Food Lists – Travel World Heritage

02Oct201315Jul2015

5 More Awesome Korean Food Main Dishes you MUST try pt.3

Julio Moreno Food Lists, Main Dishes Korean food 0 Comment

This list is OUTDATED! I’ve combined all Korean Food lists into this single post.

Korean food is just amazing, so it should be no surprise that we have reached a third Korean main dish list (list 1, list 2). With so many flavorful choices, don’t be surprised if this series reaches a pt. 25. Having lived in Korea for nearly four years, I have grown an intense fondness to the delightful choices available to satisfy my palate.

Korean food is great, Korean food is yummy, yata yata yata… let’s get this ball rolling shall we?

5) Bibimbap / 비빔밥 / Mixed Rice

06Jun201315Jul2015

5 More Awesome Korean Foods (Main Dishes) pt.2

Julio Moreno Food Lists, Main Dishes Korean food 0 Comment

This list is OUTDATED! I’ve combined all Korean Food lists into this single post.

Who doesn’t like food? One of the things I look forward to the most while traveling, besides visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is the wonderful array of things I can eat in other countries. Korean food does not disappoint with a wide variety of dishes at very affordable prices [mostly]. If you missed my list of top 5 favorite Korean foods, main dishes and snacks/street foods, go here and here (respectively). Here are another 5 dishes to fill up your stomachs.

In no particular order:

1) Pork Belly (bacon) / Samgyeopsal / 삼겹살

Korean Food - Samgyeopsal — Credit: Wikimedia.org

Samgyeopsal is one of the most Read more →

19Mar201315Jul2015

Top 5 Korean Snacks, Street Foods, and Side Dishes You Should Definitely Try in South Korea pt.1

Julio Moreno Food Lists, Snacks, Street Foods, and Side Dishes best korean snacks, best korean street food, korean foods, korean snacks 2 Comments

This list is OUTDATED! I’ve combined all Korean Food lists into this single post.

When you go to Korea, you should eat as much as can possibly fit into your stomach. Having spent the last three years here, I eat Korean food on a daily basis. In that time, I have amassed a big list of favorite things to eat which I hope to share with everyone. Because I would like you to eat a lot in your travels here, I have separated main dishes and snacks into two separate posts for your consumption benefit. I hope you get fat with these amazing street foods and snacks when you come to Korea. You can find the first food related Korea post here.

#5 Pickled and Fermented Spicy Cabbage (I guess)/ Kimchi / 김치

Kimchi is the signature side dish in Korea. Cabbage is cleaned and filled with salt to draw out the water (watch the video). Then, it is prepared with a red paste and left to ferment for weeks, months, or longer. Kimchi, much like wine, apparently gets better with age. It is also quite expensive to buy prepared in stores, as they can go for about 9,000 won ($8.50 USD) a kilo (2.2 lbs for you Americans that can’t convert). Because of this, many people make kimchi for the rest of the year sometime in September or October when the cabbage is cheapest and store it in specifically designed “kimchi refrigerators” (I’m not joking). As Koreans eat kimchi with anything, you won’t have trouble finding it at any “kimbap restaurant” or pretty much anywhere.

So, if it is the signature side dish, why is it ranked so low? Because it is overrated (at least for my foreigner taste buds). Have you ever woken up one day and thought, “man, I really want to have some cabbage today!” No, no one outside of Korea has ever thought of that because cabbage is a very average (or below) vegetable. I do like cabbage sometimes and I do recommend that you try kimchi once, but it is not the be-all and end-all of Korean cuisine. There are many snacks that taste better. In fact, I recommend kimchi more for its cultural impact on Korean people, than its actual taste. Besides, it will be free with most meals, so just try it.

If you are more familiar with Korean cuisine, it might be prudent to add that there is not just one kind of kimchi. There are actually more than twenty kinds which can be found at any large super market if you want to sample them all. For the purposes of this article, kimchi will mean the most common type of Korean kimchi (the red cabbage one).

