Sam Gyub Sal

Seoul - After going through 5 meetings in a day - it is time to relax in a traditonal Korean environment. Today was a very busy day.....

Oops...what is Sam Gyub Sal? It means "Three layers Pork or pork belly" and is one of the delicacies in Korea. Tonight, I had Sam-gyub-sal so instead of Beef on BBQ - this is pork on BBQ and it is very delicious. The Koreans have made eating BBQ an art - the metal plate for BBQ-ing the pork is tilted so that the fatty oil can drip slowly into a container at the end of it. At the end of 2 dishes of BBQ pork - looking at the container, it was amazing to find so much fatty oil.

This dish consists of thin slices of pork belly meat served in the same fashion as galbi - the pork is cooked on a grill at the table. The custom here is to pick up the cooked pork and placed inside a lettuce or any green leafy vegetables provided, add a slice of garlic diped into chilli paste. Wrapped it up and put it into your mouth...ooh so delicious. Soju, a Korean alcoholic beverage, is commonly served with sam-gyup-sal, making a tasty combination and is typically inexpensive.

After having dinner with 2 bottles of Soju, we adjourned to another drinking establishment to continue with a different type of Korean liquor called Dong Dong Ju. Now I know why it's been said that Koreans consume more alcohol per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Makkoli and Dong Dong Ju are traditional drinks made from rice and have a milky appearance.

This is the first time trying Dong Dong Ju and it is quite an experience, it was served out of a large bowl and poured into a separate cup with a ladle. The atmosphere at this Korean drinking joint is very rustic and traditional.

A funny situation happened also - on the table had a bowl of iced water - not sure what that was fo. In Singapore, after eating chilli crabs and messing up your hands - the waiters would normally bring a bowl of water to wash your hands. I thought this is what it was for since there was just one metal bowl of iced water with no cups to be found. Fortunately, I decided to asked Young Jin about it - he laughed and said that it is drinking water for both of us. Koreans are very communal people and like to share their food. It was stated to me that Dong Dong Ju is a bit more expensive than Makkoli - to me both taste and look the same.