Transit in Seoul

Seoul - I had meeting with Kevin and then we adjourned for lunch at a nearby Sushi restaurant. 

Tuna head broiled

Appetisers

Mackerel  or Saba fish

Very nicely grilled and the meat within is to tender and juicy.

The main course - sashimi

Very succulent and delicious raw tuna fish meat...yummy!

Fried tuna meat in sweet and sour sauce

This dish was very tastefully done and the meat is so tender....Kevin asked for another round of sashimi and by the time we left the restaurant, we were bloating with tuna.  

Eel & Catfish for Dinner

Seoul - For dinner, Ki-won brought Young Jin and I to a famous Eel and Cat Fish restaurant.   It was quite a distance to this location but the location was scenic with the restaurant setting upon the Han River.   Walking down the corridor of this restaurant, I was made known some of the famous actors and people that once had their meal at this restaurant. 

We were shown to our table overlooking the Han River.  We had BBQ Eel first as there were 5 of us, we had 2 stoves of 2 eels each.   The Eel was delivered pre-cooked and we had to BBQ it for a few minutes before we can eat it.  

Once the ordered is done, small dishes of appetitisers were brought to our table one by one and soon the whole table is filled up like for a King. 

That's me, Ki-won, Ahn Hyoung Young, Kim Sang Yoon



My bowl of Cat Fish soup

A very spicy dish and the taste of cat fish is a bit of getting used to.  It was an acquired taste for me.

This is the big pot of Cat Fish Soup

Hyoung Young and Sang Yoon were sitting directly opposite me, so I took a number of picture of them....

Back to Seoul

Seoul - We caught the 11:15am KTX bullet train back to Seoul and was greeted at the station by Ki-won and Sang Yoon.  They brought me to Renaissance Hotel Seoul in Kangnam to check-in.  It was very nice of them to do so. 

As I was hankering for Bulgogi, we walked around a number of restaurants looking for Bulgogi and finally found one.   It was a different style of Bulgogi and very traditional using hot coals.

Lots of vegetables apetitisers which is very healthy.

Kimchi soup, oinions and salad....and of course Soju.  I love Korean food!

There is a brass exhaust outlet to take away the smoke...it was a delicious meal.

Cold winter in Seoul

Seoul - I arrived Seoul and the temperature is 2degree celcius - very cold for me.  In the words of Young Jin, today is very warm...haha.   Today, I took for the first time the Airport Express train from Incheon Airport to  Seoul station - price W13,800 one way.   I boarded at 5:30pm and arrived Seoul station at 6:14pm (43 minutes of travel) and then took a taxi to my Hotel.

For dinner, I met up with Young Jin and Chae Yun for sashimi.  It was an average restaurant that served buffet sashimi - we chose the W35,000 per person.

This was a extreme dish - Tuna nose cartilage - there is no taste and lots of chewing.

The fish tear liquor - you just down this liquor in one gulp.  I have tried it thrice, a liquor with a very fishy taste but once you gulp it down, the liquor just goes straight to your stomach.

Supper Time

Daegu - Supper time was Daegu famous dish - pig's intestine and lots and lots of Soju.  The beloved liquor of Koreans - we had at least 8 bottlkes of Soju.   It was great fun and supper was a good way to wind down the evening.  With the fermented bean curt soup, it will stave off any impending hang-over.

Beef Ribs over hot coals

Young Jin, Tony and Cho

Pig's large intestine

Super spicy baby octopus

75th trip to Seoul - Gimpo

Seoul - Flew out of Haneda Airport to Gimpo (Seoul) Airport and the flight took 2 hrs.  But the best part was that Gimpo Airport is near Seoul City and took about 30 minutes and 18km.   There were 2 emails sent to me from Courtyar Times Square informing me that my current credit card cannot be processed and my room will be released.   I was in Tokyo at that time and was hoping mad as this credit card was used throughout my trip in Tokyo.   I wrote back to the Hotel to express my disappointment and was surprised when I checked-in that they upgrade my room and Tony's to a suite.  Nice!

