Seoul Food - 2 to 5 Apr 2015

Wandei Ağustos 20, 2022

Mythical roof guardians at the National palaces.

We started our Korean excursion by visiting the National Palace, Gyeongbokgung or Gyeongbok Palace. The Palace dates back to the founding of the Joseon Dynasty in the late 14th century. In its well kept museum there were many murals and portraits of palace and court life which includes feasting and parties...

Gyeongbokgung is a beautiful & enduring monument to the Korean people, and its incredible history of having been destroyed - torn down and burnt, built-over, many times over, and then rebuilt to its present state. A true testimony to the resilience and tough-mindedness of the Korean people. Their cuisine is a reflection of the people's history and culture.

Because our hotel is next to Meongdong, we covered many eateries there.

Tosokchon Samgyetang

(Ginseng chicken house, in Gwanghwamun).

85-1 Chebu-dong, Jongro-gu, Seoul

Tosokchon is the most highly recommended ginseng chicken soup or Samgyetang house. The restaurant is near Gyeongbokgung. It's the only one we know that serves ginseng wine together with the usual condiments of kimchi, bean sprouts, etc. Although the opening time stated is 10am, they start taking customers around 20 minutes earlier.

Ginseng chicken soup or Samgyetang.

First bowl of ginseng chicken soup

Second bowl of ginseng chicken soup (on our second visit).

Fried ginseng chicken (first visit).

House specialty pancake (on our second visit).

Its got small prawns.

and lots of chives plus sotong too.

The complimentary kimchi is served in a large bowl. It's self service.

House menu & bill.

Bill number #18.

View of the outer courtyard from the main entrance. Window on the left is the cashier.

Leaf-less tree surrounded by ported Azaleas.

High ceiling of traditional Korean house.

Guest room on the outer courtyard.

Outer courtyard of the traditional house restaurant.

Entrance into the restaurant.

Trade labels on the entrance.

Roast baby chicken rotisserie by the front shop glass display.

View of entrance from the street.

View of entrance from other side of road.

Business card (rare to be completely in English)

At our first visit to Tosokchon we spent S$44 (ginseng chicken soup and fried entire chicken), and the second visit we indulged S$38 (ginseng chicken soup and pancake).

We felt that Tosokchon is indeed a Korean ginseng restaurant worth coming to again and again. Its no frills and no fuss, and the waitresses speak Mandarin. In fact almost every restaurant (and retail shop) we visited, except for the very small ones, have staff who speak Mandarin (with a Beijing accent).

Myeongdong Gyoja

(Traditional chopped noodle house, in Myeongdong)

25-2-2-ga Myeong-dong, Jung-ru, Seoul

Chopped or cut noodle soup.

Steamed pork & prawn dumplings.

Korean spicy cold noodles.

Only 4 dishes offered in this restaurant so ordering the food is serious business.

Brief history of the restaurant.

The only 4 dishes offered, with pictures on the wall.

The entrance on the busy Myeongdong shopping throughfare.

Myeongdong Gyoja is a very busy place at lunch time when we went. We spent S$46 for the three items, all of the above except the porridge. Personally I thought the steamed dumpling was quite good.

Maple Tree House

(BBQ pork & beef house, in Myeongdong)

B1F,8-1 Myeong-dong, 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

Maple Tree House serves what is called Samgyeopsal or Galbi style of BBQ.

Elevator signboard indicating that Maple Tree House is on B1.

Stylized signboard on the reception wall.

Condiments included nice tofu (which was not offered in the other 2 galbi places we went to).

The retractable chimney stoking the fire in the stove.

Marveling at how high the retractable chimney.

The service staff changes the grill after each round. Got class!

The 3 layered belly pork strip where the name "samgyeopsal" comes from?

The smoke from the grill is quickly extracted. Cool!

Of all the three Galbi houses we dined at, Maple Tree House has the best service, its deserving of a 4 star rating. For our orders of aged beef, ribeye, and belly pork, plus Cass bottle, our bill came up to slightly below S$94. We think its worth the money.

Sae Byuk Jib

(BBQ beef house, in Gangnam)

129-10 Changdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Sae Byuk Jib, "House of Dawn" is also a Galbi place but it does not use the retractable chimneys like the ones we saw in other Galbi restaurant. Sae Byuk Jib is listed as #3 in CNN's selection of top 5 Korean BBQ restaurants.

Spread that is eye candy for the foodie.

Kimchi soup.

Bibimbap - raw beef with rice and seaweed & salad.

Marbled beef slices.

Onions, radish, and beef on the grill.

Pat loves the Bibimbap!

Fast to cook, good to eat!

A step back view of our dining table.

Staff slicing up the beef strips. A candid shot.

Extreme left is entrance - very inconspicuous entrance for a restaurant off the main street.

Business card with very useful English.

The bill came to S$94. Quite comparable with Maple Tree House. Sae Byuk Jib is a popular local Galbi restaurant. The service is a bit abrupt but we got our seats and food in good time! The restaurant is also hard to find as explained in the photo above. The service staff appears to be more matured than the other 2 Galbi restaurants we visited, but the marbled beef was very good. We rated the beef as the best of the 3.

Wangbi Jib

(BBQ meats, Myeongdong)

2F, 63-6 Chungmun-2ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

Wangbi Jib is known as "Queen's house" and is very popular with the young set, as can be seen from the many many favorable reviews it received on google search.

Translation of the chinese name: "Consort's House".

Wangbi Jib is next to 7-Eleven.

The 3 layered belly pork strip "samgyeopsal",

Neighbouring table ordered BBQ meats without the active grilling.

