dong-dong-ju
Last night I had an authentically Korean evening. Along with four of my fellow teachers, I went to a barbecue restaurant down the street and ate galbi. Galbi is some of the best meat you can buy. It is pork rib meat that comes marinated. In addition to having good meat, this place has the best kimchi in Korea. Every place serves kimchi (pickled cabbage - THE dish of Korea) but I usually just push it to the side and eat the main course. This place serves a spicy and flavorful kimchi that hits me just right. The Korean barbecue restaurant experience is something I have come to love. Dinner was absolutely fantastic and proved to be a great start to our evening.
Next, we headed to a place right by our apartment. We have had a running joke that this restaurant sells dog, because it has an outward appearance of being very rustic. It is actually a traditional Korean Hof (bar) where they serve nothing but traditional Korean fare (no dog though.) We were full so we weren't eating, but we were drinking. We tried to order beer and soju, but neither were served at this place. We ordered a traditional drink called dong-dong-ju which is a perfect mix of egg nog and chicken soup. They bring you a pitcher of the alcohol in a vase-looking pitcher and they give you little soup cups to sip out of. When we first walked into the restaurant I saw others drinking dong-dong-ju and I assumed they were sipping soup. It is high in alcohol, and it did the trick. I was pretty much blacked out by the time we left the joint. This place had a real cool vibe. The walls are covered in what might appear to be ornate ancient Asian paintings, but each one is covered from top to bottom with signatures and quotes left by former customers (reminiscent of the Jazz or the Wheel.) It is a cool college hangout that ended up being one of the coolest places I have visited in Seoul. It was really nice being in a place that was so hip and so authentically Korean.
I bought a camera today, so I will be adding pictures to document my stay here as soon as I can. I plan on taking the camera out onto Seoul tomorrow and should have some photos published by tomorrow evening.
Love from Seoul
Next, we headed to a place right by our apartment. We have had a running joke that this restaurant sells dog, because it has an outward appearance of being very rustic. It is actually a traditional Korean Hof (bar) where they serve nothing but traditional Korean fare (no dog though.) We were full so we weren't eating, but we were drinking. We tried to order beer and soju, but neither were served at this place. We ordered a traditional drink called dong-dong-ju which is a perfect mix of egg nog and chicken soup. They bring you a pitcher of the alcohol in a vase-looking pitcher and they give you little soup cups to sip out of. When we first walked into the restaurant I saw others drinking dong-dong-ju and I assumed they were sipping soup. It is high in alcohol, and it did the trick. I was pretty much blacked out by the time we left the joint. This place had a real cool vibe. The walls are covered in what might appear to be ornate ancient Asian paintings, but each one is covered from top to bottom with signatures and quotes left by former customers (reminiscent of the Jazz or the Wheel.) It is a cool college hangout that ended up being one of the coolest places I have visited in Seoul. It was really nice being in a place that was so hip and so authentically Korean.
I bought a camera today, so I will be adding pictures to document my stay here as soon as I can. I plan on taking the camera out onto Seoul tomorrow and should have some photos published by tomorrow evening.
Love from Seoul
posted by Kyle at 2:29 AM
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