A blog about Korean Food

Well here's my next blog relating to all things Korean only instead of cars and pollution I'll be dealing with Korean food.
Some interesting things I've noticed about the Korean cuisine...seafood and meats reign over almost all other meals here. And I'm not just talking the traditional seafoods we Westerners are exposed to. I'm referring to pretty much ANYTHING that has lived in water. This includes lobster, crab, squid, an array of fishes, worms, octopus, eel, oysters, clams, mussels, and countless things I haven't been able to identify and give names too but they're floating around in the tanks. Let me show you a few pictures to illustrate my point about seafood.

SEAFOOD

Here is a shot of an eel like thing and fish that swims on it's side

I have no idea what these are...I've tried looking them up on the internet...they appear to be a type of worm...any thoughts?

Here are some giant crabs hanging out in tanks that are much to small for them

Cooking on this grill are some squids, baby octopus (their arms curl when they're cooked it's weird) and some crab...as well as a plethra of meats.

Here's Jackie experiencing the usual Korean side dishes served with meals. We have some kimchi (pickled cabbage doused in red pepper paste), in middle is some fried seaweed, and we also have baby fish that have been smoked. I tried my first smoked baby fish today. It was not appetizing.

Well there are some pictures I've gathered so far on the varieties of seafood that I (and Jackie) have been exposed to.

MEAT

Now onto the other staple in Korean cuisine. Meat. Koreans eat a lot of meat; beef, pork and chicken are all available here in a variety of styles. The most popular method of eating meat here is barbequed. I don't have any personal experience with beef but I am pretty sure it is the most expensive meat to order. Chicken and pork are fairly equal in terms of price. One of my favourite dishes that I've discovered since coming to Korea is dak galbi (bbq chicken). There is a fantastic dak galbi restaurant not far from me and for 7,000W you and another person can eat like queens. Along with the chicken you get lettuce, sweet potatoes, spaghetti noodles and a few other veggies all thrown into the sunken bbq in the middle of your table. The waiters come round and stir the mixture every few minutes until they deemed the chicken thoroughly cooked. Side dishes for a meal like this include: macaroni salad (with raisins...surprisingly YUMMY), salad and of course kimchi. I don't have a picture of dak galbi but I will bring my camera next time to give a visual.

Here is a shot of our table at a galbi restaurant (bbq pork...my dinner consisted of side dishes sans pork). Instead of cutting meat with knives they give you massive scissors!

OTHER FOOD WORTH MENTIONING

Well obviously meat and seafood are the main ingredients to Korean cuisine but I have also found two other scrumptous meals. One being chumchi kimbap (tuna roll - california style). And the other being dolsap bibimbap (rice, egg, veggies, korean red pepper paste all served in a hot bowl where it all cooks while you mix it together and eat it). YUMMMM. These two meals are the basis of my lunches when I'm too tired or too lazy to make myself a lunch. Not to mention the pizza joint down the road that serves a medium sized pizza for 5,000W! So all in all Korean food has been an excellent experience and I look forward to coming back to Toronto and delving into the Asian food markets and restaurants. The food is one thing I will desperately miss.

Bibimbap....delicious....I always order mine served HOT so it all cooks while it sits there...

Here are two kimbap rolls, these happened to be filled with meat....I love the tuna rolls so imagine these rolls, minus the meat and with tuna added. DELISH

And my beloved Pizza School restaurant. Where every pizza costs 5,000W (almost $5). It's no Pizza Pizza and instead of getting garlic dipping sauce you get pickles (I hate pickles) but for $5 I'm not complaining. It's decent enough!