The length of the 2nd storey restaurant.

The staff managing the BBQ.

Sizzling beef.

Pieces of scissors-cut port belly, bit charred but just a bit on the edges.

Interesting salad with raw egg.

The bills came up to S$78 a not expensive price for the meal we ate - pork neck, beef ribs & pork belly. They got our order for beef ribs wrong, and we instead got chopped version instead. But the experience was pleasant and the waiting staff a bit younger, as is the case for many of the flashy eateries in the Myeongdong shopping belt.

Noryangin Fish Market

Nodeul-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul

Noryangin Fish Market is from our brief experience, a cross between Sai Kung in HK, and the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. Sai Kung has similar concept of customers buying the fresh sea food off the vendors on the jetty, who then bagged them in large plastic bags, and they bring these to the "independent" restaurants nearby for the food to be cooked. The Sai Kung restaurants are fast, efficient and can dish out pretty delicious HK-standard seafood favorites. The Noryangin Fish Market vendors have similar concept in that the customers have to buy the seafood and then carry them into the side "restaurants" for cooking.

As for the fish market atmosphere, Noryangin is similar to the much larger Tsukiji. Again from our brief encounter in Noryangin, Tsujiki appears to have more wholesalers and not so tourist-friendly, but Noryangin Fish Market vendors appears to be more retail focus as can be seen from the photos below.

Entrance into the Noryangin Fish Market.

The market exit which is located near the subway train station and also where taxi are.

Inside the market.

Abundant varieties of seafood.

Crabs for the asking.

Our seafood vendor balancing on the glass edges of her fish tanks.

This was the lobster we ordered for lunch!

"Restaurant" that cooked our purchases.

View of the "restaurant" from the main door.

Baby octopus sashimi. Some are still squirming...!

Half eaten sashimi lobster tail.

Grilled fresh abalone and clamps.

Enjoying the grilled fresh abalone. Quite a treat!

Boiled cockles! Quite unlike the cockles we have back home.

Lobster soup.

The huge pair of pincers!

Trying to look cool dealing with pins & needles.

An aerial view of the lunch table.

The cost for buying all the fresh seafood including the lobster was S$133 and the cooking fee was S$38. The cooking styles were grilled, boiled or sashimi -- we think some of the fresh foods could have been cooked differently to enhance their freshness a lot more. The experience was definitely exotic and should be tried for the uninitiated.

Han Chu Fried Chicken

(fried chicken & beer house, in Garusogil)

549-9, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Han Chu is a favorite after work hang out for office workers. They come for quick (or slow) beers and the popular Han Chu fried chicken.

The main entrance of Han Chu.

Han Chu's simple menu.

The cashier cum waiter.

Inside of restaurant.

The signature fried chicken.

Han Chu also serves battered fried vegetables and of course many varieties of beer.

Side view of Han Chu. View is towards the Gangnam shopping streets.

For our fried chicken and the drinks and beer, our bill came to S$38.

In draft.

In bottle.

Juk Story cafe

(porridge & coffee cafe, in Myeongdong)

Sogongdong Underground Shopping District 112, Sogong-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul

"Juk" is Korean for porridge. We had our breakfast at this Juk cafe.

The front of the cafe with the Chinese character for porridge or "chok".

Fresh and eager to face the day after a good abalone porridge.

The crab porridge.

Porridge with its condiments.

The abalone porridge.

The signboard for Juk Story.

The Juk Story crab porridge was quite tasty, and of course the condiments are always good taste buds stimulus especially at breakfast. S$30 was the total cost of the breakfast.

The porridge eatery was conveniently near where we were, and it was a refreshing change after all the meats and ginseng soups we have been eating!

Yeongyang Center

(Ginseng chicken house, in Myeongdong)

52, Myeongdong 2-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

The shop front of Yeongyang Center.

The menu options on the wall.

Pat looks lovingly at the ginseng chicken soup.

Samgyetang.

The house roast ginseng chicken.

Radish kimchi.

The metal serving plate with motifs, carrying the claypot.

Savoring the Samgyetang.

The rest of the restaurant.

For the ginseng chicken soup and the fried chicken, the total bill was S$42. The Yeongyang Samgyetang's soup is clearer and less heavy than the one served by Tosokchon which scores better in terms of taste and appearance. Both has sticky rice fused with ginseng paste.

The roast baby chicken at Tosokchon has a more generous serving of the ginger paste, and so Yeongyang chicken is better for those who prefer lighter touch of ginger. The roast chicken skin is very crispy and the meat inside very tender

In between our meals, we had many coffee and pastry treats from the following cool cafes.....

Ice cream cafe Mirabeau, opposite Tosokchon Samgyetang.

Caffe Bene near Sae Byuk Jib in Gangnam. Caffe Bene is featured in many Korean dramas.

Cafe Isaac at Ewha Women's University for coffee and sandwiches.

Tom N Toms Coffee City in Myeongdong

Cafe DROPTOP opposite Wangbi Jib in Myeongdong. Droptop is the scene of many Korean serial dramas.

Rabbit cafe, opposite Villa Youk Shim Won.

Star Avenue @ Lotte Tower.

Coming to Seoul and soaking in the sizzling energy of the stars in the air...of the famous Korean movie actors (eg. Lee Min Ho) and actresses.....was the equivalent of what we used to do when we go to Los Angeles' Sunset Blvd, Santa Monica Blvd.......that's Hollywood!

With the rise of the Korean movie icons, it's now much closer to home...at least within our time zone!