Buhay sa Korea

Like I said in my previous post, we ate Koreanized Chinese food for lunch today. I planned to do a Coffee Prince-inspired tour for my friends today. I thought of bringing them to the Chinese restaurant where Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo’s characters ate “tang-su-yuk” or sweet and sour pork. The place is called “San-dong-su-gyo-dae-wang” or “Chinese Dumpling King.” It is located on a street more popularly known as “Yeonhee-dong mat gil” or “Yeonhee-dong’s Street of Flavors”, for the many restaurants located in the area.

We reached the place at 3:15PM and found it closed! They are close from 3-5 PM on weekdays. We were a bit disappointed but not totally disheartened We just took pictures outside and moved on. I have a not-so-nice picture of the exterior. I was carrying my son and trying to avoid the traffic.

We walked some more and found another Chinese restaurant. It’s called “Jin Bo” and has a very nice interior. I was “famished” that I didn’t bother to take pictures inside! We ordered four “sam seon jjajang myeon” (5,000 won each) and “tang-su-yuk” or sweet&sour pork (small for 14,000 won). They didn’t offer water but a fragrant jasmine tea. After lunch (a late one!), we took the taxi to the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince. I’ll blog about this later… we have a three-day weekend and we’re going camping!

I once read that McDonald’s is the number one fast food store in the world except in two countries, the Philippines and South Korea. Jollibee tops in my home country while Lotteria lords it here in Korea. I brought some friends to Lotteria, they’re visiting from the Philippines and the USA. They’ve been having traditional Korean dishes since they got here, but today we had some Koreanized Chinese food for lunch and Koreanized burgers for dinner (I need all the top diet pills for all the food I ate today).

The Lotteria branch we visited is located on the 9th floor (Food Court) of aPM mall in Dongdaemun. There were not a lot of people since it was already around ten o’clock in the evening. AFAIK, the mall is open for 24 hours except on Mondays.

We ordered different drinks with the same burger — “bulgalbi”. The burger only costs 3,000 won while a set is 4,900 won! There are other burgers on the menu, however I was too lazy and tired to take photos that time. I’ll save it for next time

Today is not only Oh Ji Ho’s birthday, it is also a special day for those who are unattached. If February 14 is the date when women give chocolates to their men, and March 14 is the men’s turn to give candies to their women, April 14 is when those who didn’t get anything on the dates mentioned before go out to eat black bean sauce noodles or “jja jang myeon”. If you’ve been watching Korean dramas (specially Gung S with Seven), you’ll know what this is. This is not really a significant event. It is one of those occasions promoted for consumption. If I were unattached, I’m not sure whether I’ll feel flattered or insulted by this “occasion”. One thing is for sure, I’ll need Orovo after eating jjajangmyeon.

When I don’t feel like preparing food at home or when my husband and I are traveling early in the morning, we just buy kimbap. It’s a Korean dish of rice plus veggies (or other ingredients) rolled and wrapped in dried seaweed. At the kimbap shop nearest our place (Changsin station, exit 2), one roll is priced at 1,000 won (roughly $1) and one is enough to fill my big stomach. Really! Two rolls is just too much. Kimbap (김밥) is a combination of the words “kim” (김 dried seaweed/laver) and “bap/pap” (밥 rice).

Traditional filling for kimbap are spinach, eggs, carrots, ham, and pickled radish. However, you can find kimbaps with a variety of other fillings. Two of my favorites are 참지 (tuna) and 닭꼬치 (chicken barbeque). I’ve fondly called the ajumma (married lady) selling kimbap near our place as “kimbap ajumma” and she doesn’t mind. One of her kimbap specialty is 매닭김 (mae-dalk-kim) which is short for spicy chicken barbeque kimbap. True enough it is really spicy. She spreads hot sauce over the rice before she layers on the chicken barbeque. At 2,200 won it is still cheap and filling!

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