Ah yes, Seoul, I need to get around to my posts before all the memories fade. Why Seoul, I'm not quite sure…..it had something to do with those K-Dramas the Missus was watching. I told my coworker "SJ" about this and she laughed……"it's really nothing like those soap operas….." but she was excited about my travelling to Seoul where much of her family still lives. I mentioned wanting to really try the "standards", "Seoul Food" if you will, and she came up with a huge spreadsheet of choices, recommendations from friends, family, and her…..we managed to visit a couple of these places as well as a few I did some research on. Yet, the Missus had Her heart set on eating at Pojangmachas….which SJ found to be quite amusing.
I was dark and rainy when we arrived from Narita, something we got used to since we had only one really clear night during our trip. It would have been quite difficult finding our way to our AirBnB amongst the highrises around Jongak Station. But our host left us amazing instructions….with photos and landmarks! The apartment was comfortable, cozy, and had all the amenities one could wish for. And the location couldn't be beat. It's probably one of the best and well set-up AirBnB units we've stayed in. They even had pocket wifi to use during your stay. Thanks Mark!
So we headed out into the night and straight for the Pojangmacha near Supyo-ro….and reality hit the Missus, the food looked like it had been sitting all day, rain was dripping on it…and while it would probably hit the spot after a hard night of drinking…we weren't that drunk yet. So, I went to my list and thought some Seolleongtang would just be perfect. And we set out to find Imun Seolleongtang, one of the oldest, if not the oldest restaurant in Seoul. According to Seoulistic the place was established in 1902. How we found the restaurant, in the darkness and drizzle, I'll never know. But tucked away from one of the main streets, we found the place……a gentleman was walking in and we asked him "Imun Seolleongtang?" He smiled and nodded and waved us in…turns out he was one of the owners/managers of the place as he stationed himself behind the cash register.
Most of the customers looked like older folk, a good sign in my book. We were seated and took a second too long to order so the older woman, totally a "Ajumma" just ordered for us…..hilarious. We wanted Seolleongtang anyway.
A couple of notes; we found that the baechu kimchi in Seoul was delicious and not as "pickled" and salty as what we have at most places here in the states.
It wasn't always to my liking, but it was a nice change for me.
Meanwhile; I found the kkakdugi to be really great just about everywhere; so crisp, refreshing, not too salty…….
And boy they love their scallions here…..
Baskets or huge bowls are passed around when you order Seolleongtang or Gomtang. I found that I really enjoyed adding a pile of this to my soup as it added crunch and a nice pungency and flavor to the broth…along with the sea salt and crushed red pepper (gochugaru).
So now is when I mention my SD card failure once again. Unfortunately, my SD card malfunction ate my Seolleongtang photos…so you'll have to bear with my description. The broth was milky white, highly defatted, but still having that collagenic tongue coating feel to it. The flavor was beefy and not much else; it was up to you to add what you needed. The slices of wha loked like brisket had that nice texture of not too tough and not falling apart.
A perfect tummy coating soup for a rainy and rather chilly Seoul evening……
Imun Seolleontang
30-22 Ujeongguk-ro
Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Arriving at night in a city or country you've never been in before can be a bit disorienting; but we're kind of used to it now, so we just took things in stride and had a good night of sleep.
The next morning we awoke hungry and decided to head on out……..but first we needed some sustenance. Where….well, I wasn't sure. I recall seeing a couple of places neat the pojangmacha the night before so I suggested we walk on over to Supyo-ro. Looking over places, we decided on this one.
Sorry, neither the Missus nor I read Hangul. But the smells coming from the place was inviting….there was a group of "guys" finishing up their meal as we entered…..they were still drunk and were trying to sober up.
The panchan was decent, but nothing special….though I will say again, it wasn't as salty as what is standard here at many Korean restaurants.
I got the Doenjang Jigae – the soybean paste stew. It was decent, nice flavor, hearty, the tofu was especially good. The Missus enjoyed this more than I did.
Meanwhile, I really enjoyed the Kimchi Jigae….it had the nice fermented flavors of kimchi, wasn't too salty, was nice, thick, and plain delicious…..though the pork was really tough, which was to be expected based on the price.
And while we had a version later on that was plain delici-yoso….this hit the spot.
And yes, the price…..well 6500 won, about $5.20…not bad for breakfast, eh?
Seoul was an interesting city for us. A mix of the old and new, folks pushing carts around while using smartphones, the" juxtaposition of the old and new" is a phrase I used a couple of times while describing the city.
It was our intention to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace on this morning, at least that's what the Missus decided the night before….that's how She rolls. Most of the time She'll decide what She wants to do the night before. It's sometimes a bit of a scramble, especially when She gets hungry. I have to prepare and have options for everywhere, which can be a bit of a challenge at times.
The palace was literally a few blocks (albeit long blocks) away from where we were staying, but we were early. So we decided to have a cup of coffee…..man, the prices of coffee in Seoul was 
pretty expensive. Like $4+ a cup! After checking out a couple of places, we found a schoolhouse themed coffee shop called Coffee TeaCher; complete with schoolhouse desks, seats, and even lockers!
We both started noticing things right away. There was a group of office workers sitting when we arrived having drinks. When we left 30 minutes later they were still there taking a "coffee break"! We started keeping track when having a cup of coffee and noticed the same thing…..folks take some pretty long coffee breaks here. And then there are the "smoking blocks" outside office buildings……
We headed to Gyeongbokgung Palace a bit after 9am, but quickly noticed something…..
The doors looked closed…….
The time/day differences and jet lag had gotten to us. It was Tuesday and the palace was closed. Which didn't bother us too much since we were literally a quarter mile from the place.
So we walked on over to Bukchon Hanok Village which was just a few kilometers away. This is an area, between Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace where traditional Korean homes "Hanoks" are located in a community that was once set aside for high ranking officials and the nobility.
It was quite beautiful. The only thing being the groups of loud tourists…some of whom would climb up walls…my goodness, folks are still living here…..
The Missus and I decided to return early on another morning and headed to "plan C", which turned out to be the best decision we made during our trip.
Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
I will say, post grand opening hype, that things were pretty calm, even slow during my visits….though I do try to get in as early as possible. Also, the service here was really nice; the two young ladies working were very efficient and quite friendly on both visits.
I decided to start with Nishiki's "signature" tonkotsu style ramen ($9.95), which looked sort of like what I had in my soft-opening visit. Having had a mild, poultry forward broth previously, I was kind of stunned at how salty this was. Also, the broth wasn't as hot as I'd have preferred. In spite of looks, this wasn't quite as rich, nor did it have much in terms of personality with regards to flavor….perhaps it was just too much salt? The chashu was cold, a pet peeve; though the egg was quite nice……perhaps almost perfect.
So here's the thing about the broth……the flavors are pretty mild here overall and there was a ton of that black garlic sauce/oil in this, way too much as the flavor of the garlic, which really didn't have the nice sweetness of black garlic, overwhelmed the whole bowl. In addition, the temp of the broth wasn't hot enough for my taste as this just projected itself as greasy. The chashu wasn't cold and tasted nice, the egg was again excellent, in terms of being cooked and flavor….away from that broth.
I had ordered the thicker noodle, which, while not what you'd expect for a tsukemen, I preferred to the thinner noodle, I did expect something along the lines of what is served at, say Nagi Ramen. Overall, this was a bit too over the top for me….this coming from a guy who had pork backfat ramen in Narita! And at $10.95, I think it's a bit over-priced.
