Seoul Searching

A cold rainy day and a spot of flu really has me wishing for this pot of wonder that is Tosokchon's famous ginseng chicken soup which I had the pleasure of having a while back. It's evenly balanced on the ginseng taste, enough to make its presence known while not being overpowering like many other samgyetang. The chicken is juicy and decently meaty, and the sticky rice hidden within the chicken just completes this dish like how a good red completes a night. Well, a man can reminisce and dream...

When you want to have Korean Fried Chicken done right, you gotta go to the country that produced it. Kyochon Chicken is one of the more famous ones and it's obvious why from the first crunchy bite. Batter that cracks and crunches like cornflakes, double fried yet juicy and tender chicken meat, and most importantly, the painstaking labor of love of coating each and every wing, drumlet and drumstick evenly with their addictively sweet honey sauce makes for a winner of a KFC experience. Also, their potato wedges were deceptively simple yet extremely well executed with very little trace of grease and packed full of flavor. Washing it down with some local light-bodied Cass beer made for an unforgettable KFC experience.

Think of this delectable Korean dish as a tableside zi char. Cabbage, carrots, Korean rice cakes and an abundance of chicken get stir fried in a spicy sauce right in front of you and are cooked to perfection before the rice gets thrown into the mix and blends in. By special request, throw in 2 raw eggs and you have perfection.

Just a short walk away from the mall that has just one long continuous ramp, there is a humble little stall peddling rather generously proportioned macaroon ice cream. The chocolate ice cream is rich and creamy but nothing special, but the macaroons...oh my. Unlike the traditional ones which are much like wafer biscuits, this one has a chewy, semi-melted sugar core that makes for a VERY pleasant surprise when eating the ice cream. I wonder if they'd be interested in a franchise in Singapore....

If you couldn't already tell, the meat of choice in Korea is beef. Oh yes, succulent, tender and delicious beef. Just like this amazing galbi (braised beef short ribs) that Gangnam Myeonok is famous for. Umami, packed full of flavor and fall off the bone tender, it only needed a spoon to pick off the bone. The spicy cold noodles were well flavored as well, and they were surprisingly refreshing to the palette. With high quality dishes like these, there is little wonder as to why this place is so highly recommended.

One does not simply go to Seoul and not soak up the cafe craze that's consumed the capital. A spicy chicken burrito, a savory bulgogi beef burrito and a blueberry bagel along with a slightly weak Americano and a perfectly brewed cappuccino were the stars of this simple yet well executed breakfast. Delicious.

Unfortunately I can't get the geotag to work mainly because I am utterly helpless in Korean, but have a pic of the shopfront to make up for it. After having an authentic Korean BBQ experience at this joint, I now understand why all the characters in K-dramas are ecstatic when they get to eat barbecued beef. The beef was AMAZING. Juicy, damn near melt in your mouth tender and seven different kinds of delicious, all the beef was gone before anyone could blink. I need to get myself more soon.