Food for the Seoul

Street food in Seoul is a treasure hunt. You go from stall to stall and try different flavours done with different, but precise techniques. Many are actually sweet – newsflash: we will not leave this country without getting type 2 diabetes – but interesting nevertheless. Street food snacks range from:

- egg bread (gyeran ppang)

- fish-shaped bread with sweet red bean filling (bungeoppang)

- deep fried dumplings filled with sugar, honey, nuts and cinnamon (hotteok)

- spicy rice cakes (teokbokki)

- fish cakes (odeng)

- various foods on a skewer (kkochi)

- deep fried vegetables (twigim)

- pancakes (jeon)

- dry octopus and squid

- rice rolls (gimbap)

I don't have pictures to illustrate them all but will definitely update this post with more pictures as soon as I buy the next yummy snacks.

One can easily have a full meal going from one stall to another. No language skills are needed here. Money does the talking.

Some stalls cater for office people and close late afternoon. It's very common to see businessmen and women in dark suits holding their fish sticks and hanging out around a stall just after leaving the office.

Other Koreans put up their stalls around 5pm in busy areas, especially where nightlife is bustling – such as Hongdae (the university neighborhood) and Myeongdong (Seoul’s shopping haven).

In Namdaemun market, since they are more used to foreigners and especially when the business is slow in the evening, they even call out for us. In other parts of town, mainly in Insadong and in Hongdae, where for the first time in my life I was stuck in a queue to get into the subway station, they couldn’t care less.

In Gwangjang market they even have specific alleys according to the type of food – pancakes, meat (including pig trotters, yes, pig trotters), sashimi / seafood and so on… It’s so crowded that we had to queue for at least 10 minutes to buy two bindaetteok (see pic below). The place was so full that the ajumma waiting tables was pushing everyone in her way to get through. "Excuse me" is not something you hear often in Korea, even though they behave orderly, generally speaking. 

Gwangjang Market

No matter where you are in Seoul, if you have a couple of won in your wallet, you won’t go hungry.

Geonbae! Cheers!

It’s drinking time!

All the imported booze is heavily taxed in Korea which makes drinking wine a luxury, especially in restaurants, where bottles can easily cost you 50 to 60 USD (50,000 to 60,000 Korean won). Spirits... don't even mention it! On Saturday we were in a Mexican restaurant where they charged almost 20 USD for a Margarita! Surprisingly the food was one of the best we have had in international restaurants.

The Korean products are on the other hand extremely cheap. One bottle of soju in the supermarket costs around 1USD. The bottle of makgeolli is a bit more, but less than 2USD. So getting drunk is not a difficult task, as long as you grow fond of the taste of Korean beverages, which believe me, is pretty far from what we are used to.

Makgeolli

Wikipedia: Soju

Soju has a very plain grainy taste and the high alcoholic content is all you feel burning your chest when you gulp it down. Makgeolli – made from a mixture of wheat and rice – has a milky appearance and can be more interesting when perfumed with spices (cinnamon, ginger) and fruits (apple, orange).

Getting drunk is something normal but only among men. They drink together, mostly in the evenings, after leaving the office, and drag themselves in the streets afterwards, sometimes singing while hugging each other.

One hardly sees a woman drunk, except in Itaewon, the international area, though rarely. But when I say drunk, I say dead-drunk, which is a state they easily attain after two beers. :) Lack of the necessary enzymes to break down the alcohol.

A useful service has been gaining ground in Korea – the designated driver service, which you can call in case you had a bit too much to drink and want to be driven home in your own car. An estimated 100,000 replacement drivers tend to 700,000 customers every day across the country. This number increases by 30 % on Fridays (source: Korea Service Driver Society). In a 50 million people country, this is a significant number.

Thing about drinking in Korea is this: even if they drink a huge amount of booze they still maintain themselves morally sound. The drunk foreigners are the ones doing mischief.

Next post will be about food – street food, yeah!

Wiki Korea

It has been an interesting few weeks. I'm now feeling more hopeful regarding communication with Koreans, but probably I have taken my gesture skills to the next level in the meantime. And Google Translate has given me a hand.

