korean

Lotteria Shrimp and Bulgogi Burger

by

lotteria order

Lotteria is one of the largest fast food chains in Korea. It’s an offshoot of the Lotte Korean conglomerate. I was there a couple of months ago for a business trip and decided to sample the local cuisine junk food.

lotteria

They had this 30th anniversary promotional burger going on – it’s a half-and-half of shrimp and bulgogi beef. I have been a HUGE fan of bulgogi after going to Korea – done right, it’s the delicious! I’ve been to a proper bulgogi place as well as the McDonald’s bulgogi burger *drool* and I love it to bits!

lotteria promo

Naturally, I went for this one, half bulgogi and half shrimp in a sub, you can’t really ask for more!

lotteria burger

We had it to go coz it was really late at night and all of us were pretty tired.

lotteria bulgogi shrimp burger

I know why Lotteria is doing so well in Korea (kinda rhymes right?) though. Their burgers are orgasmic! Imagine half of a shrimp burger and half of a bulgogi burger in a single sub – it’s an XXL sized portion of belly patting goodness in a single bun.

Tteokbokki (Dduk Bbok Kie): Hot and spicy Korean street food

by

Tteokbokki stall

Tteokbokki or Dduk Bbok Kie as our Korean interpreter Kim spells it is a popular street food in Korea. I only knew that after I had it though. Three of us were walking around the streets sans interpreter and stopped to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to the main event.

Tteokbokki

I caught sight of a group of locals congregating around this stall which sells some kind of spicy looking pottage. I don’t know what it is but it looks starchy and comes in a rather promising shade of red. The smell coming from the bubbling pot was decidedly pleasant and I concluded this was just the thing to have on a chilly autumn night.

busan street

We were in huge market somewhere in Busan and attempts to ask what it was failed miserably. I wanted to know what it contains so I can write about it but finally gave up and did The Sign Language Thing (TM).

pointing thing

The Sign Language Thing (TM) involves using your index finger to point at the simmering pot, turn that finger 90 degrees to indicate one serving, and rotate it another 90 degrees to point towards yourself, demonstrating your intent.

Dduk Bbok Kie

The Tteokbokki is served with a whole boiled egg, fish cakes, sliced meat, and tteok (a long rice cake with a texture like chewy dough) doused with a hot paste. It was surprisingly good. I love the hot sauce made with peppers – you can still see the chillis in the dish. It’s savory and spicy and costs 3000 Won (RM 8).

pork sausage

I was also given a pork sausage made with pork and starch as a “service”, which means free in their version of English.

eating Tteokbokki

Anyway, I was standing there eating the hot Tteokbokki (though I didn’t know what it was at the time) when up came this hot Korean girl (or so I thought at that time) and explained in PERFECT QUEEN’S ENGLISH what the dish contains. I was flabbergasted and my jaw probably dropped in mid-chew, exposing the half eaten contents inside my mouth.

I’m sure she was very impressed. T_T

She translated what I said to the stall owner and vice versa and thanks to her, this post comes complete with the ingredients in Tteokbokki.

malaysian student

Oh, and I found out she’s a Malaysian studying in Seoul after talking to her. Heh! She was here with her friends for PIFF 2009.

Eating dog meat in Korea

by

dog meat

I managed to get gastronomically acquainted with man’s best friend during my trip to Korea. I have made it a personal jihad/crusade to sample their wonderful canine products. It was harder than I thought, despite the English – Korean word translator because: 

dog meat translate

Contrary to popular belief, selling dog meat is illegal in Korea! 

eating dog meat korea

We had to ask a lot of street vendors, who all shook their heads and looked away. Just as we were about to give up, one kindly old lady overheard us, proclaimed gae jang guk (dog meat soup) and made the appropriate “woof woof” sounds. She led us down this really dodgy and narrow side street and we half expected to be mugged in the cobbled alley. 

dog meat shop korea

…but lo and behold – there it was, an eating establishment in the middle of nowhere, out of the sight of casual tourists and probably accessible only to locals. 

