Not Just Bibimbap
Trip dates: November 10, 2016 - November 17, 2016
Our last blog post to wrap up our time in South Korea, and the most important one... the food!
Since moving to Seattle and being fairly close to a lot of good Korean restaurants, Eric and I had been eating Korean food pretty often. When we got to Seoul, we wanted to try all our favorite foods so we could compare against what was available back in the states. We ate at mostly mom-and-pop type places, or at least places that seemed more local and not big chains. There wasn't always picture menus but being able to sound out some items was enough to get us by and we were pretty happy with all our food choices.
In general, we felt like what we had at home was pretty comparable to what we had in Seoul, which is awesome! Korean friends, you might disagree as our palettes may not be as Korean-refined :D
What we don't have enough of at home are the Korean dessert cafes. These were everywhere and we were only able to resist so often. The dessert cafes actually have quite a variety of offerings, but we pretty much had sulbing everytime. Sulbing is like very finely shaved ice with a creamy texture, usually with fruit and/or other toppings, and sometimes with ice cream or condensed milk. It seems like Korean dessert cafes are pretty popular outside of South Korea too, as we've seen a bunch in SE Asia too! And yes, we absolutely had more sulbing at a Korean dessert cafe in Bangkok because it was actually hot there!
International cuisine seemed pretty easy to find in Seoul, especially in the area of Itaewon where the expats hang out. We noticed that French bakeries and cafes, in particular, were very popular. We saw Paris Baguette everrrrrywhere, but we are holding off until we get to France for some croissants and other baked goodies.
The one aspect of food in Korea that we were disappointed by was the street food. It seemed like there wasn't as much variety, though it's also very likely we just didn't know what to look for. In general, it was harder to find areas with a lot of street food stalls, and the places we did try we weren't super thrilled by. Again, a lot of it was probably just us not knowing what to get. Next time we go back, we need to make sure we have a Korean friend to get street food with!
