Or start from the beginning, Part 1: Flying to Tokyo
The first thing we did when we got off the plane in Seoul was EAT! The next posts are going to have so many food pics...I pretty much ate my way through Seoul ^_^ And believe it or not, this is only a fraction of the places I went to eat since I forgot to carry around my camera. Anyway, the first place we went to eat is a pork restaurant that my aunt really likes.
This is the typical casual family restaurant in Korea. Everyone leaves their shoes at the door and sits on the floor. The silver pipes in the ceiling suck out the smoke from the meat grilling at the table. This table set up is pretty much the same at every traditional Korean family restaurant. All Korean restaurants give free cold water/tea in plastic bottles like that. The long rectangular box next to the bottle (it's kind of hard to see) is a plastic box full of spoons and chopsticks (no forks). The square box that looks like a tissue box is filled with squares of rough napkins. These napkins are much smaller than the napkins in America. These three things are always on every table in restaurants in Korea :) Many restaurants also give you warm towels to wipe your hands.
The pork meat here is known to be uniquely "light brown" and very light in fat. It certainly had a much more delicate taste than any other pork I've ever tried. Koreans eat pork like how they eat any other meat, with lettuce, garlic, and onions (yeah, it's not a date kind of meal, cuz your breath will stink xD).
A delectable mouthful of pork ^_^ Just pork + a slice of garlic + a dab of pepper paste.
Or of course, just eat it with a bit of rice. This is my favorite kind of rice - white rice with bits of cornmeal in it - SO GOOD. Hardcore people don't eat these meat wraps with rice tho ;)
The green broth with onions floating in it is what this particular restaurant is known for. You eat the onions with the pork and sip on the icy cold green-tea/onion flavored broth to balance out the heaviness of the meat. Koreans think that eating onions will help you digest the meat better (dunno if that's true), but it sure as hell tastes good.
On the table is all the accoutrements need to make the perfect bite-sized wrap ^_^ A tip about eating in Korea - the best restaurants are the ones that offer only 3-4 "main course" items on the menu (there will typically be 4-5 appetizers offered as well), 8 main courses MAX aka the places that specialize. The best places don't even have a menu at all since everyone just comes for one dish, literally. More on that later tho ;)
Next up....Part 8: Apartments in Seoul
