Korean eat? We add a egg, some vegetable. We always eat Ramyeon with Kimchi (Korean vegetable pickle) as we feel Ramyeon is greasy.

The best selling brand is "Shin-Ramyeon", literally means "Hot & Spicy Ramyeon". You can buy a pouch under $1 (800KRW), or cooked meal at most snack bar by $2 (2500KRW)

Korean Royal Cuisine

2010-10-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

click the picture to see the adequate size
(Sorry I don't know how to resize)

1) The modern restaurant version of Royal Cuisine

2) The duplication of traditional royal cuisine by the scholar associate

Korea has developed very unique cuisine. The royal cuisine requires much effort for cooking, but the result is quite simple and clear. I may say it is a kind of minimalism because it does not include much decoration. As an example, walnut for royal cuisine, they are peeled off not only the hard shell outside, but also the brown inner skin. To do this, they soak the walnut and use tooth-pick. The the remain part of walnut is only white. Only whole walnut can be used for the royal cuisine. If it is broken while processing, then it can not be used.

The picture you see here is one serving for the King in Chosun dynasity. 22 small dishes does not seem fablous enough for the king of a dynasty? But imagine all the ingridient was prepared like the inner-skin removed walnut. A good many cooks in the palace should prepare the royal meal.

We call this "Surasang", literally means King's dinner. In more professional term, it is called "12 chub bansang", literally means 12 special dishes. It is very hard to taste the original royal cuisine. Why? Just imagine people are getting together and use toothpick. 10 people may prepare one day for your beer snack. Expect how much it will be!!

But you can taste similiar food in much reasonable price, reduced a lot of preparation process. Some restaurant offer all 22 dishes together, while others offer each dish in turn. Usually local people prefer all together. (Personally I strongly expect the all-together. You can get a real fun from the cultural shock)

The price ranges are from $10 in local city, $25 in Seoul (Lunch), $50 in Seoul (Dinner). Some restaurant may cost you over $100.

Very unique Korean Cold Noodle soup

2009-08-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

Korea has very unique cold noodle named which literally means cold noodle. (냉면)

No other country has cold noodle soup like Korean. The most similiar style is Japanese Soba, but the only similiarity is that the noodle is served in cold. Soba noodle is served with cold dipping sauce, but Korean Naengmyun is served in cold broth.

Korean cold noodle is made from buckwheat. Usually the noodle is very thin and chewy. Sounds wierd? But that is true. As thin as your hair, but as strong as a fishing thread. Soup is usually very cold and refreshingly sour. Sometimes there is some hot chilli paste.

However, if you find very traditional style Korean cold noodle, the taste will be a little bit different as above. Noodle will not be strong, and the soup will not be sour. You can smell the flavour of buckwheat, and enjoy the calm taste without any strong flavor.

You can eat this noodle almost every place in Korea, but one of the vest place is in Seoul, Euljiro 4Ga. 02-2265-0151.

The price will be 8000 KRW ~ 10,000 KRW for one noodle soup.

You can order special which is not in the menu by adding 3,000 KRW and will enjoy 100% buckwheat noodle

Actually Korea has two different kind of cold noodle. The majority is

Not easy to lget an English teacher job in Korea with fake diploma

2007-09-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

English teachers in Korea, Japan, Taiwan is one of easy way to experience foreign culture.

You can make good money (maybe not enough to buy your own airplane, but similiar as a FORTUNE 500 company, I guess) The job doesnot require very professional skill and you are not under heavy pressure. If you are white and from U.S then you are in high position at the salary negotiation table. Basically you need a university diploma (better with English Literature or English education major, but not necessarily) but you can make a fake diploma and nobody checks it.

That was the old story.

I am not sure about everything, but you should be careful about the one thing : Fake diploma doesnot work any more. Never dream of getting a teaching job with fake diploma. Fake diploma is very big issue in Korea now, and the English institute will check your diploma to your home school.

