nanoomi

My favorite food in Korea is the kimbap (김밥), although with the new romanization rules, it’s now written gimbap! It’s a snack and a meal that isn’t native to Korea. It was introduced by the Japanese during the occupation period as the futomaki. Gimbap is made from rice (bap/밥). The gim (seaweed/김) is used to roll the rice and other ingredients into a tight package and then is sliced into bite-sized pieces for consumption. The rice is typically lightly seasoned with a little salt and oil, giving it a slightly different flavor than if ordering rice with a meal. Typical ingredients also include fish cakes, imitation crab meat, egg, radish, ham, carrots, spinach, and cucumbers.

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By Megan K. O’Brien

On Saturday, June 18, some folks in Seoul organized an event that they called the Fermentation Trail-abration. The Fermentation Trail-abration was a redux of the previous Fermentation Celebration which had been held at Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro back on March 12. At the first event, there was an 8,000 won cover and you were able to try all sorts of fermented and not so fermented foods; for example, yogurt, kefir, kombucha, cheese, beer, vegan kimchi, makgeolli, kool-aide pickles.

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A few shots from last weekend’s Friendship Fair at City Hall. A meat lover’s paradise…

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Living in such a big city like Seoul one would think international dishes would be easy to come by. For the most part that is decidedly true. For instance, its hard to go a few blocks without seeing an Italian restaurant of some kind.

Other countries however aren’t as readily represented. In particular Russian cuisine didn’t seem to have much of a foot hold. Sure there’s the “Russian Alley” near exit five of Dongdaemun station, but outside of that little corner of the city nothing much else could be easily found. That changed late last year with the opening of Siberia in the Gyeongridan area of Itaewon.

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Sujebi is one of the most popular, simple dishes all year round in Korea, especially on rainy days and cold days.  I consider it a cousin of kalguksu (칼국수; knife-cut noodles), but its quick dough of white flour and water is torn with hands and dropped right into boiling broth.  Basic sujebi broth is made with dried anchovies and dried kelp, which are also basic pantry items in Korea.  Add sliced onion, potato and aehobak (애호박; similar to zucchini, but lighter in color and sweeter in taste), and you have a simple bowl of sujebi.  From this basic bowl of sujebi to popular variations of kimchi sujebi and haemul (해물; seafood) sujebi, you can easily create your own sujebi by playing with dough (chewy or soft?  plumpy thick or wide-noodle thin?), ingredients or broth.

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On a pint sized hill in Itaewon sits a pitcher sized place full of fun and frivolity. Tony’s Aussie Bar and bistro may seem unassuming outside, but like it’s proprietor, once you get in you’re in store for a surprise. The bar oozes Aussie charm in large part due to Tony himself whose easy smile and welcoming manner makes everyone feel at home.

Besides the good vibes the other reason to stop into Tony’s place is the good food. He serves up down home Aussie cooking including meat pies, vegemite sandwiches, beetroot and cheese sandwiches, all manner of jaffles (sandwiches with sealed edges to keep heat inside), lamb and salmon steak, burgers galore, pineapple fritters, seafood baskets, and not to mention bottles of Aussie beer like Pure Blonde. Desserts include Lamo and ice cream, Anzac biscuits, banana fritters, tim tam biscuits, and Cadbury chocolate.

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Executive Chef Nick Flynn of the Grand InterContinental

A quick look around the Google-sphere, and I don’t believe this has been posted yet–the Korean part, I mean. So maybe this is a scoop.

Here are the Top 5 Restaurants in Korea for 2010/2011, according to the Miele Guide:

1. Table 34, Grand InterContinental Seoul  (My interview with Executive Chef Nick Flynn)

2. Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul, Lotte Hotel

3. Kitchen, W Seoul – Walkerhill (Featured here and here on ZenKimchi. My interview with Executive Chef Ciaran Hickey)

4. Poom Seoul

5. Jung Sik Dang (ZK Dining review)

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In case you didn’t know, we were recently in Toronto for three weeks for our summer vacation. Oh, how we missed Canada! Funny thing is, when we were in Canada, we missed Korea as well. We felt kinda homesick, in a reverse homesick kinda twisted way. Luckily for us, since we were in Toronto there were two different Koreatowns for us to visit to get our fix for Korean culture.

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It’s summer now in Korea, and with the warm weather comes patio fun! Just about every restaurant puts tables and chairs outside so that more people can eat, and oftentimes there are more people sitting outside than in. We wanted to do a video about this patio dining culture, but rather than go to an expensive bar or restaurant, we decided to dine at our local convenience store. Some have simple plastic chairs and tables, while others – like our favorite one here – boast wooden patios and umbrellas. Convenience stores in Korea sell everything, if you haven’t seen from our Convenience Store Raid Series a while ago, so no matter how specific your taste, or what you’re in the mood for, they’ve got it! So, this time, we raided our favourite convenience store to make the best booze and snack combos, all based on your personality type! Well, kindof…

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