Brad was working (extremely hard!) in South Korea for just under a month, and I was lucky enough to pop over for a week. This was my first visit to Asia and I not only had a fantastic time, but I found it fascinating and exciting! Though this will not include any recipes, I thought over the next few days I would share some of the food I sampled and enjoyed while I was in Seoul. Everything I had I truly enjoyed – though the spiciness can definitely get you! So let’s jump in! I have some fun food to share!

This was my first Korean meal. I met Brad and his co-workers for lunch my first afternoon in Seoul. Apparently this meal was very standard lunch fare and after having it, I can see why. Each day the menu offerings change. On this particular afternoon they were serving: kimchi soup, tofu soup, and a fish soup. There may have been another few choices but those were the soups we all ordered so that is all I remember. Additionally the options were translated for me since I do not speak or read Korean.

The black bowl of red soup was my tofu soup order. It was tasty, spicy, and literally boiling hot when it was delivered to the table. Of course this photo cannot capture the liquid at a rolling boil, but you can see the steam wafting around! I believe they use a silken tofu in the soup because it was extremely flimsy (i.e. my chopsticks could not be used to pick up the tofu, it simply split apart).

As you can see though, there are many dishes on the table, and those are standard in most Korean meals. First the small silver container to the left of the soup was a bowl of rice. All the smaller white dishes in the center of the table are shared for everyone. And if the table tends to prefer any one of them, it will frequently be replenished. The center dishes are primarily vegetables, but sometimes different meats or fish will sneak in. For example, the round orange-y items right behind my soup were a type of sausage. The sausage was sliced then thinly egg-battered and lightly fried. Moving counter-clockwise, behind the sausage were fish cake strips. They were outstanding! At the far back was a classic kimchi. Though kimchi is most commonly made with cabbage and spices as shown there, it can also be made with other vegetables such as daikon radishes (delicious and crunchy). Finishing the circle is another fish cake, another bowl of sausage pieces, then finally bean sprouts in a dressing. In the middle was a very spicy seaweed salad dish.

All these little dishes are amazing accents to the meal and can be eaten with rice or just plucked up and eaten alone. You actually do not even order these sides, they appear either as soon as you are seated or after you place your order. And each restaurant has their own selection and version of these – as you will see in the coming days.

Read part 2 & part 3.