I’m amazed with how much communication can take place with only a few gestures and words like:

• “spicy” – that’s the warning I get whenever I buy kimchi here, and then I'm asked if I wanna take it in the airplane (is that even possible? not only the because of the smell, I mean, there's still a lot of liquid inside!),
• “on / off” – very important when I have technicians coming to fix / handle appliances at home,
• “ice / hot” – whenever I order a coffee, tea or latte in a coffee shop I’m always asked if I want it iced or hot, even if it’s -10 degrees outside,
• “sign / no sign” – debit cards don’t require pin numbers in Korea. 3 out of 10 times I don’t even need to sign, which makes losing the card a big risk; on the other hand, it’s one of the safest places I've been…

Everything is high-tech and loud. There are tv screens everywhere and appliances produce annoying long-lasting sounds to indicate errors or that the programme has ended. Every time, the ATM and the metro card reload machine scream at me with instructions in English and I don’t know how to make them stop. And the voice in English sounds so much louder than the Korean. Almost as if foreigners needed extra encouragement.

Keys have no use in Korea. Everything works with codes, including our apartment door:

 Our living-room looks like a control room:

Everyone carries a Samsung Galaxy Note, though some lost souls try to stand out of the crowd with an iPhone. Since its launch, 10 million Notes have been sold in Korea alone. Most of the technology in public places is powered by Samsung. Our home is powered by LG (ok, except the microwave and the TV).

The banking system is pretty advanced in some things like paying bills by only scanning a QR code and so behind in others – I still had to go to the counter to change my card’s pin code (yes, the one I never use).

In the meantime we have found a little Portuguese oasis in Hongdae, the university area – the first and only Portuguese restaurant Taverna de Portugal with Super Bock beer and homemade “pastéis de nata”, yeah! It's run by a Portuguese-Korean couple and will be our safe haven whenever we feel homesick and need to speak Portuguese to someone other than ourselves. Difficult task, since there's just a few over 100 Portuguese in the whole country...

마포구 상수동 90-8

Another nice thing I've discovered this week: Spring is coming!

Hannam-dong, Seoul

Goodbye Brussels… hello Seoul!

I should have written this post a long time ago but moving leaves little time to stretch the mind. I feel I should honour the city where I lived for almost 7 years with some words.

Even though at first glance Brussels can be disappointing it grows on you and once you discover its hidden secrets, it’s hard not to like it. The only thing I’m happy to leave behind is the bad customer service, with a few exceptions.

My last days in Brussels were kind of emotional. I’ve tried to go to the places I like the most. The only miss was this sneaky Japanese restaurant in St Catherine – there’s only one living person I know who has actually made it there. It’s always full and they make it clear by having a “complet” sign on the door… all the time!

Otherwise, I went:

• one last time to the opera in La Monnaie and saw Jenufa with friends, after which we had a beer in the historic brasserie Le Cirio
• one weekend to Porto to celebrate my parents’ birthdays. Thank you Ryanair for helping with last minute decisions!
• to the El Dorado room in UGC De Brouckere to watch 12 Years a Slave and to Actor’s Studio to watch La Grande Belezza.
• to eat “moules and frites” in Le Pré Salé in rue de Flandres. Best mussels in Brussels, by the way.
• to Nespresso at least twice to bag as many capsules as possible to bring to Seoul – it’s a highend product here, not to talk about the Starbucks latte at 6,5USD.
• to Inno department store to stock up with clothes – fashion in Seoul is peculiar to say the least, although I’m finally in the land of extra small sizes, oooray.

For my last lunch in Brussels we ordered Turkish pizza, delivered in the office. We accompanied it with French wine and a lively discussion about curling while listening to Gangnam style and Silvio Berlusconi, alternatively.

Cheese pide

The “apero” later that evening was in a brand new restaurant / bar called Beaucoup fish. It’s worth a try and the way they bring the bill is kind of funny, at least for a Portuguese.

Tuna can Bom Petisco (PT)

So hard to say goodbye to friends.

My last morning was a mix of different feelings but sadness was the strongest. I was taken to the airport by an extremely nice Rwandan taxi driver, but didn't leave the country without having an altercation, this time with the staff at the check-in counter. This is Belgium!

Field trip to Kyoto – going zen...

After Osaka we spent the remaining 4 days of our short escapade to the Land of the Rising Sun in Kyoto. We got there in a local train from Umeda station for about 4USD, not bad! They have men in white (literally) helping foreigners in the main stations. Their help purchasing the tickets was priceless.

We were not very lucky with the hotel we picked but at least its location was central, in Kawaramichi dōri. The city was flying off the handle with the sales; it was a challenge to squeeze ourselves between the crowds. We gave in and bought some goodies, since prices are considerably more interesting than in Korea – especially when it comes to booze.

We started with a warm bowl of udon and bought some senbei (salty rice crackers) with sesame seeds for the road. Since ramen was out of question (not vegetarian), udon did just fine. We ended up by buying some takoyaki in the evening but they didn't taste as nice as in Osaka.

