한식: 김밥천국 (Part One)

한식 (hanshik) strictly translated means "Korean food". It's most often used in two ways: 1) to refer to Korean style of eating and 2) to refer to the traditional Korean meal. I'm going to post a series of blogs about my experience with 한식. All Koreans and residents in Korea have different takes on 한식 because it's practiced in various forms all over the peninsula. Feel free, though, to leave questions in the comments. I'll attempt to answer them. I'd also encourage readers to share their own stories about 한식 and food culture pertinent to each post. I'm beginning with Korean comfort food and one of the most famous Korean chains, 김밥천국 (kimbapcheonguk).



I spend a lot of meals at the Kimbapcheonguk near my house. I was scooting around my neighborhood today taking photographs of the places I like to eat. I don't have a kitchen in my 원룸 (one-room). I do have a hot-plate and rice cooker; you'd be surprised how much good food I can cook with these two appliances, but the food is so cheap in 대학동 (Daehakdong) that it's easier and often less expensive to eat out. (I should note that I think I'm a good cook, but Praise's Korean cooking is wonderful. I can't wait to get into a real kitchen and learn some more.)

My neighborhood is known for students, 24hour street-life and food. Not too long ago, maybe ten years ago, it was known for trying to lose its reputation as the slum next to 서울대학교 (Seoul National University). Everything I've heard from my friends who grew up in 신림동 (Sillimdong) and 봉천동 (Bongcheondong) is that both were very poor neighborhoods. This is saying a lot because much of Seoul was poor, remains poor. It's a little difficult to compare the neighborhoods here to urban neighborhoods in the US if only because the population density in Seoul is so much greater. Moreover, Seoul's urban landscape has radically changed in the last 20 years. In March, my future father-in-law is returning to Seoul for the first time in 32 years. I'll be interested to hear how he sees the difference. The traditional Korean neighborhoods in Seoul are mostly gone. I'll discuss and describe this in more detail in future posts. Back then my neighborhood, 대학동 (Daehakdong,) was known as 신림9동 (Sillim-gu-dong). I think it's safe to say the visible display of the recent past is being purposefully designed away.

Kimbapcheonguk. My favorite place. Two can eat well for under manwon, $10. The problem: not all stores are like the others. In Itaewon-2-dong, on what the foreigners call "Veggie Hill," there are two Kimbapcheonguk stores near each other. They both provide less food for more cash than the stores in my neighborhood. In addition, I found the food rather greasy and the side dishes rather spare. In Hongdae, not far from the main entrance to the University and towards Sinchon is a small Kimbapcheonguk. It's usually very dirty (food and napkins on the floor and greasy tables) and full, leaving customers to sit uncomfortably against the wall. It can be smelly and hot. On the other hand, the older women working there are sweethearts and, like a lot of ajumma, will flirt with you if you make attempts to speak a little hangukmal with them. (The attempt goes a long way with folks here, contrary to popular foreigner complaints otherwise.) The two stores in Daehakdong are small but clean and always busy. One makes the best 순두부찌개 (sundubujjigae); the other makes the best 김치찌개 (kimchijjiggae). The one near my flat offers the best banchan (반찬찬).

In the next post I'll discuss more of the menu. But my favorite dishes continue to be sundubu- and kimchi- jjigae. Unlike most Western chains, where menus are designed so customers can expect to eat the same thing each visit no matter where they visit, Kimbabcheonguk restaurant owners and cooks each have a different take on traditional Korean dishes. This permissible variation helps make finding the best Kimbapcheonguk an enjoyable mission. I've learned that every Korean cook has a specialty: that one thing on their menu they love to cook more than the others . That's what you want to eat.

I'm on my way out the door and will talk more about food in future posts. I don't have time right now to describe the dishes above. But here are a few links to help clear up any confusions:
김치찌개 (kimchijjiggae)
순두부찌개 (sundubujjigae)
반찬 (banchan)

Coming Next: More on my favorite places to eat in Daehakdong; more on hanshik and banchan; food and restaurant photos.



This is the Kimbapcheonguk near my flat. The Chinese restaurant above it, Tami Hong, is another place we like to go.

Korean Motels

If I were to tell you about the hotels in the Republic of Korea, I'd have to talk about western-style hotels. I gather you know about such places and how incredibly over-priced they are.

To travel throughout Korea and to stay in western, name-brand hotels would be one simple way to miss Korea. Western hotels tend to be in the wealthy Korean districts or, as they are in Seoul, stuck into the foreign districts. These districts are designed to be unlike Korea: the worst bars, the worst food, the highest prices, the cheapest cheap stuff, etc.

My advice while in Seoul, for example, is to stay out of Itaewon and Gangnam. You miss nothing by staying away. Nothing. And Sadang, too, though there is great hiking not too far from the Sadang Subway Station. Rich Koreans are annoying pigs (I know, I just say what's on my mind, right!) and the foreginers who live in these areas tend to roam in packs, binge drink, and whine about how stupid and intolerant Koreans are while blowing smoke in your face.