Korean Palace - Gyoung Bok

2007-08-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

Source :
http://cafe.naver.com/rctschool.cafe?iframe_url=/ArticleRead.nhn%3Farticleid=21178

Gyoung Bok Palace is one of main attraction for foreigner in Seoul. Also it is must-see course for the kid, because of the school work. That is one of Korean symbol. During the old dynasty (Chosun : 1392~1910), it was the loyal palace. King lived and ruled here.

Honestly, If you visit China or Japan before, you can not find very big difference between them. But still it's recommendable place. Because you can visit major Korean heritage and tourist place nearby here.

Japanese Joke

2007-08-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

I am twenty years old male, and I have a little sister. She likes me so much. One day she brought her friend to home, and we had fun together. After that, I fall in love with my sister's friend, and then we are in deep relationship.

After that, my sister hates me. Unlike before, she always critisize me and she even doesn't want to see me. So oneday I asked her.

"What is the problem? I fall in love with your friend. Does it matter? "

Then she answered.

"You both are male! "

Korean Hot Food for suicide

2007-08-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Image from http://chalran.egloos.com/1264812

If you want to suicide very happily,
then the best way is eating your favorite food until you die.

The second best way is eating anyting until you die.

The third best way will be eating very strong food just one bite and then die.
Korean Myungdong Ramen is best fit for the third way.
You will not feel any pain, because as soon as you eat, you will paint your brain with white brush and you will lost yourself in your body. If you survive (un)fortunately, then you should search your mouth to find your tongue, which

The red is not from tomato, ketchup, paprica, etc.
Believe it or not, the red color is all from nothing else than hot pepper.

Overcharge for airport transportation

2007-08-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry foreign buddies, I apologize you in behalf of Korea.
Some taxi drivers overcharge seriously to foreigners.
But they are now all arrested and I assume no more overcharge like that, since Korea government will keep keen eye on them.

Usually it costs around 40,000~60,000 KRW (regular taxi) and 70,000~100,000 KRW (balck premium taxi) depend upon your destination.
And you have to get receipt. If the driver don't give you the receipt then write down the car number and ask to the Korean police. You can trust Korea police. They are kind to foreigners.

Korean Food : Spicy Ham & Sausage Soup

2007-08-16T06:11:00.001-07:00

Korean name is "BUDAE CHIGAE 부대찌개"

The main ingridient is assorted sausage, ham and spam.
But the taste is very strong and hot because of Korean chilli sauce (GOCHUJANG)

It is originated at the Korean war and the US Army.
Cheap Korean restaurant get Spam, ham, sausage from black market or even the food garbage of US soldiers.

This day BUDAE CHIGAE is clean and exotic food.
All Korean likes it.

Korean Leek Pancake Recipe (10 min)

2007-07-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Korean vegetable pancake is very healthy and nuturious. Perfect meal for a vegetarian.

Ingredients
1. Leek (100g)
2. Flour (1Cup)
3. Salt (1tsbp), Soy Sauce, Vineager

Preparation
1. Cut Leek into 3-4cm each.
2. Pour water into flour and mix. Make it a little bit thinner than usual pancake.
3. Pour leek into the mix and stir well.

The mix should look like the following picture

4. Coat your pan with sesame oil or canola oil and heat. Pour a scoup of mix in the pan, and cook it until the surface gets dry. Then turn it over and cook for one more minute and serve.

Do not try to cook every mix in one turn. Remember the leek cake mix is thinner than pancake, and the leek cake itself is also best when it's thinner than the usual pancake

Korean Food : Kimchi

2007-07-28T01:05:00.000-07:00

Kimchi is already famous for the symbol of Korean food. Even it is not only a symbol of Korea food, but it is the symbol of Korea herself! Korean eat Kimchi almost every meal. Even when you go to nice and expensive french restaurant, still you can order some Kimchi. You can order Kimchi at Outback stakehouse. Because Korean customer usually ask for it.

Kimchi is the representative name of Korean style vegetable salad. That is something like cheese. French has more than 100 kinds of cheese, but they call them just cheese.

Although there are more than 100 kinds of Kimchi, you can expect the "Baechu Kimchi" at the ordinary restaurantt. (The picture above). The main ingridient is asian cabbage, hot pepper, green onion. And maybe some leek, carrot, radish, pear and etc.

