Eating in Hanguk 한국

 

We arrived in Korea and needed to eat. Apart from the instant ramen noodles in our apartment, we also had a Starbucks nearby. On the way home we spied a restaurant with a sign in English: 'Green Bowl'.  After figuring out how to enter, pushing a button to activate the sliding door, we were faced with an ordering screen. Fortunately there was an English language option and we were able to order a salad and an Acai bowl, using a US credit card to pay.  We sat down and were immediately served water in a jug with small cups. Later our food was brought to our table and we enjoyed the fresh ingredients. On leaving we were approached and signaled  to bus our own table. Message received. 

It continued to be easier to eat out than cook at home, and so we visited several local establishments. Most served American food like pizza and pancakes, but we felt we were missing something authentic.  Friends introduced us to a Japanese restaurant with a limited menu of sushi and noodles. The second time we visited we found them closed (another characteristic of Jeju restaurants who do not adhere to opening times).  The third visit allowed us inside to order blind on a menu that was mostly foreign to us. At one point we were served a beautiful plate of salmon sushi that we had not ordered. Nice, but was the chef trying to use up fresh ingredients before closing?  Another restaurant we were recommended simply posted the sign " Out of ingredients" and kept their doors closed.  Sometimes its was a case of which restaurant was open.  

So we realized we needed to start cooking at home. I found it impossible to find the usual ingredients to cook our usual meals, mainly because of the lack of meat and basic western ingredients in the grocery stores. I am now realizing that some of those ingredients were in the stores, but I couldn't find them, or read the labels. 

I noticed an absence of canned goods in the grocery store. Tuna is sold in a can, but the huge variety of flavors and types confused me. I accidentally bought tuna with truffle, and another with mayo.  Pasta was mainly noodles, and I only found huge sacks of small grained rice.  Contrary to the advice we got before arriving in Korea, there is cheese and bread in the supermarket, but in smaller quantities.  I was amazed at the whole aisles of miso, or soya bean paste, in different flavors, and the quantities of seafood.  Jeju is known for its tangerine harvest, so there is no small amounts of tangerines and tangerine flavored sweets available to buy.  I took full advantage of all the fresh fruits and vegetables, looking forward to a healthier diet. We still haven't been able to get our gas oven to work properly, so there is no baking for the time being.  Also we haven't been able to down load the apps needed for food delivery... so no fast food yet.

I do have to laugh at some of my first cooking

attempts here in Korea. I burnt the rice, produced chewy meat and tasteless noodles, and served salad without dressing.  After seeing that burnt rice is a traditional dish here, and you buy it in the stores, I laugh at my dishes and try again.  

Jon felt that we should be more adventurous when dining out - or he was tired of my cooking - and found a place nearby that advertised Chinese noodles. We never found that restaurant, but were lured into another by the fact that it had parking.  It was called 'Chef Chang' and turned out to be Korean food. They did have an English menu online, but the limited items were mainly marine turban snails in soup or porridge.  But there was unlimited portions of rice from the rice cooker.. 

Fortunately there are some restaurants nearby that cater for foreigners but still include Korean ingredients. We enjoyed the lotus root served with the beef stir fry, the local beer and soju.  Soju is a alcoholic beverage that we see everywhere, a clear liquid in a bottle that I at first mistook for flavored water. It is very cheap, sold for about $1.50. It is in fact a distilled alcohol up to 40% proof. 

The local tea plantation sells delicious tangerine tea and matcha chocolates. And another find was a new restaurant that sold Korean halibut served up as British fish and chips.  And they even had knives and forks on the table.  Most Korean restaurants hide the chopsticks away in a hidden drawer, or under the counter. It is always an interesting way to start a meal by playing hide and seek for the cutlery.