The best day was no doubt when we went to the Zen Buddhist temple Kinkaku-ji, the Arashiyama bamboo forest and the Fushimi Inari shrine with its intriguing red tori. Since it was the beginning of the year we managed to get some more treats in the food stalls at the entrance of the shrine: fried sweet potato and some azuki pancake.

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion

Bamboo forest in Arashiyama

Red tori in Fushimi Inari

Another worthwhile experience in Kyoto is Shimbashi (sometimes called Shirakawa Minami-dōri) in Gion, claimed to be the most beautiful street in Japan (even in Asia).

The restaurants in Pontocho were also a nice discovery although touristy. The restaurant we went to (Mimasuya) had some interesting vegetarian options (some not gluten-free) and acceptable prices.

We said goodbye to Kyoto by going to the Nishiki market. There we bought some treats: tonyu doughnuts (sold just next to a bio store) and some sesame balls filled with cheese (to die for) and azuki. We had lunch in one store / restaurant which sells only beans or bean-based products. The meals they served in the restaurant were also prepared with red / black beans, to level our protein intake up.

We almost felt home sick when leaving the market and seeing this stall in one of the shopping arcades:

Pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts)

Até breve! Dewa mata!

Field trip to Osaka – All you can eat!

We spent New Year's Eve in Osaka this time. We took a Peach flight from Incheon airport to Kansai and the price was quite reasonable taking into account how late we booked it.

Apart from the Osaka castle, whose main tower is closed for visits this time of the year (we got impressive pictures from the outside though), there is no much sightseeing to do in Osaka. It's a city where concrete and elevated motorways rule.

Osaka castle

So we spent our time there filling our tummies with "yaki" (=grilled) delicious food: okonomyaki, yakisoba, takoyaki and the like. We finally understood why Osaka is Japan's capital of food. It's like they say: Dress in kimonos till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you drop in Osaka! 

Yakisoba (grilled noodles)

Okonomyaki (pancake with vegetables and, in this case seafood)

We loved the Dōtonbori area: it's bustling with young people every night, and also good for shopping during the day if you can bear the crowds. If a restaurant is moderately good and cheap, there will be a queue, but also a bench where you can seat while you wait. There are also street food stalls where to buy takoyaki on the go. 

Dōtonbori 

And while strolling in Osaka we also discovered a mile long queue of people (some were there from the night before) waiting for the sales in the Apple store. Apparently the main attraction in the sales season in Japan is the "lucky bags" (fukubukuro). Sold by almost every store in the first days of the year, they are surprise bags (normally closed and sold by size, if applicable) and their content is always worth more than the price you pay for it. Apple fans take it to the next level, it seems…

Dewa kore de.

The road to Seoul – Step 2: House hunting II

The New Year brought us a new round of house hunting, since the owner of the apartment we had chosen previously received a better offer. Or at least he said he received a better offer.

But things happen for a reason and we were on the ground again, starving for a nice place to put our things, whose arrival was imminent at the Busan port.

We started by seeing a beautiful ground floor apartment in Pyeongchang, with a lovely view.

Downside: far away from civilization. There is a bus every half an hour that takes residents to the main road. And from there’s another 30 minute bus ride till the city centre. It felt too much “cabin in the woods” for me so we dropped it.

Another heartbreak came with a modern and preciously decorated duplex in UN Village. But as there is a crack in everything, we looked out the window ant there was the motorway. It was so close and noisy that we wouldn’t manage to hear the veggies barbecuing in the terrace in a summer evening. So we dropped it. This one was tough – there was a home cinema in the upper floor… I still think about it sometimes.

At the end of two frustrating days we had to make a decision. So we compromised and took a nice and compact apartment in Hannam-dong. The only two minor things about this one were the vis-a-vis and the laundry being next to the living room. The first shouldn’t scare us because we live with it in our own apartment. And I can survive doing laundry in the morning.

Plus, we will be a five minute bike ride from the river, 10 minute walk to the metro station and half an hour metro ride from Gwanghwamun.

The move is scheduled for the 28th January. The road to Seoul is about to end.

The next step is to learn how to pronounce 나는 채식주의입니다 – the last time we went to a restaurant we repeated three times “no meat” and still got beef in return.

Tip of the day: don’t leave the restaurant before drinking your cinnamon tea – the meal is not over till you sip it.

So far, so good. Korea has been somehow kind to us. And we are thankful for the trust!