Seoulcially Awkward Foodventures

Hallyu Wave, KPOP, Fashion, Shopping, Make Up, Food...

These are some of the words that spring out in our mind whenever anyone mentioned Korea.

For me, one of the things that I really love about Korea is their food culture. Just like how the city of Korea ranges from the countryside, to cultural landmarks and metropolitan skyscrapers, Seoul offers a wide variety of food to locals and tourists here. From hearty traditional meals such as Dosirak; a korean lunch box shake to chimaek; fried chicken with booze. Vacationers will definitely be spoilt for choices.

Staying in Korea for two months has given me ample opportunities to visit many restaurants, eateries, cafes and not forgetting the street food! Some of these food are one my favourite while some of them carry funny and awkward memories.

1) 몽상 Monsant Cafe

Owned by the famous KPOP idol G-Dragon, Monsant Cafe has one of the most beautiful interior that overlooks the beautiful sea of Jeju. Can the date get any dreamier? This drink has got to be one of the prettiest drink that I have seen. Initially, we had no idea what was the name of this drink, and none of us could read and understand the menu as it was in Korean. No one could understand us when we tried to ask for help in ordering. Hence we decided to randomly order a drink, hoping it would hit the bull's eye. And lo and behold, we did! I think the excitement for this drink partly came from the cheap thrill that we have gotten for guessing the drink correctly! It has a refreshing citrus (a mix of grapefruit and lemon) taste to it and the soda is not very fizzy; perfect for people who are not a fan of carbonated drinks. For those visiting Jeju, do drop by Cafe Monsant and try out Monpagne! Don't say I didn't share with you!

2) Hongdae Street: Beef Steak Cubes

If you have been to Taiwan, you would know that beef cubes is a hot item on every "Must-Try Street Food in Taiwan" list. While the craze for beef cubes is not as huge in Korea, but this has got to be my favourite street food in Seoul! The beef is very tender, which is suitable for people with braces like me. Top it off with thick-cut fries and cherry tomatoes, mmhmm this is the best combination! We stood by the street store and hesitated for quite awhile before ordering due to the steep price of 6,000 won (around SGD $8). However, the street store aunty kept signalling to us to make a purchase, which we eventually gave in. We had a light hearted chat and the aunty was nice enough to let us take a video of her grilling the beef. Food always brings people together regardless of language and races! I do not have the exact address, but do keep a look out for Road Steak along the food street at Honggik University Station, Exit 3 if you are a beef lover!

3) Kimbap from Convenient Stores

One of the things that I am envious of every other country is the amazing variety of food, drinks and snacks in their convenience stores! Singapore's 7-11 store is nowhere near the standards of the convenience stores in countries like Korea, Japan, Taiwan and even Thailand! On top of that, the thought of climbing up and down our hilly school under the scorching sun just to grab lunch from the cafeteria was too much for a lazy person like me to handle. Over time, grabbing something from the convenience store just below the business school was much more enticing. I have tried every onigiri and kimbap off the shelves and my favourite has got to be the Kimchi Bulgogi Onigiri. The sweet bulgogi meat in the middle of the kimchi rice, wrapped with a crispy seaweed was always my go-to lunch option. Yummms!

4) Spicy Fish Cake Kimbap; Myeongdong

Speaking of kimbaps, this has got to be the most memorable Kimbap I have ever eaten. It was during one of our class field trip at Myeongdong when I decided to grab a Kimbap because I was starving. I love the spicy fish cake that we have in Singapore, which is called Otah. Thinking that it was the same, I went ahead to order a spicy fish cake Kimbap without hesitation at one of the subway's food store. It was only after paying for my food did the store aunty warned me that the fish cake was extremely spicy. It was a trick! But I guess it was too late to back out... And true enough, this fish cake was crazily spicy. I was gulping down 2-3 cups of rice water and I was tearing in the middle of the subway station. My stomach literally felt like it was burning. The store aunty had a really good laugh that afternoon watching our little "mukbang" show.

5) Seafood and Banchan

One thing that no one can disagree with me is that the seafood in Korea is way cheaper and fresher than the seafood in Singapore. Of course, I am not mentioning those marketplaces that would usually extort from foreigners. I had this amazing seafood feast in Busan, at the second floor of Jagalchi Market! We had abalone, abalone porridge, seafood stew, scallops, mussels, clams, raw octopus, sashimi, prawns, fish, scallion pancake and not to forget all the refillable side dishes (I think we had 10-15 different side dishes). All these for ... wait for it... just 30,000 won! That is approximately SGD $38! This is the time where all your friends would feel like snapping at you when they see your foodelicious social media stories. This meal was also memorable because it was our first time eating raw octopus. It definitely wasn't love at first sight seeing the octopus' legs still squirming in front of you, but it is not as scary as you would think it is. Don't worry, it is not alive. It is just a muscle reflect from pouring soy sauce over the octopus' legs because they serve it fresh right out of the catch. It has a sweet and crunchy texture to it, and it is a perfect balance when combined with the sesame oil and soy sauce. I am a huge fan of seafood and sashimis and this was by far my favourite meal in Korea!

6) Florte Flower Bar Cafe

Korea has a ton of quirky cafes and along the streets of Hongdae, this has got to be every girl's favourite cafe. Flower bands and bouquets are left on every table so that no one walks away without taking an insta-worthy shot. Food and drinks are served with floral petals, making it too aesthetically painful to eat. This is the one time you can be a carefree flower girl without having to walk through a long aisle. What surprises me was that every girl in the cafe were extravagantly dressed up with heavy make up as if it was a photoshoot or an important date. I felt so underdressed at that place in my plain basic dress. So girls, do not hesitate to flaunt a pretty outfit if you are coming here for a visit!

7) Jinokhwa Halmae Wonjo Dakhanmari (진옥화할매원조닭한마리)

I cannot deny that it was such a relief to find a non-spicy soup in Korea after weeks of spicy food! Located at an alley in Dongdaemun, this shop has been around for 38 years! Although the soup looked quite plain, it had a rich chicken broth which was exactly what we needed. When we first arrived at the restaurant, there was a big pot of soup with chicken meat placed in front of us. However, as no one was entertaining us, we were unsure how to go about with the ordering. After observing the tables around us, we mistook that the restaurant might be self-service and we innocently went to take the noodles that was sitting comfortably in the basket on a shelf beside us. We ended getting ourselves scolded real bad by the waitress ahjumma, who was exclaiming out loud in the entire store that we were doing it all wrongly. It was so embarrassing, we all wished we could dig a hole into the ground and hide our faces! But aside from the good soup, this experience had been deeply ingrained into our memory that it is nearly impossible to forget this shop. So if you are thinking of coming here, just leave all the cooking and cutting to the waitresses and enjoy your meal!

There are definitely much more to try other than those listed here and I wished I had more time in Korea. 2 months is not enough to soak up the country's food culture! What else is more fulfilling than ticking of food lists on your trip? Diet can always start when you hit back home.