Soul Food in Seoul (Last Day)

It was our final day in Seoul. After breakfast and packing our luggages, we headed to Namdemun market for some last minute shopping. I saw some stores that feature children's clothes. We waited at the corner square . We talked to some tourism volunteers who informed us that our waiting was for naught. Stores inside buildings do not open of the first Sunday of every month!





Anyway, we already finished most of our shopping and sight seeing and so we searched for a place to have our last lunch in Seoul. At the corner of the alley and main road, there is a small restaurant run by two old ladies. As usual they could not understand english so we resorted to pointing things in their wall menu.

cutting homemade kimchi

 Kimchi was as usual unlimited and you can cut the long cabbage leaves with scissors.

Lets eat!

Clam soup with hand made noodles

Boiled dumplins

 We chose clam soup with handmade noodles. It tasted simple, clean and delicious. The noodle were perfectly cooked al dente. the broth was non spicy, the clams not overcooked.










We also ordered a plateful of boiled dumplings not knowing what was inside. It was thankfully filled with vegetables and ground pork. It tasted good specially when you dip it in soy sauce with a little vinegar (which the serving lady prepared for us). The whole meal was close to home cooking goodness as it gets.

Hindi kami gutom...masakit ang ngipin namin!

Lady cook

wall menu

wall menu

Resto at the alley cor main street at Namdaemun

We headed back to the hotel to rest and wait for our airport pick up. It was a great three day stay in Seoul, South Korea. We bring home with us a greater appreciation of South Korean history and culture.   

Soul Food in Seoul (day 2)

After the hotel breakfast, we braved the Seoul subway. Reputed to be one of the longest and most extensive subway system in the world, it was easy enough to navigate as there are english translations of the stations.

Cake selection

Wide array of breads

As we did not get a good feel of the city layout with yesterday's tour, we decided to go to Gwanghwamun to ride the Seoul city tour bus. The Downtown Tour runs every 25 mins like a hop on hop off bus. This passes through most of the city's tourists spots including most of the palaces. The tour guide spoke in monotonous robot-like tone that threatened to lull us to sleep. So after almost an hour we decided to go down at Namsangol Traditional Korean Village to get some coffee . We enetered Paris Baguette which is their local patisserie for some cappuccino and Bean filled bun.

Paris Baguette

Cappuccino 3000 Won, Bean filled bun 1000 Won

It was a good thing as we found a photostudio before entering the site that dresses you up in Traditional Korean costumes. For 15,000 Won , we had a great time donning and posing in Korean costumes. The photographer was so amused with our antic and whacky poses that he photoshopped our 'official' photo!

Our Official Photo

Basket weaver

Namsangol features traditional life and culture of Choseon Dynasty. They even have a basket weaver doing actual baskets. 






After this  we waited for the Seoul City bus. This is when we learned that the bus is rarely on time. In fact there was one time we waited almost an hour for the bus. our next stop was Dongdaemun. We went to the shopping building callled Migliore. If Namdaemun was Divisoria, Dongdaemun is like our Greenhills. Nine floors of shopping mecca ,organized according to what item they are selling.

with the food stall's lady boss

It was also lunchtime and  we headed to the top floor (9th) which houses the foodcourt. We chose that stall that has the most number of customers dining. This time we chose the Korean classic beef bulgogi which came to us served steaming on a big hotplate. It was good for2-3 people and costs 11,000 Won (Php 480).

The ever present appetizers

appetizers include fried egg, three linds of kimchi and sweet dried squid strips 

Vegetable broth with long huge bean sprouts.

Vegetable broth tasted like sweet corn and had really big and long yellow bean sprouts.

Beef Bulgogi- slightly sweet and non-spicy

N Seoul Tower

Next stop was N Seoul Tower, the 10th highest tower in the world (according to our drone voiced tour bus guide). We decided not to go down anymore as it involved more climbing and our feet were starting to ache (from shopping).












Changdeokgung Palace Complex was next on our list. It is the most preserved palace of the Choeson Dynasty and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is composed of several buildings like  Myeongjeungjeon(main hall), Sungmundang and Haminjeong (conference halls), Tongmeongjeon (king's quarters),  and  Yangwhadang (Dowager queen's residence) .

Myeongjeungjeon

Sunmungdang and Haminjeong

Tongmeongjeon

It was past 4 pm and our last tourist spot of the day is Deoksugung Palace complex. This is near the seoul City Hall and there were a lot of policemen outside as a small demonstration was being held at the park nearby.