Taste is usually spicy, sour, and strong. But don't panic too much if you can't eat. You do not have to order one bowl of Kimchi. It is not like "One ceaser's salad for $5". Whatever you order, you will have a small plate of Kimchi. You can ask for more, for free.

Attraction : Insadong

2007-07-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

http://cafe.naver.com/priden.cafe?iframe_url=/ArticleRead.nhn%3Farticleid=33

Insadong is one of main attraction in Seoul.

This street fills with many traditional stuffs including tea, clothes, calligraphy, woodcrafts, and so on. If you want to buy some Korean cultural stuffs then Insadong is best place. When a Korean goes abroad and prepare to buy some souvenior for their foreign partner, then Korean also visit Insadong. Insadong has also good Korean foods, gallery, antique shop. You can also find western style wine bar.

The price range in Insadong is wide but generally speaking it is expensive. Be careful when you are going to eat traditional Korean food. Some Korean restaurant looks small and dirty but the food will be very expensive. (starts at $30 per person) I will introduce some nice Korean restaurant later on.

Insadong is located near by metro station Anguk (Line 3), and Chongro 3Ga (Line 1, 3, 5 transit). After getting off the metro, if you can't find where is Insadong, just catch one young people and ask'em "I-N-S-A-D-O-N-G" :)

Regular Taxi in Seoul

2007-07-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

There are two kinds of taxi in Seoul. Premium and regular. Premium costs one and half more than the regular taxi. Premium taxi is dark black color.

Seoul is notorious for its heavy traffic jam. Taxi may not bring you as fast as you anticipate. Because of the heavy traffic, taxi price is also not very accurate. But generally speaking, you may not pay more than $25 to move in Seoul.

Here is some price example, assuming the normal traffic.
From GangNam to Sinchon : $15
From Seoul Rail Station to GyungBukKung : $4
From Express Bus terminal to GangNam : $7
From Inchon Airport to Seoul city area : $60

Most taxi driver is kind and honest and may not cheat foreigners. But some taxi driver may not know the shortcut (Remember, Seoul is huge huge city with 12 million people) They may expect some tip from foreigner. (Local Korean does not tip or sometimes give the change)

Taxi drivers barely speak English, but you can ask for telephone translator.
Or you can ask for writing your destination in Korean letter and hand over the paper to the driver.

Korean Food : Seaweed Roll (Gimbap)

2007-07-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

You can have Gimbap김밥 any place in Korea. Gimbap is one of most beloved snack and lunch in Korea. It usually contains carrot, ham, egg, spinach, sesame seed and leaf, radish rolled by sticky rice and seaweed, seasoned by salt and sesame oil. You can order additional ingridients such as cheese, kimchi, tuna.

Price starts from 1$, and no more than $3 for 1 line. Adult male usually eat 2 lines for 1 meal.

Korean Food : Gopchang (Intestine)

2007-07-18T09:07:00.001-07:00

broiled small intestine of cattle

Intestine. Sounds yucky? No, Never!

Broiled intestine is very chewy and nuturious. If you don't like fatty meat then the broiled intestine is not for you. But if you are a hungry meat monster and eager to try exotic meat, then intestine is wonderful choice. You can not eat broiled intestine anywhere other than Korea.

Korean whisky "Soju" is very nice with intestine.

Usually orderd more than 2 servings. Pork intestine costs $7~$10 per 1 serving. Beef intestine costs $15~$20 per 1 serving. In Seoul, go to Wangsipri왕십리 to try best Gopchang in the world.

Seoul Metro

2007-07-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

Metro system of Seoul is one of world best subway system, according to Seoul Metro Cooperation. I don't like to agree with business man's word, but about the metro, I agree with them. Seoul metro connects almost all destination of the huge Seoul. And because of heavy traffic jam, in many case Metro will take you to your destination more fast.

The price starts $1 (1,000). In Seoul city area, it costs same. If you go out of the Seoul city boundary, it will be a little more expensive but still cheaper than other transportation. And the metro station is best landmark in Seoul.

