I Miss Pojangmachas (Korean Street Food Vendors)

Walk around Seoul enough and you're bound to spot them. They'll often be covered in brightly coloured tarps, and inside, a huddled few sit on stools while a man or woman keeps stirring a large pan of rice cakes covered in a red sauce. Sometimes, a canopy extends outwards from the main "kitchen" to a picnic-ish area of plastic tables and chairs. People of all sorts—young, old, male, female—are there, eating something off a long pointy stick and throwing back shots of soju.

These are the pojangmachas.

A "pojangmacha" is a street food vendor in Korea. Usually, it consists of a food cart with a griddle for serving up ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes), hoddeok (small fried pancakes). There will be a frying pot for various fried foods like fried squid, fried sweet potatoes, and fried noodle rolls. Also prominently displayed will be a long roll of soondae (Korean blood sausage) as well as a bamboo forest of long sticks protruding out of a tub of broth. This is eomuk, or fish cakes (delicious, but their PR team really needs to come up with a better name because "fish" and "cake" really don't belong in the same sentence). And of course, they'll often serve beer and soju.

Some of the pojangmachas in crowded areas like near Gangnam Station only have seating available around the cart itself. Others are more expansive and have little plastic tables and chairs underneath a vinyl canopy.

A lot of Koreans attach a sentimental and romantic value to pojangmachas. For starters, they're almost always the setting for emotional scenes in Korean dramas and movies. Often, when the hero or heroine experiences heartbreak, s/he will go to a pojangmacha alone and drink so much soju that the ajumma who runs the place has to cut them off. Confessionals are common as well. In Architecture 101, when the male protagonist first tells his friend of his fervent crush for the female protagonist, they're both at a pojangmacha, eating eomuk and drinking soju.

A pojangmacha scene from Architecture 101

On a personal level, my mom often told me that when she was younger, she and her friends would stop by these things after school and it'd be the best meal of the day. I never grew up in Korea, so eating at these places was one of the few ways for me to vicariously live that experience.

Contradictorily, when I was younger and visiting Korea, I would usually be discouraged by my parents from eating at pojangmachas because they're not as well-regulated as established restaurants. But starting in late 2010 when I was living for the foreseeable future in Korea and getting used to life there, I started to stop by once in a while at these places. And for whatever reason, food just tastes better when you're outdoors, sitting on plastic chairs, and huddled over a small table.

A unique pojangmacha I went to in Apgujeong that served breakfast sandwiches

I haven't ever gotten drunk at a pojangmacha, though. Yet. I guess this is one of the things I should try the next time I'm there!

Winter Break: Foods From Seoul

With 3 weeks off for break, I had just enough time to choose to either settle in comfortably at home or perhaps go traveling for a bit. I chose the former, which meant that I stayed in Seoul, met with friends, ate my favourite foods that I missed, and worked on some personal projects that I had neglected due to school. So because everybody loves to read about and look at food, I thought I'd just write about some of my favourite things that I got to eat this break. Most of these foods are pretty common, so I'm not saying anything revelatory or illuminating, though if you're not Korean, some of these things may be unfamiliar to you.

Unfortunately, most of the pictures here weren't taken by me. I always try to take my own food pics, but this time around, I guess I was too busy trying to eat everything that I couldn't take 5 seconds to snap any pics.


Chuncheon Dakgalbi (Chicken galbi)

This was perhaps what I was most looking forward to enjoying. It's a common enough food in Seoul, but pretty hard to find in the U.S.. I remember the first time I ever ate this, I was a bit confused because I thought that by "dakgalbi," I would just be eating chicken cutlets marinated in galbi sauce. But instead, what we got was a big circular iron griddle pan in the middle of the table, upon which a heap of chicken, cabbage, potatoes, rice cakes, and a large dollop of red sauce were placed.

I have to admit that I wasn't too crazy about this dish at first. It was all right, at best. But after I ate it a few more times, I started to warm up to it. It's very flavourful and a little spicy, though not overpoweringly so. Now, it's one of the things I crave the most when I go back home. Unfortunately, many of my close friends there don't like dakgalbi that much. I actually almost missed out on eating this because of that reason. Luckily, I was able to go with a friend on my last day in town!

Perhaps the best part of this dish is that even after you're supposedly done eating, you're not! If you leave some leftovers, you can order some rice and they'll mix it in with whatever's left on the pan for some delicious dakgalbi fried rice.

Sujebi

This was my first time having real sujebi. I had had small portions before as side dishes at some Korean restaurants, but my friends assured me that they weren't close to the real thing. When I went to Samcheongdong with a friend of mine, I wanted to try this seemingly simplistic food that consists of flat, thin pieces of rice cakes in a rich broth.

It was one of those foods that I thought couldn't make for a full meal, but I was absolutely stuffed by the end. The taste was similar to that of kalguksu, or maybe ddeokguk (rice cake soup that all Koreans eat on New Year's). I liked the texture of the rice cakes, which were almost like thick sheets of paper.


Samgyeopsal (Pork belly)

I wanted to enjoy a night of an unabashed bingeing on pork and soju, so I got together with a group of dudes and went to Sinsa to do just that. I remember the first time that my mom fried up some samgyeopsal for me, many years ago. Frankly, I was a bit put off by the taste of fatty and uncured pork, especially since I was used to marinated meats when it came to Korean food. But now, it's probably my favourite thing to eat when at a Korean BBQ joint.

