Seoul Dining - Five Days, Five Dinners

[yflyer]

The fusion elements in the cuisine here were further confirmed by the next dish we had: sherbet salad.



This was a green salad with crackers and a scoop of sherbet in lieu of dressing.

You tossed the salad and sherbet together before eating...



Again, this was an inspired combination. When mixed, and partly melted, the cold sherbet served as an exceptionally cold and refreshing dressing to the salad, while the crackers added crunch.

Mrs yflyer's comment: "Unexpectedly delicious. Once you started eating, you couldn't stop..."

This is a dish that should be copied or replicated widely!

[yflyer]

Our shared main course was steamed pork, which comes from Jeju island black pig.

This was served sliced, accompanied with kimchi, vegetables, and a fermented shrimp sauce, very similar to South East Asian cincalok.



This pork did not come with crunchy skin, as it was steamed, but the meat was tender and full of flavour.

It went beautifully with the fermented shrimp sauce and the vegetables.

Mrs yflyer's comment: "It was full of flavour, firm yet tender."

We rounded off the meal with a hearty soup.



Overall, an excellent dinner: extremely fresh meat and vegetables, prepared with care and creativity. This was the kind of restaurant which I would return to over and over again, in order to sample different items on the menu.

[yflyer]

And that wraps up my posts on five dinners in Seoul...

What exactly did we do during the week to work up such an appetite?

I was in the office buried in powerpoint, mostly.

However, Mrs yflyer kept herself really busy. I was amazed at how much could be accomplished even without the ability to speak Korean. With an internet connection, Google and an extremely helpful team of concierges, and not more than a little luck, she roamed far and wide...

[yflyer]

Earlier in the week, Mrs yflyer journeyed far from Seoul to see maehwa (plum blossoms)...

"I want to see cherry blossoms", Mrs yflyer declared after we first checked in to our hotel.

"Er...sure...enjoy yourself!" I replied.

Later the next day day, Mrs yflyer headed to the concierge desk to make arrangements.

"There is a maehwa (plum blossom) festival taking place near Gwangyang", said the concierge, "...but let me check if they are blooming"...

They were. Now plum blossoms aren't exactly cherry blossoms, but they are very beautiful, and many people travel to the Maehwa village near Gwangyang for this festival to view the plum blossoms. So would Mrs yflyer...

Gwangyang is almost 300km from Seoul, right at the Southern end of the Korean Peninsula, about a four hour bus ride away! Mrs yflyer would travel 4 hours there, spend less than 2 hours at the festival, then travel another 4 hours back to Seoul.

"I am very worried...you will be alone, and you don't speak Korean" the concierge said..."here is my mobile phone number, please call me if you have any trouble at all"...

"What? Gwangyang? I googled it and you are headed to the other end of the country!" I exclaimed on the morning before she left.

"I really want to see the maehwa...the ride will be worth it. See you this evening for dinner!"

And with that she was off. Thankfully it all turned out well. She showed me the pictures that evening, as we tucked into Gopchang...

[yflyer]

Her trip involved a long bus ride starting at a bus station in Seoul, as well as a bus tranfer from the inter-city to local bus service in Gwangyang, with minimal English language interaction in the course of the journey.

Her journey started in Seoul, and ended Seomjin village near Gwangyang in the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.

https://goo.gl/maps/pbk9z7Fe2vS1hxAG7



Seoul to Gwangyang is 297km. Just for comparison, Singapore to Malacca is 250 km....

Prior to the trip, Mrs yflyer spent two whole hours at the concierge desk planning the trip, where detailed instructions were written out, including Korean/English translations of place names and destinations. Given that few non-locals made the trip to the Maehwa Festival, and because so far away from Seoul there would be fewer English speakers, the concierge team took extra care with the logistics and other arrangements. They clearly weren't prepared to lose a hotel guest on their watch

To paraphase a recent airline ad campaign, "the lengths we go to", this would equally apply to the concierge desk at the Grand Intercontinental. Full marks to the team!





The coach itself was laid out very comfortably...one-two configuration...business class on the ground!



What a civilised way to travel long distances by coach...

[yflyer]

Several hours and one bus transfer later, she arrived at Seomjin village where the Maehwa Festival was being held.

