Food Report: Korea
At present, I'm spending a few weeks working in South Korea, near Seoul. This report is still in its infancy but by the time I'm finished I hope to be able to give a fuller report of the cuisine here. So far I'm still a novice, having eaten bulgogi (marinated beef) and galbi (beef short ribs) on the barbeque. There looks to be a great variety of street food. Some of most interesting stuff so far is the food I'm served up with in the workers' canteen in the steel plant. I don't know what any of it is called but some of it tasted pretty good. There is a definite spicy theme but it is tempered by a portion of plain steamed rice, which helps put the fire out.
So, after a total of 12 weeks here, I've come to the conclusion that Korea is never going to make it to the top of the culinary tree. That's not to say that there isn't some very tasty food, but not enough variety to make a top class cuisine. Kimchi is served with almost every meal, but it's not always cabbage-based. The Korean barbeque is tasty and great fun with a group but makes no concessions to non-meat eaters. There were some nice soups, based on clear stocks. My Singapore friend, Edmund, would probably say they were too tasty, meaning they're loaded with MSG. I liked the bibimbap and pajeon. The former is rice mixed with vegetables, chilli paste and sesame oil. You mix things at the table. The meal is sometimes served in a hot stone pot, in which case it is called dolsot bibimbap. This helps to crisp some of the rice.
Pajeon is a type of pancake made with scallions (spring onions) and eggs, sometimes with seafood or kimchi added. They can be a bit heavy but I had fantastically-light ones at a restaurant called Won Chon near the university in Pusan. This is quirky courtyard restaurant, complete with resident monk. Pusan, incidentally, has a phenomenal fish market at Jagalchi. Bindaeddeok are something similar but made from a mung bean batter.
There are also lots of noodle-based dishes (udon, ramen etc) and as mentioned above lots of street food such as chicken or squid on skewers, or hotteok, which are little honey and cinnamon filled pancakes. The beer is mostly lager-type and the local hooch is soju, which is made from rice but tastes similar to vodka, if only half as strong. There is also a rice-based wine/beer called dongdongjiu which is refreshing and packs quite a punch.
