Some of the things I ate in South Korea
The taste of Korean cuisine is very different than the tastes my palate is accustomed to. It is spicy (chili) but not over-spiced (other sorts of spices) like Indian food. They love mixing different ingredients on the spot. They also love kimchi, a traditional fermented Korean dish that also tastes like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. Seafood is the most common kind of thing you can eat on the street, as well as something very similar to waffles that I didn’t get to experience.
Food is awesome, especially when it’s really new to you.
Tteokbokki, a braised dish of sliced rice cake, meat, eggs, and seasoning.
Korean ice cream, called patbingsu, which is actually made from unflavored shaved ice, and sweetened azuki beans (yes, seriously). It is garnished with chocolate syrup and rice cake. It is really interesting because the thick savory texture of the beans gives the ice shavings a creamy feel, without any milk or cream added. I loved it.
Twigim is awesome food for those of us who love anything deep fried (me, guilty!). Deep fried sweet potatoes, deep fried carrots, deep friend shrimp, deep fried squid, deep fried everything.
Korean rice cakes and green tea. The rice cakes were drab but the green tea was delicious. We’ve been drinking green tea the wrong way for years!
Various kinds of fish on street stall. Amazingly, these weren’t fishy at all and were actually quite delicious.
I didn’t try these chestnuts, but hey, I think this was the only sort of common food :)
South Korea is so advanced technologically that even street food is automated.
Kimchi, glass noodles, and bean sprouts.
Bubble ice cream! The texture was awesome, though it tasted more like a milkshake than like icecream and I am not big on milkshakes.
This was my favorite meal in Korea, Bibimbap (I think). The weird mixture of flavors and the super chilliness of it was AWESOME.
Breakfast at the Shilla Seoul was delicious too, and they had some Korean things that I am not sure were breakfast items, but that I am happy I got to try.
Try eating a whole fish with a chopstick. Aha. Not fun.
These Korean pancakes were one of the most delicious things I ate in Korea.
Korean dessert with chocolate inside. How cute?
After serving as a judge in Samsung’s WOW Traveler MENA competition, I packed a small bag, a camera, my phone, and then boarded a plane to Seoul, the capital of South Korea and the HQ of Samsung. Here are the posts on the trip:
On Falling in Love with South Korea
Cynthia S
October 16, 2012 @ 10:24 am
Love your posts about Korea! I actually went to a Korean restaurant in NY and got to try the pancake, shrimp dumplings, Kimchi, noodles, bean sprouts and many other dishes but unfortunately I don’t remember what they’re called!