Korea Eats. Seoul to Busan.

Yes the exterior “leather” is not edible, focus on the crunchy crisp interior bits. Yum! It’s an acquired taste.

@Google_Gourmet nice pics. Did you bring your Busan de rigueur boss wear - suit and colorful hawaiian shirt?

Yikes, only brought tasteful attire. :):cowboy_hat_face:

Been wanting to add a colorful Hawaiian shirt to my wardrobe, despite the dw’s objections. This may be my chance to override.

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Korean BBQ for dinner tonight. Really good. Tried to walk into a popular joint in a hopping district as a party of six w/o a ressy. Quoted a 1 1/2 hour wait. No freakin’ way!

Almost unbelievably, told they can accommodate our party at their nearby satellite location. We were chauffeured to their other restaurant, which was actually closer walking distance to our hotel. How cool :sunglasses: is that???

Wonderful Banchan. Regretfully, we ordered too much food and didn’t have enough real estate (table and stomach wise) to load up on complimentary refills.

Lots of meat. Not Wagyu quality, but delicious all the same. Galbi was superb, probably best I’ve ever had, in my very limited experience.

Leisurely 1/2 hour stroll back to the hotel along the river. Enjoyable evening.

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Terrific report with great pics.

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Fancy bbq.

Also check out “meat market” when you are back in Seoul. Meat market has many butchers on ground levels. The restaurants are upstairs. Many butchers’ shops have packages of different cuts of meat out front. You choose your meat and offal and they tell you where to go to get it cooked (for a small fee). The meat market might be a gruesome sight for tender eyes.

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Thanks!! Added to our lookout to do list.

Had Beef Tartare, raw Beef Liver and Tripe for breakfast yesterday. Gruesome for some, yummy for us.

We’re liking Korean eats way more than anticipated. Already talking about a return trip. Must add Jeju next time.

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Yes the seafood market by the port is excellent. The fish you are looking for is ‘galchi’. 갈치

Also known as hairtail.

Get it grilled or in a braised dish (jorim).

My wife is also obsessed with the sea cucumber dishes there. It’s literally the only thing on the planet that I don’t eat :slight_smile:

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Looks fine the place. I remember sometimes being transported to some doubtful sister places… :smirk:

What is this?
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Menu calls it Egg Drop Soup. Unless any eds I’ve ever had.

It your basic Steamed Egg. Or Chawanmushi in Japanese, w/o any embellishments.

Thanks. I did a search on Google, it’s called Gyeran jjim, closer to an egg souffle.

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Jagalchi Seafood Market in Busan.

The most incredible Temple to Seafood I’ve ever had the fortune to experience. Please excuse the hyperbole.

Must be over 100? 200? Venders. The seafood here are the brightest, freshest specimens I’ve ever seen.

My nieces really wanted Octopi. Not for the novelty factor, because they REALLY loved eating these critters. These were lively and playing tug-o-war with our plate, our chopsticks and tongue. Lightly accented this time, perfect.

BIL handpicked these prawns. So fresh, the were almost translucent. The heads had globs of liver and tomalley that rivaled the tails for taste. Raw was better than the cooked.

Finally got to try the “Asian Scallops”. Nice, but not better than the traditional Scallop, Abalone or Clam.

@Nathan_Jones Thanks for the rec. Hairtail is juicy and succulent. I want a meal with just the hairtail fish, rice and a vegetable. My idea of a simple perfect meal!

Got our Squid. We followed our server’s suggestion and had it lightly boiled and it was good. Methinks I’d rather have it just plain o’ sashimi’d, next time.

Finished the meal with a Fish Head and (what we call) Hot Pot Vegetable Soup.

Our hotel is a mere 15 minute walk to this Warehouse of Seafood. I’ll be more than surprised if we don’t eat here at least once a day during our 4 day Busan leg. So much for touristing to Asia for the cheap eats. sigh

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I was in Busan once and having dinner with 5-6 of my Korean colleagues - when a plate of these octopus tentacles arrived, they looked doubtfully at the non-moving tentacles which only squirmed lethargically when poked with chopsticks. A couple of my Korean colleagues told me, “Don’t eat them - they are not fresh”. :joy:

P.S. - We had our dish promptly replaced with one full of waving tentacles.

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This thread is too much. I’m going to sleep this off for a day :smile: (booking flight now)

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For the uninitiated - the octopus is raw? Or live?

I guess I’ve never encountered it this way… yet…

Both!! :slight_smile:

Totally delighted and surprised my two young ABC (American Born Chinese) nieces just LOVE the octopus.

Learn something everyday.

Minor googling:
“Though the octopus is dead, the suction cups on its tentacles are still functional. And strong. I tried to pick up a tentacle with my chopsticks and it nearly took the plate with it. A few deaths by choking are still reported each year from the tentacles latching on to people’s throats, so be sure to chew your food like your life depended on it.”

Octopus, Chicken and Cup Ramen.

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See these venders everywhere dispensing ice cream, yogurt, drinks, what have you.

Motorized Ice Boxes on Wheels!!!

I WANT one! I can see myself tooling up to my campsite with enough ‘vittles for the entire camp. Or take to Costco and go to town!

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Seafood Boil in Daegu, korea’s third largest city. We’ve enjoyed Busan and Daegu, heading back to Seoul for our final three days.

We happened to walk past this Izakaya-like place. The live tanks in front pulled us in. You can tell this is a happenening restaurant by the thoughtfully provided plastic stools for the “wait “.

Our dinner set started with an Omelet Roll and a Pancake/Crepe, with some simple Banchan.

A bountiful harvest of Prawns, Scallops, Abalone, Mussels, Clams swimming in a broth with a Whole Chicken and some Hard Boiled Eggs.

The server fishes out the goodies and cuts into easy to eat morsels the Korean way, with scissors. :slight_smile: Bites displayed on two large Scallop shells.

Fresh Noodles and Mandu (dumplings) finished in the Seafood Chicken broth.

~ USD$70 for live seafood dinner for six, including Soju, Beer, taxes and service. QPR off the charts.

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Armed and loaded for our 12hr flight back to SFO. We never bitch about inflight food. :slight_smile:

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