Seoul Soul Food

I am in food heaven and when I say it touches my 'Seoul' it really does.

It started well with that quintessential meal in a street tent cafe on our first night in South Korea,

eating tteokboki, fish cake soup, dumplings, spicy squid, kimchi and sides while drinking soju and beer.

South Korea has a huge coffee culture, they love their coffee and there are so many different franchises and we are going to try and get to as many as we can, for research purposes, and see which place we like best.

We had a great brunch

consisting of a variety of savoury baked goods and the most amazing sweet potato latte

which is going to be quite addictive I think (and I am wondering how many versions I will be able to try and which coffee shop will have the best)

Then because we had had such a late brunch we didn't need food so when we got a little peckish we found some really good sweet potato crisps that we ate and that coffee in a can that I was so missing

Lastly was knocking a couple of things off our to-do list, ox-bone soup (seolleongtang) and sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew)

which were incredibly delicious and of course there were some really good side dishes to go along with it.

An early morning start means banana or orange milk (yes orange which is nearly as delicious tsfhe banana) and baked goods bought from the 7-11 the night before. We didn't eat while at the DMZ (our original trip would have included a lunch but we waited until back in Seoul to eat and we ate well with tteukboki those spicy ricy cakes which are different wherever you go

and no matter what always taste so good.

Ramen which is so simple but so tasty,

sesame chicken and mandu

bipbimbap

and fish cake soup

All in all it was a delicious heart and stomach warming meal and I am not sure how I am going to manage going back to Australia and eating out without the variety of side dishes, even just a simple banchan like kimchi and pickled radish on the table

It's only been a few days but I am already enjoying the coffee culture

with some really amazing coffees (although poor Linda is suffering with a lack of soy milk or lactose free although I am sure we will find it somewhere) and of course my favourite sweet potato latte, there are amazing cakes but one of the simplest things that we have all taken a fancy too is honey bread.... which is as simple as it sounds but somehow rather complex in flavour and I have a feeling that there might be a variety of honey breads in my future.

After a day of wandering

around palaces, secret gardens and the hanok village we were in need of warm hunger taming food and although it doesn't look as amazing as it tasted the chicken soup filled the spot

Bipimbap and tonkatsu (pork cutlet) and those amazing sides you get at a Korean restaurant rounded off an amazing lunch.

Cute little poop snacks

(pastries filled with piping hot chocolate sauce) were squeezed in as we walked through Insadong and our last taste of Seoul soul food for the moment (as we are heading out of town for the next few days) was delicious fried chicken, half and half (which is plain and spicy) delivered to us at the hotel and I can't wait to see what food experiences we have as we head out of the capital.

#fOod #sOutHkoRea #tOeaTliSt #sEouL