Let’s Eat: SEOUL, KOREA

I can’t believe it’s already May. In January, J, my bestie and I made an impromptu trip to Seoul, Korea. We also met up with an old friend who has been working there. We had such a fabulous time.

FOOD, for me, is a huge part of travelling. I want to try and eat everything (well nothing too extreme like dog or something). It seems fitting that my first post on our trip to Korea will be all. about. food.

Here we go!

DAY 1

Starting with the food in the airport lounge:

We were so excited my friend, Steph, had access passes to the airport lounge! It was my first time and I LOVED it…and so did J.

The plane food wasn’t too bad. It tasted better than it looks. Lol.

 

When we landed, it was late afternoon. We got to our AirBNB (we might’ve taken a nap, lol) and it was dinner time! We met up with our friend and headed straight to eat. We had a very popular style of Korean eatery. They bring you a huge pan/wok filled with everything, called budae jjigae (army stew)! Noodles, cheese, fish cake, rice cake, veggies, kimchi, meat, all doused with a spicy sauce. It was SO good. Especially after a long flight and the cold weather.

Look at that gooey-ness! Cheese and ramen, who know that would make such a wondrous combination?

Then in true Korean fashion, we headed out for drinks and more food. This was our first soju of many.

Day 2

We started off the day with matcha lattes! OH man were they good. The matcha had a great flavour with no bitterness. It was exactly how I like it. But one thing we couldn’t figure out was, which who do we drink out of? Steph and I both drank out of different spouts and before we realized it was drinkable out of both.

Lunch we had stew, also known as jjijae! The weather is so cold there in the winter, I couldn’t get enough of soup!

We went to the palace, put on some han boks and got hungry so I got myself some rice cake and fish cake  also knowns as tteokbokki, from a street vendor. It was steaming hot and the perfect accompaniment for walking in the cold.

We also stopped at a residential house turned tea shop.

Then we went to shopping/street vendor central! Every single food looked amazing there.

 

 

 

There was also some sweets!

 

We ended the night off with shopping and RAMEN at Aori Ramen.

DAY 3

Korea loves their fresh, hot drinks and they make it convenient to grab on the go! I guess it makes sense since it is so cold there. These drinks I had were premixed and packaged. All I needed to do was open it up and pour hot water, make it very fresh. Some were made from nuts like almonds and hazelnut and some were just your usual instant coffee (in a mesh bag like tea) with powdered creamer and/or sugar.

 

 

DAY 4

We had a late morning and didn’t get out of the apartment until it was lunch time. We headed downstairs to try out a build your own noodle place.

We met up with friends for dinner and they introduced us to an all you can eat tuna sashimi place! I have never seen so many different types of tuna sashimi. The one we went to is called Lee Chun Bok Cham Chi
(Sookmyeong University Subway Station (숙대역) Exit 6.)

One of the dishes came with this red liquid. Our friends jokingly told us that was tuna blood. (Eeek!) But Steph and I tried it and it’s just cherry flavoured alcohol! It tasted a bit like cough syrup.

We needed a break from soju so we got some warm drinks and dessert after dinner. Taro latte, tea latte and coffee.

DAY 5

We finally had Korean BBQ and it did not disappoint. The staff there helped us cook it so it was basically effortless!

 

 

DAY 6

Lounge and flight. I got a business class ticket home because sweet J cashed in his miles! I was so excited to be able to lay flat to sleep during the flight because I get anxiety flying.

Here’s what I had at the airport lounge:

I didn’t have much because I was really sleepy and I had some anxiety about the long flight by myself.

On the plane. Business class food is GOOD. I enjoyed the attentive service (offered a beverage right away) and I didn’t feel like I was eating on a plane (hello large screen TV, tablecloths and silveware!).

I had so much fun recounting all the yummy food I got to eat in Korea! I better go because I’m starving! Haha! Let me know if you have ever tried any of these dishes and which ones!

The next part I will blog about will be the attractions in Korea. Stay tuned!