Related Articles / Links on other Sites:

1) Best Kimchi (To be honest, kimchi is found with ANY meal, but this ppyeohaejangguk place has my favorite kimchi)

Related Articles / Useful links on This Site:

1) Best Korean Main Course Dishes pt.1

2) Evaluation: King Sejong Tomb in Korea [UNESCO World Heritage Site]

3) Three Things to do in Southern Seoul

4) Three More Things to do in Southern Seoul

#4 Chicken Skewers / Dak Kochi / 닭 꼬치

The idea is very simple: Grill some chicken and some green onions on a stick and put some sauce on it, but it is still very delicious. In many of the markets or shopping centers in Korea, you will see people selling Dak Kochi on the street. While many are out year round, you can see them especially in the late fall or early spring when it is just warm enough to be outside at night. They are a great street food, and the vendors are usually some of the friendliest people around. They cost about 2000 won each ($1.80 USD) so grab one to hold you over until your next big meal!

17Mar201315Jul2015

Top 5 Korean Foods (Main Course) You Should Definitely Try in South Korea pt.1

Julio Moreno Food Lists, Main Dishes Korean food 0 Comment

This list is OUTDATED! I’ve combined all Korean Food lists into this single post.

For those of you who like to try different cuisines while traveling, there is good news: Korean food is awesome, cheap (mostly), and plentiful. Korean food is not limited to the “Korean BBQ” that you find in Los Angeles, which is actually a Korean-American adaptation that Koreans call “LA Galbi.” Korean food includes soups, seafood, grilled meats, and much more.

Here are five things you should definitely try if you find yourself in South Korea anytime soon. In this list, I have only included main dishes, but will make another list about snacks or side dishes soon. If I know some good places, I also suggested them after each entry, and put the name (often just a description) in English, Romanized Korean (how it sounds), and Korean characters (for you to point at when ordering) at the top of each entry.

#5 Tuna Rice Roll / Chamchi Kimbap / 참치 김밥

Kimbap is usually made with rice, radish, many vegetables, a strip of ham, and your chosen extra (in this case, tuna) wrapped around in a seaweed leaf. It is then rolled (like sushi) and cut into cylinder slices (like sushi). One roll is usually enough to fill you up as it has a lot of rice, but get two if you are really hungry, no one will think less of you.

Kimbap comes in many forms including: vegetable, tuna, cheese, kimchi, and many others that are more unusual . Kimbap restaurants are the Korean equivalent of a fast food joint in America. You can see them anywhere in Korea, “Kimbap / 김밥,” in big neon signs. While most look appetizing, the tuna variety is by far the best. In fact, I don’t even remember the last time I had a non-tuna kimbap. Kimbap is also one of those sensitive foods that if done wrong, tastes terrible. Don’t be disappointed if you get a bad one. At less than 3,000 Won (under $2.80 USD), it is worth trying again and again until you get a good one.

Related Articles / Useful links on Other Sites:

1) Location of the absolute best chamchi kimbap place period (Zoom out to see the map)

Related Articles / Useful links on This Site:

1) Evaluation: King Sejong Tomb in Korea [UNESCO World Heritage Site]

2) Three Things to do in Southern Seoul

3) Three More Things to do in Southern Seoul

#4 Marinated Pork mixed with Rice / Jeyukdeopbap / 제육덮밥

This is another one of those meals that taste amazing if done right, or average at best if done wrong. Jeyukdeopbap is a thin sliced pork marinated in a red or orange sauce with onions and a few other vegetables. It usually comes as a set of meat in its juices on one side, and a slab of rice on the other. When you mix the two, it tastes like a curry with a fantastic pork flavor. While it is not spicy, the sauce can be very flavorful and salty to give the whole meal a richer taste. It is usually around 5000 Won ( $4.50 USD) at most restaurants and will definitely fill you up.