dog meat korea

We entered the establishment and I asked for gae jang guk. The female proprietor eyed us and our entourage of cameras with some suspicion and I improvised a combination of sign language and enthused “I eat”. She finally nodded and let us into the seating area. 

dan gogi tang

I present to you dan gogi tang (dog meat soup) made with 100% authentic dog meat! It’s served with the usual Korean condiments and steamed rice. 

dog meat soup

It should be noted that the dog meat in Korea is not from your pet Labrador but a specially bred dog made for eating. 

gae jang guk

I find the dog meat excessively gamey and there is a lot of fat in this breed of dog. It tastes like nothing I’ve ever sampled before – the best I can describe it is a cross between lamb and pork but with a VERY strong smell and aftertaste. The odor was quite overwhelming despite the hot peppers and what not used to flavor the soup.

I would love to try it again though. I’m thinking back to the fatty-lean texture and pungent odor infusing the meat, and I’m drooling at the thought of chewing that in my mouth right now, allowing my palate to savor the taste of dog meat.

Bon appétit!

Oh, and the first dog I met barked at me. I’m serious. Does he know I ate his brethren?

Koreana review

by

koreana

Koreana restaurant is quite an established institution serving authentic Korean food in Kuching. It has recently moved its premises to 101, complete with brand new décor and fittings.

koreana interior

I went there with Irene and Emeric during my last trip to Kuching. The new Koreana looks much better than the previous restaurant and features an upper level for more dining space.

koreana utensils

I like the eating implements (and also using unconventional words instead of just “utensils”) in Koreana. The chopsticks at Koreana are Korean chopsticks – it’s angular and oblique which makes it difficult to handle the first time you come across it.

koreana green tea

We all had a mug of steaming green tea (RM 2) since we had just consumed an excessive amount of Slurpees previously, which made us a little on the cold side. The weather was chilly too, for some reason – rainy season, probably.

koreana entrees

Koreana serves a select range of complimentary entrees for all diners. There’s kimchi (the staple of Korean food), clams in some sort of hot sauce, seaweed, anchovies, a salad and vegetables of some sort.

koreana slizzling

Irene had the Dolsot Bibim Bub (RM 20) which is described as “slizzling rice with assorted vegetables in stone bowl”. I’m sure they meant sizzling. 😉

koreana egg

The bibim bub (stone bowl mixed rice) comes with a raw egg which was cracked in by the waitress…

koreana mix

…and mixed thoroughly. Check out the look of concentration on her face. The raw egg is actually cooked by the excess heat from the stone bowl.

koreana kimchi

The obligatory kimchi is then added to the stone bowl mixed rice…

koreana bibimbup

…before it is served. Koreana serves a pretty mean bibim bup and a testament to the authenticity of the place is the Korean expatriates at a table beside us.

koreana kimchi rice

Emeric opted for the Kimchi Fried Rice (RM 12). It tastes a lot like the Dolsot Bibim Bub minus the theatricals. 😉

koreana cold noodles

I went for the Mulnaengmyun (RM 22) which is cold noodles in soup. It came with bamboo shoots and other vegetables and half a boiled egg. The dish was served in a metal bowl full of ice cubes. It’s not just cold, it’s freezing! I like! 🙂

koreana scissors

Koreana also provides you with scissors for the cold noodle dish to cut the noodles into more manageable lengths for slurping. I really liked the taste of this dish – the freezing cold soup tastes delicious and although the concept of having ice cold noodles may be foreign for some people, it actually tastes really good.

koreana chicken soup

We also ordered a bowl of Samgaetang (RM 35) to share. It is chicken soup cooked with ginseng Korean style and Irene insists that it is a very healthy substitute for ED meds. I’m not sure why she thinks me and Emeric has that kind of problem, but the chicken soup does taste good. 😉

koreana ginseng

The chicken soup with ginseng is served with half a whole chicken and lots of Korean ginseng. There’s also some rice at the bottom of the soup bowl and the rice expands and absorbs all the goodness of the soup and is meant to be eaten after everything else is consumed. It’s delicious!

