Inner Journey

F rom time to time, we went to a local eel dish place specializing in Jangeo Gui or grilled eel. There seems to be two most common way to cook eels in Korea.   One is using sources on eels when you grill or broil and in the other recipe, you only do with eels without adding anything else. The chef of restaurant we went stick to the latter style of method and it is recommendable to people who dislike salty or spicy seasonings. The eel prepared this way usually served with various vegetables, so called Namuls including pickled sesame leaves, radish kimchi, lettuce, and sliced gingers dipped in wasabi and soy bean sources.   Such sources are separately come thus you don’t need to use them if you don’t like them.   The impressive aspect of this restaurant was they also include soybean stew which is very different form conventional Korean stew in that soybean paste and vegetables are braised with eel bones, imparting unique taste. Leo is picky eater who is not happy about mo...

  Today’s culinary adventure took place at a local seafood restaurant on the backstreet near Lotte department store and Sinjungdong station (subway line 7). There are many local foods available, and Leo chose the one serving Yeonpotang which is a dish made by putting live octopus in a clear boiled broth and briefly blanching it together with vegetables. Usually, unlike many Korean soups, there is no special seasoning, so you can enjoy the true taste and chewy texture of octopus.   In our case, two small octopuses (scientific name Octopus Minor) were put in a pot above a gas stove.   Also, we have many side dishes such as green gallic stems with bean paste.   My kid enjoyed green bean and raw flounder which is also most common and popular form of sashimi here. The nick name of octopus is ginseng in the tidal flats, meaning that it is a kind of energy booster thus eating soup infused with octopuses and vegetables gives you a lift. The name, Yeonpotang we had could be c...

  These days, eumuk may be the most common food found on the menu in Bucheonian beer places or bars.   The picture below was taken in an establishment called Insaeng Makju, which is on the alley behind Hyundai department store. In Korea, draft beer restaurants are usually called HOFs. The reason is that the famous Korean beer company OB created a draft beer place brand in 1986 and named it HOF. This is the case the specific brand replaced ordinary nouns.   I bet you may find out hundreds of HOFs sign, if not thousands, here and there. Fried chicken and eumuk are very popular side dishes with draft or bottled beer. Eomuk is a Korean food usually served in a bowl with soup. It is basically fish meat processing food made by combining mashed fish flesh, starch, flour, or rice flour and hardening them into jelly like solids. According to chefs and food specialists, this type of fish cake eaten in Korea originally from Japan where people have eaten such dishes since long time a...

      Bucheon is a city located an hour's drive from downtown Seoul Korea, home to a population of 0.9 million. For most people here in Korea, it is nothing but a featureless city of arrays of concrete chunks of apartment complexes and the like. But for me, this is the place where I always wonder if anywhere else in the planet can provide same degree of amenity I am enjoying now.  I think the city can be summarized by the combination of initials “2AC”.  Here, 2A represent accessibility and availability. And C means “Cheaper”.  First, let me talk about accessibility. Bucheon is between Incheon and country’s capital Seoul thus you can easily go many tourist attractions or hot places, conveniently via subway line 7 that goes through the main drag parallel to 8 lane road GiljuRo.  Once you take subway here, then the train takes you to downtown Seoul, Kangnam, Hongic Univ where many clubbers gather during weekend and scenic mountainous areas of Dobongsan ...