More food dispatches from Seoul

In 2014,  I visited Seoul with Paul for the first time. We enjoyed many types of Korean cuisine - Hansik, street foods, green tea, patbingsoo, bibimbap and barbecue. But even back then, I longed for all the foods I didn't get time to enjoy - chicken ginseng soup (samgyetang), Korean vegetarian temple food, ox bone soup (soulongtang) and pork belly barbecue (samgypsal).

Fast forward 5 years and Paul's dietary restrictions (no chicken nor beef) make it difficult to enjoy the full spectrum of Korean cuisine. Luckily, a shopping and eating trip with friends Elsa and Yvonne gave the opportunity to try these dishes and more!

Aside from enjoying Sinshon soulongtang, vegetarian temple food at Sanchon and fine Hansik cuisine at Yongsusan Biwon (see other posts), we also ate:


Korean porridge at Migabon

Migabon has the good fortune of being the shop above Sinchon Soulongtang. I've heard stories whereby those who could not wait any longer in Sinchon's queue would just go upstairs to Migabon. Since we visited Migabon in the morning, we often found the queue was at Migabon, as opposed to Sinchon! We purposely did not get the hotel breakfast so we could enjoy better food outside. This meant that Migabon became our go-to for early morning porridge. We tried abalone, beef and mushroom, ginseng chicken, pine nut and mushroom. Our favorites were the abalone with chunks of chewy abalone meat and the ginseng chicken which had jujube dates and a strong flavor of ginseng. Each porridge came with a few side dishes - kimchi, burdock root, radish and beansprouts.
Prices were incredibly reasonable - the abalone porridge was only KRW 8,000 or just under US$8.

Chicken and ginseng porridge in the forefront

Samgyetang at Toshokchon

Toshokchon is the place everyone writes about to get samgyetang. Housed in several traditional korean houses (hanok), Toshokchon is located close to Gwanghwamun gate and is just a short 5 minutes walk from Gwanghwamun station. We got the black chicken as well as the regular chicken version. The black chicken was more flavorful with wild ginseng. Koreans believe you fight "fire with fire" and rejuvenate the body in the hot summers with this energy-giving soup. Each chicken is filled with glutinous rice, jujubes, garlic and ginseng roots. We also ordered a kimchi pancake which was delicious.  At Toshokchon, unlimited cabbage and radish kimchi was presented in earthenware pots. We were also each given a thimbleful of ginseng wine. Although this was a delicious meal, I was unhappy to realize we were all very thirsty a couple of hours after. This is usually a sign that MSG was used in the soup broth which was a shame. Onwards and upwards - this means I will be hunting for the best samgyetang in Seoul for years to come. Your recommendations welcome!

Love the unlimited kimchi in the pots (top left)

Charcoal BBQ at Wangbijib

Wangbijib is a chain of restaurants that still use charcoal fire. There are 2 branches in Myeongdong - we took a while walking over to the main branch -  only to be walked over to the other branch by a kind staff member. We enjoyed marinated beef galbi, pork cheek meat and assorted mushrooms. Luckily, it was all grilled by a staff so we did not ruin the food with amateur cooking skills. Banchan dishes included thin radish slices, kimchi and beansprouts. We wrapped the meat into lettuce parcels korean-style.

Marinated galbi grilling

Knife-cut noodles - Kalguksu

Chewy and al-dente, korean knife-cut noodles make for a satisfying lunch. We chanced upon a restaurant serving these noodles in the basement of Ssamziegil Mall in Insadong. This chain is known for their cold chicken knife-cut noodles. We also ordered noodles in a mushroom and perilla seed broth which was very good.

Mushroom and perilla seed broth noodles

Cold chicken noodles

More green tea cakes at O'Sulloc

Could not resist revisiting O'Sulloc for our green tea cake fix. Aside from the famous roll cake, we ordered a green tea torte, green tea tiramisu and the Hallebong cake with a chocolate base. Simple is sometimes best and it was the roll cake that shone through. All accompanied by O'Sulloc's speciality green tea. Of course, we ruined our appetites with this afternoon treat as we didn't realize what an amazing dinner we would have a few hours later!

Green tea overload

Souffle pancakes and other beauties at Innisfree cafe

My first time eating the souffle pancakes that originated in Japan! Light and incredibly fluffy, the recipe entails beating the egg whites to a stiff peak before folding gently into the batter. At Innisfree cafe in Myeongdong, we were told that the souffle hotcakes will take 20 minutes. Aside from the pancakes, there were some beautiful cakes, drinks and desserts. We enjoyed a canola-decorated green tea cloud tiramisu, strawberry latte and a pear and rosemary ade.

