The Art of Doenjang - the Korean Bean Sauce Paste

Sometimes, it just needs a bit inspiration and innovation to make a difference.

The same thing applies to Doenjang - the Korean Bean Sauce Paste. Couple of weeks ago, my fireind Su and I went to a restaurant in Jongro where we found this nice restaurant - 된장예술과술.

The main menu is a set of  rice, vegetables, various side dishes and doenjang cooked with tofu,. What you have to do is to mix things up according to your own taste.

Lattice,green onion and pepper

The whole set and Deonjang in the middle

 Now, it is time to mix & match. Personally, I love Korean vegetables and adding a little Deonjang to the general Bibimbab(Korean style rice mixed with vegetables) makes it more classic.

This was my work:)

A closer look

Warm rice soup is served instead of water

One thing I respect Korean people is that they are devoting time and efforts to keep food taste original and traditional. This deonjang bibimbab is - nothing special about ingredients but simply an art of Korean food.

Hoegi - the spot of green onion pancakes in Seoul

If you walk out of Hoegi station exit 1 and take the first left, there is an alley full of restaurants whose main menus are same - Pajeon, the green onion pancakes. If you happen to be there on a rainy day, get ready there might not be any vacant seats since in Korea, people say we should eat pajeon on a rainy day.
There are approximately 10 restaurants inside the alley, the settings are also a special - usually crowded and smoking is allowed. Some restaurants are bit dark and dirty (well some seem purposely make the place old and dirty), and the one of them I went to has a squeezed second floor where we cannot stand up fully since the ceiling is very low; we have to walk with bending knees.

The incredible sencond floor

The ice water is also a special - pull water into a bowl with a big ice in it

There is a reason for this place famous for pajeon - very cheap price and very delicious pajeon and Korean rice wine. Within the Korean rice wines, I loved the Dongdongju more than Makgolri.

Rice wine served in its bowl

Pajeon is not just made of green onion, it always come with squid inside.  Every restaurant has different style of their own ajungmas' cooking - try and compare which is your style.

Pajeon with rice wine, perfect! Wanna be better? You can order some other dishes which can company the pajeon to improve the experience. Additional recommendations.

Spicy chicken soup with potatos in it - eat the crispy pajeon, drink the hot soup

Korean style salad - turbo and vegetables with sour and little spicy sauce

If the squid in pajeon cannot satisfy you, get another fried squid!

Looking forward to the next rainy day, squeezing in the pajeon restaurant with a bowl of Dongdongju~ha

Taste of Korea(1)-오리27年

Last weekend, I went to 27年(franchised) in Daejeon with my roomate. I read about this restaurant in a magazine when I was staying in Seoul Backpacker Inside. It was recommended by Mr.Tsai (蔡澜）， my favorite writer. Mr.Tsai told that it is called Ori27  because the founder spent 27 years researching the recipes before opening the restaurant. I definately should try the food whose recipes are even older than me.


It's opposite to the back gate of Homeplus in Yosung



Clean and traditional Korean restaurant interior

Side dishes for 연훈제오리 (smoked duck): peabuts, turnip, onions, garlic, salad, green vegetables and so on

something we have in China too: song-hwa-egg, made from duck's egg
I like the way they made it as an appetizer: (egg slice+ cucumber slice+ pear slice)* sauce(pear juice+wasabi?+xxx) haha

Korean vegetables are really nice to me, I can eat them with main food and very fresh.
Nice a-jung-ma added more vegetables for us as I really consume them quick^^

Smoked duck served on a heating pan with mushrooms
The duck meat was very tender and was just slightly smoked and the excessive oil could be filtered by this pan
It costs 25,000won per half and the whole one is 40,000won
Half is abundant for two girls

I like to play with vegetables
A great joy when having Korean food

sesame's leaf is one of favortie

Can some Korean friends tell me what this leaf is? It was very refreshing, I guess I ate it somewhere before, but not a fresh one, rather, the one after kimchied (peakled, sauced)

I know that duck was enough but this Yakbab(Oriental Medicine rice) is a must-try. (14,000won)
There are sticky rice, peanut, sweet potato, blackbean, sesame, date, gingko nut, sun flower nut, fig fruit, cinnamon, 표고버섯(a black-skin tender-texture mushroom) and something else for sure.
It tastes like oriental medicine but in a delicious way.

The Yakbab came with its own matched side dishes too.
I took most of it home since our stomachs ran out of space

The unexpected dessert was impressive, high-quality tomato with light-sweet sauce
I realized it was a full course Korean meal, then

A perfect ending with Hazenut coffee

 In Korea, Korean traditional food is always the best in my mind. Ori-27 again proved it!

Ling at Ori-27

Ms. RedByBeing got the big slice!

Midterm weekend@Seoul

Unfortunately, I had a GRE test in Seoul on Saturday during the midterm. It was my second time to take this super difficult English test in Seoul and since the October test is sort of more popular, this time, we even didn't have an individual desk for each exam taker.
The good thing was the test center was near Anguk station (line 3), which is close to Insa-Dong, Samcheong-Dong, Gyeongbukgung and so on. Samcheong-Dong is a very artistic hidden gem in Seoul. To reach there, just get out at exit 5 of Anguk station and walk across the street and keep going until you see a tourist information center on your right. In Samcheong-Dong, there is Bukcheon, a traditional Korean village, where  many museums, private galleries, cafes and restaurants hidden inside. It seems a great place for a weekend hangout or a date, very impressive, somewhere may only be found in Seoul.

People enjoy a walk in Samcheong-Dong

Private shops, galleries, cafes all around Samcheong-Dong

Another great place to spend a day is Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Take line 6, get out at exit 1 of Hangangjin and go straight and there would be clear signs "Leeum" to guide you there. It is very near Itawon, you can see many foreigners and fancy restaurants there. Leeum has two permanant museums. Museum 1 has a rich and high-quality collection of ancient Korean art works produced in different periods. The whole museum 1 adopts a white background, a great match to traditional Korean art works, simple, neat and elegant. Museum 2 is for modern and contemperary art works made by both Korean and foreign artists and adopts a black background. Leeum, is very nicely designed based on simplicity even to details such as elevators and toilets. They also offer a digital guide equipment that you can learn much while seeing around. An one-day pass that costs 12.000won is of great value. You can enjoy both permanant and special exhibitions. Or you can select part of exhibitions that you are interested in.

Gate of Leeum

Lobby

After lost myself in Seoul for two days, I was refreshed spiritually but exhausted physically. Now, it is time for me to do some yoga and study intensively.