I have learned two things from my first six months in Korea: 1) Foreigners think they know Korea better than Koreans; and 2) wealthy Koreans appear more out-of-touch and callous than wealthy Americans. So, why a traveler would want to stay in an international or western hotel in Korea is beyond me.

If you come, stay in one of the many dozens of motels in every district in every city you visit. (You don't have a choice when visiting the smaller cities and towns.) There are two kinds of motels: "Tourist Hotels" ($50-80/night) and "Love Motels" ($20-80/night).

I suppose you can guess what a love motel is. You'd be right if you guessed place where I take that special someone I've been dying to see naked and sweaty. But you'd be a fool to let the shennanigans in neighboring rooms scare you away. These motels are often modest, stylish, clean, and (very) cheap places to spend one or two nights. Of course, a love motel is no place for the kids. They are kind of seedy and do have porn channels mixed in with the regular Korean Cable TV offerings.

I refer to Tourist Hotels as motels because they are very much like clean, quiet, and safe Super 8 Motels or Days Inns but with Korean style. They are often easily confused with love motels, too. Look for the word "tourist." Also, love motels tend to have small parking lots that are hidden behind half or full curtains to respect (not protect) adulterers' privacy. (I am only half-joking: while many of the guests are cheaters, many are simply enjoying an afternoon's or evening's roll in the hay.)

Love motels litter the bigger cities like coffeeshops, kimbap cafes, and convenience stores. This is a benefit for wise travelers permitting them to move around a cosmopolis like Seoul with relative ease. In addition, there are no Check-In times and, generally, no need for reservations. You just walk in and pay for a room through a window and head to your room. Moreover, if you like to sleep in, no worries. Nobody is coming into your room until you drop off the key and leave. What? Your chosen love motel looks seedy? Not to worry, there are more around the corner. And the pricing is super-competitive. In Seoul, some of the love motels are super-chic. Enjoy.

I'll post Love Motel photos in the future. (I told Peter I would: sorry for now but I have been a slacker.)

I spent a week (with Praise-awww-) in 부산 & 광주 (Busan & Gwangju) and stayed in one love motel and one tourist hotel. In 광주 we stayed at Classic Motel, a love motel. Our room was great. Many larger motels will have classes of rooms. I suppose you could classify them by liaison desired: quickie, all-nighter, and romantic. Most love motels have 3 choices: small, standard, and suite. The suites are referred to as VIP Rooms. (Pronounced "vip" not "v-i-p.") If you are one to desire VIP treatment, then find the local tourist motel. The standard rooms are similarly priced, minus the seedy environment. Moreover, for an additional $10-20, you can get a suite.

What's all this mean? The love motels in safe neighborhoods often are the best pick for clean and affordable lodging. As a traveler in the US, I learned very quickly that spending more money is often the only way to insure safety and security, and cleanliness. Not so in Korea. (A note: the standard of cleanliness pertaining to bathrooms is different here. The person cleaning your room may not clean the toilet or bottom of the tub.) If you aren't sure about the neighborhood you're in or if you're simply creeped out by what has been happening in your love motel bed (really, though, this stuff happens in your Hamilton Inn or Sheraton 4 Points, too, right?) then you can get great deals at a tourist motel.

The tourist motels offer a front desk rather than a counter behind a window, which means you get a staff who is willing (and able) to help you. The Gwangjang Tourist Hotel in 부산 rocks. For W80,000 (Under $70,) we stayed in a suite. We could have spent around $50/night to stay in a small room. The staff was very helpful. The laundry service was cheap. The facilities are dated, but clean; this made our stay charming. And Korean customer service is amazing.

Enough on lodging. More later.

Future posts: Why I love the PC bangs and the noraebangs; train traveling; Trip Notes; Love Motel Photoshow; Hongdae or Sinchon?

Did you hear that The Beastie Boy's Paul's Boutique has been remastered (finally) and reissued (again)? I wonder if I should download it?

Word Choice

Word choice is important. I used "whore" in my last post. Maybe I shouldn't have. I'll admit that the word carries too much signification for me to be using it in a careless manner.

But I will reiterate what an eye-opening experience it is to see educated Americans acting like extras in a Girls Gone Wild video. If you come to Korea and you want to see white folks--the British, the Australians, and the Americans, and some folks from Canada and New Zealand as well as other places--acting like extreme consumerists and/or prostitutes, then you should hang in Itaewon. Oh, and you get the added benefit of spending quality time with the military and the sex industry that thrives around American bases.

Itaewon is a shithole.

Anyway, with the Americans: Maybe it's more Nerds Gone Wild. Whatever it is, it's obscene. And these young women would not behave this way at home. (Unless, they are University of Colorado students.) Or maybe it's just always the behavior I expect from men I know but not women I know. Or maybe it's the alcohol, as I stated in my previous post.

I prolly shouldn't be using "whore". Not loosely anyway.