koreana us

Koreana is a nice place to have dinner if you’re hankering for authentic Korean food. The bill came up to about RM 95 so it’s pretty reasonable for three people. Thanks to Irene for driving me around Kuching in search of the elusive Slurpee! 😉

Samjin Mochi Ginseng Pie

by

samjin mochi ginseng pie

Samjin is a South Korea based confectionary manufacturer which has a
line of Choco Mochi Cake as their signature line. Mochi is a made with
glutinous rice and comes in a deliciously chewy texture. It’s a
traditional Korean and Japanese snack.

ginseng mochi pie

My parents went to Korea for a vacation recently and bought back
several packs of Samjin Choco Mochi Cakes. It’s supposed to dominate
the market share in mochi confectionary in Korea. My favorite one is
the Ginseng Mochi Cake.

ginseng mochi slice

Ginseng Mochi Cake comes in a box containing five individually wrapped packs of the “Ginseng Pie”. The promotional spiel goes ‘Ginseng
Mochi Cake’ is enhanced in its taste as inserting Ginseng cream mixed
with extracts and powder from world famous Korean Ginseng in a rice cake, which doesn’t exactly make much grammatical sense. 😉

ginseng mochi wrapper

Samjin products are currently only sold in souvenir shops in Korea
and it’s surprisingly addictive. I’ve had the regular ones and the
Ginseng ones and while both have a wonderful chewy texture that makes
it impossible to eat just one, I like the Ginseng Pie better.

ginseng mochi inside

The interesting thing about Samjin Choco Mochi cakes is that the
chocolate is beige and crumbly…there’s a filling covered by the chewy
mochi and covered with chocolate. The Ginseng Mochi Cake has Korean
Ginseng added. I brought several boxes over and realized that I’ve
absently eaten one after another continuously…it’s really that good!

Mmm…chewy. 😉

Strange snacks

by

strange korean candy

Strange snacks always seem to be around every time I come home. This
one is apparently a Korean candy of some sort, featuring several cute
characters.

strange korean char

I was expecting it to taste bad but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was delicious!

strange korean ball

It all contains a round ball of something I can’t identify, but it
has sorbet like properties in the middle and chewy gum (edible)
covering it. I can’t describe the taste with anything except –
excellent!

strange jelly

This is a decidedly gay looking jelly. I don’t know who bought it, but no one ate it, so I did. It’s jelly, no surprises here.

strange fruit marsh car

There is also a snack dubbed Fruit Vehicle Marsh Mallow and it comes
in a shape of a car, the package that is. I had wondered what the
unholy fusion of fruit and marshmallows would taste like…

strange fruit marsh

…and the answer is good.

strange choc shrooms box

This one features tantalizingly suggestive chocolate covered (magic?) mushrooms.

strange choc shrooms open

I had high expectations for this one (no pun intended). I opened one pack with anticipation.

strange choc shrooms

I was let down by the taste (it tasted stale, to be honest) but the
presentation was wonderful. There’s an articulate piece of chocolate in
the shape of a mushroom cap, with the details, attached to a biscuit
stem.

strange snacks

Strange snacks indeed…

Korean BBQ House

by

I went to the Korean BBQ House today with a couple of my buddies. We
had wanted to go to Shabu Shabu at first but it was totally full. Our
next choice was the Paramount buffet, but we saw that it only happens
in the weekends. Since the Korean BBQ House is right beside Paramount,
we went for that instead. There were four of us – Daniel, Ting Chuan,
Johnny and myself so we had the meat platter thingy. None of us have
been here before, it had only opened recently. This is the same place
that Vivien [blogspot.com] went to on Wednesday.

koreabbq.jpg
BBQ

Anyway, the meat platter was really nice, it had beef, lamb (mmm)
and chicken and it tasted really good. The meat was put in the middle
of the bbq platter and there was some chicken soup poured over it.
There was a small moat thing surrounding the platter to catch the soup.
The meat tasted really good, it was probably marinated well and the
resulting soup + meat drippings on the side of the platter was divine.
I imagine it had a lot of calories though.

bbqice.jpg
Sinful

I also had this ABC special, they called it a BBQ special bowl or
something, I couldn’t remember. The bowl was huge and it had a scoop of
ice cream in it too. However, the best thing about this place is the
service. The service was excellent. There was a waitress
to pour the drinks, cook the meat and serve it, all with a smile. I was
pleasantly surprised at this level of service and I would have no
problems recommending this place to anyone.

bbqwaitr.jpg
Our waitress

Hmm…I just realised that we did have a group photo taken, but one
of the guys was partially cut off from the frame, so I’m not going to
post it.