The suite room is about twice the normal room with a cosy living room.  My room was ready whilst Tony's wasn't so we decided to put our luggage down and hunt for lunch at the Mall next door.   We walked around 5th floor and then took the escalator down to the 4th floor.  Finally settling at a Thai Restaurant called ' Ahan Thai'.

The manager was not able to communicate conversantly in English and kept saying that both of us must take the set.   Why can't one person take the set and the other choose ala carte, he said no with no reason being given.  We finally settle to take the set - 3 dishes - spicy seafood glass noodles, main course 'Pad Thai' - stir fried rice noodles and tea/coffee for Won 11,000.   This was one of the worse Thai dishes I have ever eaten - the Pad Thai was not smooth and a bit tough on the palate plus it's too oily.

At about 5:30pm, we had a congratulatory sessison with Young Jin for the sizeable deal he brought in for the APAC region - toast of whisky.   Then we are off to meet Kevin for dinner.   Dinner was good as it was at a Bulgogi restaurant.  The beef bulgogi was so good we had 5 seets of it with lettuce wraps.   Simply delicious....

Bulgogi

Spicy dry cold noodles

Cold Noodles

Gob Chang jib - hot fiery Korean dish

Seoul - Back in Seoul, Young Jin and I went to have dinner at a Korean speciality restaurant.  This restaurant specializes in 'pig small intestine'

Gob Chang means pig's small intestine
Gob Chang jib means pig's small intestine restaurant
Soon Dae refers to a type of sausage
This fiery hot dish is so hot that I only tried a few pieces and the rest was finished by Young Jin.  Young Jin fnished every single drop of this fiery dish.

Fiery hot dish of Korea gob Chang

Pig's blood soup

I do not eat any animal's blood...so I skip this dish.  Since I could not eat the hot and spicy Gob Chang dish, I ordered another dish that is not hot and spicy.

BBQ Gob Chang

When Mr Lim came, we went to another another restaurant down the road which specialises in seafood.

Fried calamari

Squid sashimi

City of Gyeongju

Seoul - Daegu - Gyeongju - Woke up at 8am with 1 hour to freshen up and get ready to check out of Mariott Courtyard TimeSquare Hotel.  Young Jin will arrive at 9am and we leave for KTX station bound for Daeju city to meet our customer.   I left my big luggage at the Hotel and took toiletries, T-shirt and shorts for this trip.  Both Young Jin and I are not sure what is in store for us as our customer insist on booking the rooms.

We had breakfast at the KTX station later board the high-speed train on platform 8 bound for Daegu. I had cold dry noodles - my first time.

Dry Naengmyeon

Daegu city is being host to one of the most popular sporting event in the World - 13th World Championships in Athletics - 27 Aug to 4 Sept 2011.  

Advertisement at Daegu KTX station

We were met at the station and was immediately driven to Gyeongju city about 1 1/2 hr drive away for our lunch.   The restaurant is very traditional Hankook (Traditional Korean house).

Our restaurant

menu on a fan

bean apetitiser

Poster of an Anime at the restaurant

Kalbijim

Kalbijim is the 2nd most popular Korean beef dish after Bulgogi.  Meaty short ribs are marinated in traditional seasonings, then cooked long and slow until the meat gelatins form a deep, rich glaze. By the time it is done, the tender beef is practically falling from the bones, and the sauce is thick with flavor.

Next comes our liquor and it comes in a clay bottle.

Our liquor

And there was froth on top of the liquor

and more and more food.....

Rice with chestnuts wrapped in lotus leaf

Fish cooked in spicy chilli sauce

Rice with Gingko nut, red dates and mushrooms

Many side dishes of Kimchi and preserved tofu

Rice wrapped in Lotus leaf

Refreshing fruity drink

Chicken Backside...

Seoul - The arrival to Seoul was delayed by 30 mins as the pilot needed to take a different route to avoid an incoming typhoon that will be approaching Seoul. I got on board the limo bus bound for Renaissance Seoul hotel - half through the journey it rained heavily and continued till I arrived the hotel 1 1/2 hrs later. Fortunately, the hotel staff were standing by with umbrellas in hand. This made it much easier as I wheeled my luggage to the front desk. YJ wad already waiting for me at the hotel.

