Food trip in Seoul, Korea

During the Holy week, my family and I had a trip to Seoul Korea. I was excited since I would be able to try authentic Korean dishes. =)

Here are the top 5 dishes that I believe is a must try when you visit Korea

Bibimbap

 

A signature Korean dish, the word literally means "mixed meal" or "mixed rice". Bibimbap is served in an earthenware pot with white rice topped with vegetables, meat and raw egg.  To give it a spicy feel one may opt to mix it with gochujang ( chili pepper paste).  I was able to try several bibimbap while in Korea but I prefer bibimbap served in Bulgogi Brothers and Best Western Premier Songdo Park Hotel. 

 Bulgogo Brother’s bibimbap has more meat and has a touch of sweetness which I really like.

Best Western Premier Songdo Park Hotel has mushroom in their bibimbap making the dish tastier

Samgyetang  (Ginseng Chicken Soup)

The Small chicken is stuffed with rice, young ginseng, chestnut and jujube. The chicken is then boiled in a clear stock and served in an individual earthenware pot. The soup is quite plain, so to add flavor, the restaurant also serves side dishes such as kim chee, pickled radish, raw garlic. You can also opt to add salt in it. i was not able to get the name of the restaurant but the restaurant is located at the 2f  of the building beside Ramada Hotel &Suites Seoul Namdaemun in Soonhwa-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul Central Area.

Bulgogi 

The word Bulgogi literally means "fire meat" in Korean.  It is a famous Korean dish usually consists of marinated beef, chicken or pork.  We had our share of bulgogi in Bulgogi Brothers. 

Heart shaped beef cooked on the spot. Yum!

Gal bi (barbequed beef ribs) or Dak (Chicken )

In Korean, dak (닭) means chicken and galbi (갈비) means ribs.  We were able to try dak galbi. It may be a bit confusing but the dish was given the name galbi because the preparation of the chicken meat is similar to the preparation of the beef rib meat in so galbi sal.  In both dishes, the meat comes to your table marinated and still attached to the bone. 

The chicken meat is marinated in a gochujang based sauce (spicy).  The meat is then cut along with vegetables and cooked in a pan on your table.  The vegetables typically consist of perilla leaves, cabbage, sweet potato, mushrooms, green onion and rice cakes. The pan is fired up and food is stirred every few minutes by your server until the dish is cooked. 

Street food (waffles, corndogs and churros)

That’s right Koreans also love to munch on batter based foods and it really makes me hungry while walking on the street because I can smell the food meters away.