Korean BBQ Restaurant Review

by

I decided on the spur of the moment to eat someplace I haven’t been to
before so I went to Clayton with my mate Jimmy in search of Food. The one
I was wanting to go to (Agra Sweets – an Indian food place) was closed so
instead we headed to the Korean BBQ Restaurant at 3/299 Clayton Road.

  

I had:

Seafood Pa-jeon “Korean style seafood, spring onion and vegetable pancake”
A$7

Yuk-gae-jang “Spicy beef stock with mixed vegetables in hot pot” A$10

Shik-hye “Korean traditional rice punch” A$2.50

The mochi type dessert A$3

No, I don’t have a photographic memory, but I do have a digicam and I took
photographs of the menu. Heh. There were only 3 other tables filled in
there but the service was pretty good. Friendly and accommodating. I’m
pretending to be a restaurant critic here, so bear with me. The food
turnaround was around 10-15 minutes. The pancake was pretty good, quite a
bit of seafood in there but pretty bland without the soy sauce side dish.
The main meal was okay, I’m not expecting it to be so heavily laden with
kimchi, which I’m not a big fan off. It tastes weird to me. There wasn’t
lot a lot of beef bits in the stew but there were heaps of rice
vermicelli, all sorts of vegies and eggs. Everything tastes like kimchi,
good for a cold night but like I said I’m not big on the taste of that
stuff. It also comes with 2 platters of condiments (6 types altogether). I
don’t know what some of the condiments are but they taste sour. Quite
good, it balances the kimchi stew. The rice punch was okay, small tin
though. I drink a lot, so that is of concern to me. I ended up ordering
another coke to reach my “drink quota”. I also had a mochi type dessert
for A$3. It’s rice pastry (the soft kind) wrapped around chocolate ice
cream and dusted with some powder. Mmmm, I liked that. Tastes like a cross
between the mochi dessert you can get from ice cream vendors in Malaysia
and kueh.

The decor

Total cost: A$24.50 including GST

I think the food wasn’t really good enough to justify the price. They are
more famous for their BBQ. Oh, watch out for the funky chopsticks, they’re
a bit tr to use. The table beside us was having that and they seem to
be enjoying their meal. The female shop proprietor is a bit paranoid about
having her picture taken. She ducked or turned away the both times she was
in front of my lens. Thought that was pretty funny.

Listening to: Eminem – The Eminem Show

Yeah yeah, I know what everyone thinks of him. I listen to a lot of
Westcoast gangsta rap so I’m pretty dubious about a white rapper too.
Finally decided to listen to his Marshall Mathers album with an open mind
and found out that he’s pretty good. He can write some pretty provocative
lyrics (or is it Dre?) which people can actually relate too. There are
some people who think that he’s fake coz he came from a middle class
family so he’s not gangsta enough. Personally, I don’t really mind. If he
can churn out good songs, it doesn’t matter to me if what he raps about is
real or not. The Eminem Show is even better than the last album. Loved
every song on the first listen. My favourites are My Dads Gone Crazy (Hailie
sounds adorable in the backup vocals), Superman (But I do know one thing
though, bitches they come they go), Cleaning Up My Closet (reply to his
mom), Soldier (about the Kim kissing another guy at the club incident) and
hmm…I pretty much like every track. I’m not going to apologize for
liking Eminem. If you think he’s manufactured (most of the current artists
are anyway) and it bothers you that much, hell just don’t listen to it. Go
and listen to your underground band. Elitist fucks.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...