Tue 12 Sep 2006
Goryeo Samgaetang
Seoul, Korea
Phone: 02-752-9376
Subway: Line 2 and 1, City Hall station exit 10. Walk straight one block. Goryeo Samegaetang has a large white sigh with a chicken on it, on the right. Entrance opposite Tour les Jours
Hours: 10:00a.m.-8:00p.m.
Price: $$, Samgaetang 11,000 won
English Menu: Yes
Atmosphere: Come as you are
Overview:
This well known tourist restaurant has been serving up its namesake for over 30 years. In a modern building near city hall, locals, businessmen, and tourists, rub shoulders, while grumpy ajumas serve up a limited menu (under 10 selections). Make liberal use of the salt, pepper, and gochu paste.
Gung (Koong)
30-11 Gwanghun-dong, Jongro-gu, Seoul
Subway: Anguk station line 2 exit 6, walk down the main Insadong street. Turn left on to the street after the Sudo chemist. Take your first left. Koong is on the left.
Phone: 02-733-9240, www.koong.co.kr
Hours:10:00a.m-9:30p.m daily
Price: $-$$ Gaesong mandu (steamed pork dumplings) 7,000 won. Bossam (sliced pork wrapped in cabbage) 12,000won
English Menu: Yes
Atmosphere: Pleasant converted hannok. Paper napkins.
Overview:
If you are looking for an easy taste of Gaseong cuisine with an English back-story, Gung has you covered. Koreans order from the index-sized menu plastered on the napkin dispenser, while foreigners are treated to a ginormous, illustrated menu relaying the tale of the grandmother who fled north Korea during the war and started a new life in the south, fixing up tasty mandu and ddok soup. Fist sized, the mandu are stuffed with minced pork, noodles, and green onion. If you are lucky you can find one of the granddaughters sitting in the window, stuffing dumpling after dumpling. Maybe not a destination dine, but an easy eat among the tourists traps in Insadong.
Hanokjip
Seoul, Korea
Subway: Seodaemun station, line 5, exit 2. Left onto 11 Nangcheongil (right now an Edia coffee shop)
Phone: 02-362-8653, www.home1.moatv.com/hojip
Hours: 10:00a.m.-10:00p.m.
Price: $
English Menu: No
Atmosphere: Everyone welcome
Overview:
The original house for Kimchijim, a kimchi stew with pork and braised kimchi.
Hanokjip reviewed in the JoongAng daily January, 2006
Mabongnim Halmoni Ddokboggie
Seoul, Korea
Subway: Sindang Station, line 2 and6, exit 8. Walk two blocks and turn right. Look for the restaurant with the larger than life-sized picture of Grandma on it.
Phone: 02 2232-8930
Hours: 8:00a.m.-1:00a.m. Weekdays –2:00a.m.weekends (Friday and Saturday)
Prices:$ Ddokboggie for two 8,000 won
Atmosphere: Fluorescent lights, stool seating, paper napkins.
Overview:
Fans of ddokboggie, and you know who you are, will find delight in this 50 year-old ddokboggie establishment, one of the first on Ddokboggie street. The secret is in the sauce, a combination of sweet Chinese bean sauce and chili paste. Cooked at the table while you wait, the mess of slender ddok logs, sliced green onion, thin odang squares, ramyeon, jangmyeon, and fried mandu, requires an empty belly to do even see the bottom of the paella like dish. Ordering is easy, as there is only one thing on the menu, just tell the ajuma for how many.
Naksam Sidae
Seoul, Korea
Subway: City Hall, exit 4, in the alleys between City Hall and the Seoul Finance Center
Phone: 02-773-2710
Hours: 11:00a.m.-10:30p.m. Daily
Price: $
English Menu: No
Atmosphere: Business man lunch spot
Overview:
Thick cuts of samkyeopsal, pork belly, and mokssal, pig’s throat grilled to perfection.
Naksam Sidae reviewed in the JoongAng Daily April, 2006.
Pokonok
Seoul, Korea
Subway: Euljiro 4, line 2 and 5, exit 4. Walk towards the Cheonggyecheon. Turn right onto the last alley before the stream.
Phone: 02-2275-3743
Hours:10:00 a.m.-10:00p.m. Daily
Price: $$,
English Menu: No
Overview:
A soupier version of Bulgogi served with Kimchi jjigae and noodles.
Pokonok, reviewed in the Korea Times June, 2006.
Sanenamul
Seoul, Korea
Subway: Anguk station, line 3, exit 1.
Phone: 02-732-2542
Hours:11:00 a.m.-2:30p.m-6:00p.m.-10:00p.m.
Price: $$, set menus a minimum of two people, 10% service charge added to bill.
English Menu: No
Atmosphere: Smart casual
Overview:
Sanenamul reviewed in the Korea Times by me, Mary Crowe.
Sanemanul has a dedicated following for their organic approach namul, or loosely translated, seasoned mountain weeds. Polished tranquility is apparent when entering the restaurant. Floor to ceiling windows look out over the street, soothing but luxurious wallpaper intensifies the urbane ambiance. Service is calm and smooth. Though the staff does not speak English, their gentle movements and smiles put the diner at ease. The concept here is to combine fresh organic ingredients in a new way. Multi-course menus include homemade tofu, to line caught fresh mackerel. The menus reflect the seasons. Spring welcomes du ruk, an asparagus like sprout, and fall sees pine mushrooms. Local farmers and foragers gather the mountain weeds, rare fungi, and medicinal herbs used in the namul.
Soram
Address:
Subway: Anguk
Phone 02-720-4490
Hours:11:00a.m.-10:00p.m. Daily
Price: $$, set menu
English Menu: No, but spoken, depending
Overview:
Soram reviewed in the JoongAng Daily, April, 2006.
Yongdokmulhoe
Seoul, South Korea
Subway: City Hall Station, Line 2, exit 10.
Phone 02-752-0584
Hours: 11:30a.m.-10:00p.m. Daily
Price: $$-$$$
English Menu: No
Overview:
A seafood restaurant specializing in Kwamegi-wind dried fermented fish. Usually made from Saury. Wrap it up in a big lettuce leaf with the usual Korean suspects, garlic, spring onion, and soybean paste.
Yongdokmulhoe reviewed in the Korea Times, February 2006.