I mentioned luck in the introduction to these posts, when she arrived at the bus station in Gwangyang, there was some confusion and potential miscommunication around the purchase of the local bus ticket from Gwangyang to Seomjin village, with the end result being Mrs yflyer missing the bus. The alternative was a ride in a local taxi, for which fare negotiation (in Korean!) was required...

As luck would have it, Mrs yflyer struck up a conversation with a young Korean girl who spoke good English (she had just graduated from University majoring in foreign studies / languages) who offered to assist. Together with another friend of hers, they travelled together to the Maehwa festival by taxi and spent some time exploring the festival together as well.

This was a very picturesque part of Korea...

[yflyer]

The Festival Village was bustling with activity...



The wet weather did little to dampen the enthusiasm of visitors...



There were also restaurants setup to serve local delicacies at the maehwa festival too...

Including some really enormous oysters...





The oysters were the size of Mrs yflyer's hand. She described them as "tender, creamy, fresh and delicious..."



Mrs yflyer also bought several tubs of the spice fermented plum, of which huge urns of the delicious fruit could be seen fermenting along the hillside.



After less than 2 hours at the maehwa festival, it was time to make the return trip to Seoul...another 4+ hours by bus.

At a round trip total exceeding 600km by coach, all covered in the space of a single day, it was a long way to travel for sure, but for Mrs yflyer, it was a very rewarding journey!

[HUGE AL]

...she would need more time to explore the hotel facilities, health club, catering, and whatever else the Park Hyatt had to offer...hmmm...is she belatedly also catching the travel bug?

Health Club is nice -- small but efficient…great views. Breakfast at Cornerstone is AWESOME -- great fresh squeezed juices and house made kimchee. Timberhouse is one of my favorite bars -- I've met the most hilarious people there.

You could experience all that in 24 hours.

[CarbonMan]

What is that reddish sauce ontop of those lovely oysters?!?

[yflyer]

What is that reddish sauce ontop of those lovely oysters?!?

That was Korean chilli sauce...

Mrs yflyer really liked the oysters (and she has eaten quite a few varieties over the years...). I'm surprised that these oysters are not more well known outside Korea.

[9V-JKL]

Thanks for sharing. My only wonder.... Why is wine in PLASTIC bottles? At least they look like it to me...

[yflyer]

Thanks for sharing. My only wonder.... Why is wine in PLASTIC bottles? At least they look like it to me...

The makgeolli (Rice beer) at Phil Kyung Jae was served straight from the plastic bottle, which I found a little surprising as well, given the setting. In some other restaurants they serve makgeolli in pitchers or bowls.

The baekseju was a glass bottle, again served without ceremony from a screw top bottle.

I guess there isn't yet the concept of Western bottle service in many Korean restaurants, although there are certain conventions and drinking etiquette that the locals abide by, which appear to be protocols designed to get guests intoxicated as rapidly as possible...

[yflyer]

While I was toiling away in the office, Mrs yflyer spent some time in Dongdaemun. She enjoys walking around markets, and the market in Dongdaemun had a lot of exotic food on display, and probably whetted her appetite for our meals later on.

Here are some highlights:



Some fairly explicit food content coming up...



Not sure what that white stuff on the plates is, but it looks a lot like shirako (fish milt). This is sometimes available in SG supermarkets (Meidi-Ya at Liang Court sometimes has this when it is in season.)



Not sure why the seafood is all covered in plastic wrap...





Mrs yflyer must have anticipated Kyo's dining suggestion...

[yflyer]

And to wrap up this series of posts, here are two lunches, one of mine, and one from Mrs yflyer. We ate these lunches separately; I had mine with colleagues after a client meeting. Hers was as a solo diner (As I said, she is a foodie ).

You can judge for yourself whose was more interesting...

[yflyer]

After a business meeting which was almost a case of "lost in translation" although the desired outcome was achieved, my Korean colleagues asked if I was interested in trying bibimbap.

"Of course!" I replied enthusiastically, "I love bibimbap!".

"But this is no ordinary bibimbap", my Korean colleague intoned gravely, "this one is a little bit special...very traditional...it's raw beef bibimbap..."

Of course I was game! He was pleasantly surprised at my enthusiasm, as I suspect some other foreign visitors may have been a little less keen on raw meat, no matter how traditional...

We headed to the restaurant, in a busy part of Gangnam-gu.







This place was apparently popular with Korean celebrities...