Before my departure to Korea, many tales have been told and warnings have been issued to me about the notorious food that this beautiful country could offer. Even Mum said the kimchi and the Korean meals are difficult for our Malaysian stomach. True enough, I saw many from my tour group brought their own supplies of Maggi cup noodles, Milo/Coffee and sambal belacan (the last one is a hearsay, I didn't see it with my own eyes).
Well, to be fair, I think Korean food is not that bad. In fact, I enjoyed most of the food they served throughout the trip. (keyword-MOST, not all).
Yes, it's true. You get to eat kimchi (fermented cabbage, red in color) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But there are many variety of kimchi, and not limited to the cabbage only. There's anchovies, beans, seaweed, radish, beancurd (taufoo), and potatoes to name a few.
Our lunches and dinners were alternated with barbeque and steamboat only. So, if you have steamboat for lunch, then you will get barbeque for dinner. This sequence was fine in the begining, but after the 5th day, I got kind of sick of it. But you got to appreciate the novelty of having piping hot barbeque/steamboat meal during the cold winter. The only exception to this arrangement was the ginseng chicken and the beef stew (yummy!)
Back to the quality of food, I think it all boils down to $$$. If you can afford it, pay some premium and set yourself for a gastronomy adventure. Likewise, if your tour is a "budget" type, then don't expect to be served with lavish food.
Alright, enough with words, let's go to the photos!
Seafood steamboat, with scallops, shrimps and squids.
Pork fillet steamboat
Ham and sausage steamboat
Assortment of kimchi
Stew beef! Voted the best meal of the trip.
Bam-bi-bap. (Rockpot rice)
Ginseng chicken. With noodles.
The chicken is stuffed with rice and a stick of ginseng.
Kimchi.
More kimchi.
Oh! Have I mentioned about the snacks? Mrs Banana and I had a good time with the food stalls along the streets. Here's a sample of stuff that we had tried.
Food stalls are a plenty.
Selling pan cakes and sweet potato balls.
Mrs Banana trying a sweet potato ball. 10 pieces for 3,000 won. Though her facial expression was unconvincing, the stuff actually quite tasty.
L-R: Fried squid, marinated squid fillet, sausages, corn and chicken satay (over the foil). We bought a chicken satay for 1,500 won.
This lady is selling the "nien-gau" (sticky snack made from flour) in sweet/hot syrup.
Me smirking with this extra long ice cream in Myeong-Dong for 1,000 won. Eating ice cream in winter is splendid! It won't melt.
Got this bottle of Soju (rice wine) for 1,900 won.
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