Souffle pancakes served with whipped cream, blueberry compote and a little fruit

A closer look at the canola decoration

The Innisfree cafe early in the morning

Specialities on display for cherry blossom season

Green tea Everything - Hong Kong version

I previously wrote about my love for green tea and all its permutations in the world of desserts. It was bliss for my taste buds to find stunning matcha lattes and cakes in Seoul. Seems like most people in Asia feel the same way as I also found some incredible matcha treats in Hong Kong. Let's start with this matcha green tea pudding available from Patisserie Yamakawa.

Power matcha

The pudding provides an unassuming first impression - simply encased in a small plastic container with the name of the Patisserie in gold font. One small spoonful though and your mouth is filled with smooth pudding texture, bursting with matcha bitterness. You don't need a lot to feel totally sated with an intense matcha high. I loved this one! Patisserie Yamakawa products can be found in the Citysuper branches in Hong Kong.

At Sushi Kuu in Central, a work colleague and I finished off an excellent sushi set lunch with two impeccable desserts - their signature Hokkaido milk pannacotta as well as a green tea pudding. Both were beautifully presented.

Desserts at Sushi Kuu

 Walking around Sha tin, Paul and I found a plethora of matcha dessert treats. Or rather I led Paul on a hunt for green tea treats. Found in Citysuper - this ice cream float was green tea soft-serve ice cream in a hot cup of green tea!

Green tea hot and cold sensation

In Sha Tin New Town Plaza, we stumbled across the aptly-named Maccha House which specializes completely in all things green-tea flavored. This exciting dessert was made up of Japanese pancake filled with mochi, vanilla and green tea ice cream, decorated with green tea sweet syrup. It was delicious!

Green tea sugar heaven

We also enjoyed an iced matcha shake with whipped cream and a dusting of chocolate.

Green tea brain freeze

Asia truly is a place where I can indulge my green tea taste buds. Unfortunately, Boston does not offer much in this department - perhaps I need to start making my own?

Green Tea Everything

I love green tea. I drink so much of the stuff (easily 5-8 cups a day), a Chinese doctor told me to cut down! One look at my tongue and they told me to switch to black tea (too much green tea over-cools the body and dampens the digestive fire). It's not the same though -- the slight bitterness of green tea is what I crave and matcha is the ultimate fix. Needless to say, my love for green tea extends to green tea lattes, green tea cakes, green tea ice cream, green tea Kit-kats....

In February this year, the siblings had planned to reunite as a family in Hong Kong. I couldn't resist the chance to revisit Seoul - for the food, cosmetics, shopping and to be in the place I have seen so much of from k-dramas! It was a bonus to discover Seoul did not lack in the green tea department.

On our first day of vacation, we discovered O'Sulloc tea house in Insadong- a modern three-storey building dedicated to tea. On the ground floor, they sold teas in various forms - all beautifully packaged while green tea leaves roasted in a huge cauldron by the entrance. The café was on the second floor -- with a tea-heavy menu and enticing display of cakes and pastries . The top floor was  quieter with a more exclusive setting for private parties and VIPs. The whole building exuded a calm zen-like ambience.

Paul and I both had the hazelnut caramel green tea latte with green tea cheesecake - which was about $11 a person. Note that in Korea, this could have bought a whole meal e.g. a bibimbap with all the side dishes. Although pricey, both were incredible. The green tea cheesecake had a generous dusting of matcha powder on top which provided some bitter to counter the sweet.

The hazelnut caramel green tea latte

Green tea cheesecake with matcha powder dusting

Throughout the next 5 days, I couldn't resist any tea house I saw during our shopping excursions. At a sweet waffle and patbingsoo house in Samcheongdong, my green tea latte came resplendent with a foam bunny.

Green tea latte art

We visited other O'sulloc branches in Myeongdong and Hongdae - at the Hongdae branch, Paul got his usual hazelnut caramel green tea latte but I got a regular matcha latte. We enjoyed two roll cakes - one was green tea, the other earl grey. No prizes for guessing which one I liked the most!




Green tea drinks and roll cakes


 

Beard Papa custard puffs

For those that know my culinary tastes, you would know that I am very partial to beard papa's vanilla custard puffs. This franchise started in Japan but they have since expanded to Hong Kong, other Asian countries and even New York and San Francisco. There was a small store in Boston for a period of time - unfortunately, it closed. My favorite is their vanilla custard puff - the custard is injected into the pastry shell when order so that it stays crisp while the custard stays cold. They seem popular in Hong Kong since the overall puff is only light on the sugar. There were some new flavors in Hong Kong this time - vanilla custard with mango, green tea custard puff and the tiramisu puff (latter two pictured). The tiramisu was surprisingly good - the custard had a slight alcoholic aftertaste and the crunchy chocolate bits added more sweetness to the pastry shell.