I also took a couple of non-Korean college friends who were visiting to Hongdae to eat samgyeopsal and galbi. They loved Korean BBQ but didn't quite know how to eat it. Just for future reference, all those little dishes full of greens and such can be consumed at once if you want! I don't like to think of "proper vs. improper" ways of eating things, but I do think that there are ways to eat that make food definitely taste better. And eating Korean BBQ by utilizing all of the lettuce wraps, ssamjang (sauce), roasted garlic, and roasted kimchi makes for an infinitely more satisfying experience.


Ggot deung shim (Beef sirloin)

A generous friend of mine took me out to a restaurant called 무등산 (Moo Deung San) in Cheongdam for some ggot deung shim, which is beef sirloin (I think). It's unmarinated and uncured, so it's just pure meat flavour, which you can enhance with some salt, pepper, and olive oil. I said before that pork is still my favourite meat when it comes to Korean BBQ, but it's always a nice change of pace to try beef as well.


Yangnyum Pork (Marinated pork)

Saemaeul Shikdang is one of the places that you can probably find on every other corner in Seoul. It's a very unpretentious BBQ chain that's well-known for its marinated pork and kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew). It was also the place that my co-worker friends and I would go to often after work or for hweshik (company dinner), so I have a lot of good memories and sentiments associated with this place.

The yangnyum pork is my favourite because it's hard to find a similar dish elsewhere, at least in my experience. The meat is thinly sliced, which gives it a deliciously light quality. But it also means that it cooks quickly and burns easily, so you need to pay attention to the grill. And of course, the kimchi jjigae is very good, and I don't even like kimchi jjigae that much.

The fire also is good for warming your hands on a cold January night!

Salted Mackerel

Korean-style salted mackerel is one of my favourite foods. It's really simple but so tasty. I like mine very salty and kind of dry. A couple of winters ago, I went to an alley in Dongdaemun that had all these restaurants that served up all kinds of fish that were roasted on an open fire right in front of you. I want to go back there next time I go home.


Mandu (Dumplings)

Dumplings are the ultimate comfort food. They're good, available everywhere, and they just look so cute, don't they? Though I prefer Chinese-style dumplings (xiao long bao is my favourite food, after all), Korean dumplings, aka mandu, are very good as well. I love how each type of dumpling endearingly has its own unique shape.


Cup ramen

There's just something indescribably good about eating instant ramen out of a styrofoam bowl. I love Shin ramen and the like, but there are times when I just want cup ramen and nothing else will do. I never went to school in Korea, so I don't have the nostalgia of eating cup ramen at convenience stores with my friends. Even then, there's something very comforting about eating something that only requires hot water to prepare.


Korean ramen

When I think of Japanese ramen, I think of Ippudo. When I think of Korean ramen, I think of Shin ramen. So it was a new experience to try non-instant Korean-style ramen at this place right off of Garosugil. It was pretty good, though I'll always be partial to the instant kind most of the time.


Hanchu/Kkanbu

Hanchu

Kkanbu

Though obviously not native to South Korea, I can't imagine many other places that have better fried chicken than here. I went to Hanchu for its pepper-infused fried chicken, as well as its fried stuffed peppers. I ordered from Kkanbu, a chain restaurant, because one appeared within walking distance from my apartment (yay!) and it has more American-style fried chicken.


Gamjatang

When I first heard of gamjatang, I thought it was a kind of potato stew because that's what gamja means in Korean. Or maybe there's a more obscure definition that I'm not aware of. Anyway, if it does mean "potato stew," it must've been some kind of bait-and-switch tactic to trick vegetarians into ordering it because it's really a red stew with big hunks of pork bones and meat.


Spicy galbi-jjim (Braised galbi)

This was my second time to this restaurant, 매운 갈비야. It wasn't as spicy as I remembered it, though there are about 5 levels of spiciness and we may have ordered a lower level than last time. Galbi-jjim isn't my favourite, but having it once in a while is good, especially if it makes you sweat on a cold winter night.

Retracing steps

Once I graduate from school, I will no longer have these lengthy breaks to come home that often. With that knowledge, I think I've been trying to "take it in" more this time around. After this winter break and maybe the next, who knows when I'll have a chance to just relax here like this?

Fully healthy now and with no academic obligations in sight, I've been getting out of the apartment more instead of just checking things off my movies-to-watch list (crossed off now: A Man and a Woman, Strangers on a Train, and Brief Encounter). A few days ago, I took the bus all the way to the Apgujeong/Sinsa area, which is the place I used to work a few years ago while I was in Korea. I often took the bus there because unlike the subway, I didn't have to change rides.

I always preferred the bus to the subway. In the summer, it's cold like a fridge, and in the winter, it's warm as a blanket. Yes, the drivers tend to turn the corners a bit too abruptly. But most of the time, you can just grab one of those captain seats and get your own little tour of the city. The best seat is the one right behind the wheel because you can put your feet up a little.

That was where I used to work. I remember when I first started out, I was just so happy to have somewhere to go where I was needed. Before that, being in Korea was kind of like ceasing to exist for a while as I was removed from my friends in the U.S. and I knew very few people here. