A Taste of Winter Street Food in South Korea

Street Food 101, South Korea Edition

I am a confessed street food addict. Paralleled with our hunger to explore new places is also our gastronomic adventures to try some of the famous street food of the place. Thus, on our visit to South Korea last November of 2012, allow me to share our take of Korean streetfooding. 

NAMPO-DONG NIGHTIME ALLEYWAYS  

Since we arrived past 9 in the evening at Gimhae International Airport and travel from the airport to Sum Guesthouse at Nampo-dong, Busan took almost 1 hour, we were able to reached the guesthouse at almost past 10:00 in the evening. With the recommendation from Jay, the ever reliable and accommodating manager, our feet brought us to the some of the “pojangmacha” or the late night street cart tent at Nampo-dong. Familiar right? We’ve seen this in some of the Korean Telenovela where yuppies  dine and drink their Soju after office hours.

Since Ahjuhma is not English conversant, we just point to her what we want to order.It's a good thing that ahjumma understand our "turo-turo" order method :) 

Kalguksu

For our first order we tried the steaming hot kalguksu or noodles. Since it was already past 11 pm., and the temperature is freezing at 3 degrees temperature outside, kalguksu is our primer pojangmacha choice.

Kimbap

Kimbap or Gimpap is a famous Korean dish which is made up of steamed white rice stuffed with various vegetable ingredients rolled in dried seaweeds with garnished roasted sesame oil on top and served in bite-size slices. Price would range between 1-2 USD per 4-6 slice. Ahjumma even give us free kimchi as side dish and appetizer. 

Odeng Gook

Odeng Gook is a fish cake on a  stick and broiled in broth. This is a must try during winter season. This is the cheapest street food in Korea. All you need to do is grabbed a stick and start eating it as many as you like and ahjumma will count up the skewers before you leave and ask for your payment after. Each stick cost around .46 cents USD.

We even witnessed one male Korean costumer who after eating his number of Odeng ran away and did not even pay for his order. We pity the nice ahjumma as she cannot run after the bad guy as no one will be left on her store cart.

My friends choice of odeng gook :)

Banana/Strawberry Milk

Until now we are still craving for this kind of milk that we had bought in one of the convenience store in Busan.

INSADONG SSAMZIEGIL

After buying some souvenirs at Insadong Ssamziegil area, we walked down the alley and tried some street foods at Insadong area.

Tteobokki

Tteobokki is the most popular street food in Korea. You can see it anywhere be it in Busan or Seoul as majority of the store cart are selling it. It is a serving of rice cakes and processed seafood in a spicy red sauce.   It is sold between 2-3 USD per serving.

Dakkochi

Dakkochi are simple skewers of grilled chicken and vegetable. It has a unique flame-broiled flavor and you can choose your sauce option for basting be it spicy or not. Average price per stick is almost 2 USD

Hoddeok

Hoddeok or sweet pancake with some peanut butter and cinnamon filling is also one of the favorite winter snack in South Korea. The dough is fried up until the caramel in the center is form and it is best to be eaten while it's still hot.

Over-all we enjoyed our street fooding and snacking experience in South Korea. There are really a lot to try but for a beginner like us above foodies are great choices as primer.

Eat like a Viking for Free @ Vikings The Block, SM North Edsa, QC

This is a famish post again. Choosing the photos to include here is also salivating..  errh not in my vocabulary this time. I have just started my low carb diet and to satisfy the craving, let me just blog our family buffet dining experience at Vikings, The Block, SM North Edsa.  

    

Celebrating your natal day and dining-in for free is truly one the best thing to spend your day with your Family. We are one of the early patrons of Vikings SM North Edsa during its opening last February of this year. Admittedly,  I am a type of mom who is always after the freebies (rephrasing the budget-conscious type as many of my friends would surely disagree J ), we availed the birthday promo from which the celebrant will be charged free provided he or she is accompanied by one full paying adult. You should dine-in on the exact day of your birthday and need to present any government issued IDs to avail the promotion.

Before, we only have Kamayan’s Dad and Saisaki, Cabalen, Chinatown, Tong Yang etc as one of the restaurants who has first ventured into the buffet feast offers .(Of course with exceptions to the luxurious hotel buffet feast of Spiral and Heat with their exemplary world array of dishes).  

With the gastronomic and the love of food attitude innate in every Filipinos, comes the opening of different Buffet Restaurants in Manila. Everyone is raving for buffet restaurant as a practical option for family celebrations.

Let me just show you our  "eat like a viking" experience at this newest branch of Vikings located at SM North Edsa. 

Hubby and I, tried first the steak section, this is the most block-buster corner as many were already lined up on this section. Here are some of the steaks spread out in this corner. You can choose your preferred steak and tell the chef how you wanted it done. There are a lot of choices of side dishes and gravies placed here too for your selection.  

and here is the birthday girl plate choice of tenderloin and hickory baby back ribs 

with buttered vegetables :) 

I like the cozy ambiance and the interiors. Everything is placed accordingly, food stations are in every corner to maximize the mall space restrictions.

See this  wine rack near the steak corner. It accentuate the plain glass wall. Unique isn't it?

dining section

Above photos are only stopper, let's proceed with the salivating foodies :)  

Seafood grill station.  You can see here bounty catch of fishes, squids, shrimps etc and some meat grillers. Our choice here is only 1 grilled pampano and some pink salmon. 

 of course, we have also some oyster rockafeller

sushi bar and the Japanese station one of my fave too.

Our choices here are tuna and salmon sashimi, mixed makis and of course the tempura. 

For the Chinese dishes section we only get here some yang chow fried and steamed fish fillet for the kids

There are really a lot in the selections. We haven't tried the pasta and pizza corner, salad and cold-cuts stations as well as the other pastries and sweets  in the desserts section as there is no available space in our satisfied tummy.

Let me show you the kid's favorite corner

oops caught someone busy  at the chocolate station :)

It was indeed a tummy filled birthday celebration with my family. I love this promo I save almost Php688+  (weekday rate) in my pocket. Thanks Vikings hope you'll include wedding anniversaries too :) 

For a group of 2 adults and 2 kids, we were able to spend I think almost Php1,700+ 

good peso value right? :)

This is the buffet rate seen during our visit. For their updated rate and other promotions, 

you may try to check their site.   

Advance booking is recommended for guaranteed seats.

Date of Visit : February 2013

Vikings SM North EDSA

4th Floor The Block, SM City North Edsa, QC

Contact Number:376-3888, 376-4888

Website: http://www.vikings.ph

Oishii - Food Sightings in Japan 101

Japanese foods are truly intoxicating. DIVINE!!!TASTY!!!DELICIOUS!!! (borrowed from my favorite Candy Crush app terminologies he he) are only a few words to describe them. Japanese put greater emphasis on the quality of ingredients, seasonality and skillful presentation on their cuisine. These makes authentic Japanese food truly stand out from any other International cuisines. According to my sister, food presentation is important when serving a menu because Japanese people believes that if their food is already highly appealing on their brain then it is more satisfying in their stomach. Allow me to share part of the Japanese dishes I've tried during my recent trip in Japan.

Warning: This post contains varieties of photos that are not good on your diet :)  

Sashimi  - are sliced of variety of raw seafoods. It is usually served with 

soysauce, lemon and wasabi