Seoul 2011: Korean Food

Eating is one of the highlight of my trips. I will try my best to eat local's specialties to really experience the place. During my trip to Seoul, there is no any difference. Despite some of my friends already warned me about Korean food that doesn't suit our Indonesian tongue, I am still eager to try any local food that I encountered. Surpisingly, I didn't find any food that taste weird!

Since we arrived at Seoul around midnight, most restaurants are already closed. But luckily, we found a fried chicken restaurant not far from our guesthouse in Hongdae area. There are two types of fried chicken sold in this restaurant: plain fried chicken and spicy fried chicken. If you want to try both, order the one with half plain fried and half spicy fried. Please note that each menu is for a whole chicken, so you might need one or two partners to help you finish the meal. 

If you're looking for some hot meal to warmed your body during the cold night, try Korean's stew or jjigae as the locals called it. My favourite so far are kimchi jjigae and sundubu jjigae since both are hot and spicy. Kimchi jjigae's main ingredient is of course none other than kimchi, while sundubu jjigae is made of soft tofu with some seafood. 

Tteobokki is a very popular snacks in Korea and mostly sold by the street vendors. It is a form of rice cake cooked with hot pepper paste and has sweet-and-spicy taste. The cost is around KRW 2,500 for one portion of tteobokki. The vendor also sells some fried snacks (KRW 2,500 for 5 pieces).

Those are only some of the food I tried during the trip. Among others are: hotteok (stuffed pancake), Korean style hot dog (deep fried sausage wrapped in flour batter served with mustard sauce), and of course gimbap (Korean style sushi roll). These can be found almost anywhere in Seoul.