We had dinner near the hotel. There are many good restaurants nearby. I wanted to eat sashimi or sushi but none was around, so we popped into a Korean BBQ restaurant and ordered Kalbi - Korean BBQ beef ribs. We were joined later by a good friend - Baek. According to YJ he wanted to meet me. He was at home and got on the subway to meet me in 1/2 hr in the rain.

Throughout the meeting, no mentioned of business was brought up and we had a good dinner and a laughable time drinking. Koreans like to drink.  We had the infamous liquor - Seoju .  I hold my liquor very well and never got drunk or made a scene in Korea or anywhere else. Especially when on business the ability to hold one's liquor spreaks highly of a person.

After dinner we move to another place to continue our drinks and good time.  We had another kind of liquor - Bak Se Ju.   Bak Se Ju literally means '100 years wine'.  Bak Se Ju is a Korean glutinous rice-based fermented alcoholic beverage flavored with a variety of herbs including licorice, omija (Schisandra chinensis), gugija (Chinese wolfberry), Astragalus propinquus root, ginger, and cinnamon, ginseng most prominent among them. According to some, the name comes from the legend that the healthful herbs in baekseju will help you live to be 100 years old.  

YJ asked me whether I tried chicken ass - I said no and in Singapore - we just threw it away..they called it Dak Dong Jib Marinated sautéed chicken ass. 

Dak Dong Jib

Bizarre Korean Food - fermented fish

Seoul - Temperature was nice and bit sunny about 1 degree C.  Fairly warm for Korean standards.   But I like it very much, of course I still had to pad myself warm. 

In between meetings, I had a hankering for doungnuts.  Maybe it's the cold making me crave for sugar bout to keep warm.   I don't eat much nor hanker for doungnuts in Singapore - it's a strange feeling jut wanting to eat doungnuts so we found Krispy Kreme and it was so delicious.

Dinner was with our new channel partners and we went to a Korean sashimi restaurant - chose a private room for 4 of us to discuss business matters.   There was much food of various fishes and it was overwelming.   The highlight of the dinner was this really smelly fermented fish - Hong Eo홍어 - it is actually deeply fermented skate (type of fish - that is similiar to sharks) - that Young Jin says 'smells like toilet' - I think it smelt worse than that.   This is really bizarre...

You wrapped the Kimchi cabbage with the pork + Hong Eo + Squid and put all in your mouth. In the photo, Hong Eo is betwen the Pork and the Squid.

Koreans love to drink and between the four of us we drank 2 bottles of San Sa Chun (a type of rice wine), 4 bottles of soju and 6 bottles of HoeGarden beers (from another place because the soju was not enough). The room also smelt of tobacco because the 3 Koreans are heavy smokers so when I am back in Singapore it's time for detox - I never smoke and rarely drink hard liquor back home only red wine.

San Sa Chun is rice wine brewed with corn starch and haws. The blend of rice, corn starch, and haws provides you with a unique and refreshing taste unlike most rice wines. The natural sugars in the fruit provide a subtle sweetness to the taste.

San Sa is the Korean word for Hawthorn, which are various trees or shrubs having clusters of white or pinkish flowers and reddish fruits. Haw is the fruit of the Hawthorn. After this research, I was surprise that San Sa is also called here in Singapore as San Zar, also known as Haw Flakes. Kids love it as tit bits and I have grown on this tit bits - not knowing that it is from the same Haw that was made into wine. Surprise, Surprise!!

San Sa Chun

Garlic and Fish Tear Liquor

Seoul - Koreans are the world's largest consumer of garlic and most notably they would make everything from garlic. I had alcohol made from garlic tthat helps blood circulation and rules out insomnia and hypertension.  

Tony, Young Jin and I had dinner with Dr. Na in a Korean Sashimi restaurant - the sashimi was not good because it was served frozen.  But we had 'fish tear' liquor  with a very fishy taste.   

Young Jin drinking his Fish Tear Liquor

Tony knocking back his Fish Tear Liquor