Junghwajeon

Deoksugung is another Palace complex with old style and some western style buildings. It was initially the residence of the descendants of the kings in Joseon Dynasty. The centercomplex (Junghwajeon) and the western style buildings are the only remaining original structures. 

GamJaTang before it boiled

After a brief rest, we ventured again at that alley beside the hotel. There is a traditional Korean resto with low tables and thin pillow seats. The place was half full and we decided to give it a try. We wanted a noodle dish and pointed to Gam Ja Tang. It is a pork sparerib stew with various mushrooms and glass noodles. The broth was only slightly spicy and hit the spot just right. The meat was falling off the bone soft. It was a bit pricy at 25,000 Won (php 1000) but it was good enough to feed 3-4 people. We could not finish the smallest order.

GanJaTang pork sparib stew

For dessert, we ate cherries we bought on the way home to the hotel. It was a bit pricy at 10,000 Won (php 400) at almost half a kilo, but I guess when on a holiday, we can make these few splurges!

Soul Food in Seoul (Sightseeing day1)

May coffee din kaya si Pumbaa?

The day started for me with coffee. There was complimentary coffee but there was no cream or sugar. It was a good thing that the coffee tasted great so I did not mind taking it black.

Uy, feeling healthy?

At 7am, the buffet breakfast opened. Just like the hotel, the buffet was small and cute. except for the kimchi and rice porridge, it is a western style breakfast complete with cereal and yoghurt.

Our lost in korea guide: Mr. Kim

At 8:30am we were promptly fetched by our bus and guide. Mr. Kim, our guide, has only been on the job for 3 months. So you can just imagine him getting lost with us with the National Folk museum grounds! Other people in the tour group joked that budget tour kami kaya buget din ang guide...hehehe But seriously, Mr. Kim is a nice guy who has been to the Philippines last year after his retirement (35 yrs service in Korea Electric).

GeunJeongjeon

Blue Palace: Their "Malacanang"

The tour lasted half a day and we were left in Itaewon for some shopping. It was lunchtime and we decided to skip shopping and started to look for a place to eat. There were lots of modern and western type of restos but we decided to go to an alley and we found another place to satisfy our Korean food cravings. They have no english name, no english menu but just a wall filled with things you may order. We decided on the grilled pork belly and we were informed that the minimum order is 2 (a total of 300grams. Well, after some mental computations, we deemed it affordable and said yes.

cutting the pork with scissors

Service was fast. Four kinds of kimchi were given as appetizers. Then charcoal was laid into the middle of the table. Unlike the Korean restos we have at home, the meat is cooked using charcoal. They have a suction vent for the smoke. Reminded me of our suction inside the OR! Only lettuce leaves was served . I grilled the garlic with the pork and in 5 mins, delicious smell of cooking fat and garlic tempted us. The owner himself cut the pork belly slices using a big scissor.
The sauce was non-spicy and complemented the pork. We found it difficult to finish off the 300 grams and after that full meal, we decided to really forgo shopping and rest at the hotel before embarking on the next adventure.

Cooking the meat using charcoal grill

 Our meal was the most expensive one so far. 23,000Won (php 920). Not bad, eh?

fruit stands each slice at 1,000 Won (php 40)

 At 6 pm we headed to Namdaemun  Market. Its like Korean Divisoria. We bought pasalubongs and tried some of the street food. There were noodle stalls, sliced fruit stands, an assortment of fried snacks. One stick was 3000Won which was big and heavy enough for Paul and I to share.

Seafood and noodle stalls

fried street snacks

Afterwards we headed to the more upscale part of the town: Myeong-dong. It was filled with brand name shops. We passed by a watering hole advertizing chicken. Ha! just my luck. The place was full but they set up a table outside in the smoking area.

Menu

We ordered curry fried chicken. It was boneless chicken fillets with mild curry flavor. It was good specially with my draft beer. They gave Paul complementary coke in a slim sexy can as he cannot drink beer. Whereas back home bars give you peanuts for pica-pica , here were were given air popped sweet corn and sweet pickled radish.  The Chicken was 16,000Won and the beer 500Won. Paul ordered rice and were were given a bowl of brown rice (1000Won) . Unlike most places in Korea, this one added service charge to the bill. The food was good enough for 3-4 and we took half back with us to the hotel.

curry fried chicken

brown rice

Night life in a myeondong watering hole

We ended another day in Korea full and happy from retail therapy!