The map above is a little small for reading. Please copy one of the following URLs to see full size version

http://cafefiles.naver.net/data10/2005/6/13/78/subway_seoul_eng.jpg
http://cafe.naver.com/ibmmustardseed.cafe?iframe_url=/ArticleRead.nhn%3Farticleid=15

Korean Food : Ginseng Chicken Soup

2007-07-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Korean eat nuturious food at summer as a tradition. Nowadays summer specialty is the famous "Ginseng Chicken Soup" (or "Sam Gye Tang" In Korean)

The soup is much more richer than western style chicken soup, because of several Korean herbs in addition to Ginseng. (Basically in Korea Ginseng is not for food but for medicine)

Accomodation : STAY KOREA

2007-07-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

Image from staykorea.com

I did not visit Stay Korea so I don't know if the owner is kind or not.
I just visit their web site. And I comment its location and price.

Price :
Dorm - 15,000 KRW per 1 night
Twin - 2 Person 50,000 KRW
Single - 1 Person 35,000 KRW

Most of Korean accomodation is charged by room, not person. ST's rate system is not ordinary in Korea. Room rate is reasonable. It is a little expensive than regular motel, but it seems you may exchange information with people, and maybe experience Korean Culture.

Location :

Nearby HongIk Univ. is one of the place youngsters getting together and play. Shinchon is nice place for visiting club, bar, thearter, concert, shopping center. And the subway station is convinient. I will say the place is not that bad.

If you need more information, visit http://www.staykorea.co.kr/

Seoul Accomodation - Overview

2007-07-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Seoul is huge city with plenty of accomodations.

High-End : Merriot, Hyatt, Ambassador, Shilla, Westin, and other high end hotels, which follows global standard and offers excellent services with extraordinary charge. If you can afford you can stay at these hotel, and I assume you don't need to navigate my page for getting information.

Mid-Range : In Seoul you can find a lot of motels anywhere. Especially when there are lots of bar, restaurant and dance club, you are sure to find some motels nearby. Basically those motels are not for travellers but for youngsters who need private place with their lovers(so to say "Love Hotel"), and charged by hours. But walk-in foreigners are also welcomed.

Mid-range motels are usually around $60 for a night. You may not see any because those are for loving couples. $50 room are usually very luxurious. You will see 50" TV, DVD player, whirl-pool bath, videt, internet-abled computer, and etc. (Don't be surprised when you see condoms)

Low-level motels are in similar concept but the price is $30 for a night and usually the equipment are not ready as mid-range hotel. But still you can see television, refrigerator, water purifier, air-conditioner, and etc.

And the mini-bar in the motel is complimentary. Usually they have soda or fruit drink and even beer. That's free!

Korea, Buyeo, Lotus flower festival

2007-07-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lotus Flower Festival at Buyeo (7.20~8.10)

Two hours from South Seoul bus terminal.

Bus Fee : $12 (12,000 KRW)

Go to for the lotus festival

Upon my travel experiences, Korea Buyeo lotus pond is one of best garden in the world.

Airport Transportation

2007-07-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

Min's Comment : Upon arrival at Incheon international airport(the main gate of Korea), you can take Taxi, subway, and bus to get in Seoul. Domestic people use limousine bus for the transportation. It costs around 8000KRW ~ 12000KRW (= apprx 8$~12$) and runs between 6AM to 11PM.

You can take Taxi any time but it will costs 60,000KRW (=60~70$) to get in city area.
Subway is quite good transportation but not very fast for the airport transportation.

Following is the airport bus information, and you can see more information at http://www.airport.or.kr/airport/traffic/bus/busList.iia?flag=E&fake=1184459766231

But do not worry to much because you can get at airport and ask to the information center for which line will take to your destination.

Seoul Map Navigator

2007-07-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

You can navigate Seoul with following link :

Attention! The page needs high speed internet and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

http://asp.congnamul.com/seoul/english/map.jsp

Korean tourism information

2007-07-14T16:59:00.001-07:00

Hello.

This blog is Korean tourism information center.
Since I am living in Seoul Korea, I can give you many information about Korea upon your question. Feel free to ask and enjoy navigating!