First Few Tastes of Delicious Korean Foods

With Friday being the start of my first full weekend in Korea, I started in taking the opportunity to try out some popular foods of Gyeongju where fellow foreigners often hang out.

To start off my Friday evening, as I was walking toward the downtown area I met up with a fellow foreigner friend at Baskin Robbins

The popular the ice cream flavors you would find in any western culture baskin robbins they had (chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, etc.), but with a few extra flavors to accustom to the eastern cultures.  One of the very popular flavors of the area that I decided to try was green tea ice cream.  For anyone who has tried a green tea latte or green tea frappucino from Starbucks, this is very similar in taste.

The next stop was a popular restaurant down town.  In the common tradition with all Korean meals, we had some light meals as an appetizer prior to the larger meal.  The pink stuff in the bowl is water kimchi.  Kimchi is very popular in Korea and it is one of the healthiest foods in the world!  It is traditionally made with fermented cabbage, but there are dishes with the kimchi flavor in dishes such as this (with water and cabbage), radishes, or other vegetables.  The plate on the side gave us the option to add some garlic cloves or jalapenos to the chicken (which are VERY weak here - I can eat them straight no problem).



The main dish that is a common favorite is made of chicken and cabbage -- that they cook right in front of you!  There is also some rice cakes and other vegetables in the mix with, of course, a savory spicy sauce (as with nearly all korean dishes).

How did we eat the chicken?  Well, you either ate it straight (with chop sticks of course -- though they do hide a few forks if you need it) or you place it on a romaine lettuce leaf and eat it as a wrap.  Oh, and don't forget to break off the end piece of the lettuce leaf because (as Koreans believe) the end makes you tired so you shouldn't eat them unless you want to sleep.





**Note: I've also learned that this particular restaurant only serves this one chicken dish.  Apparently it is common in Korea to have a restaurant that only serves one main dish (that they focus on making very very well).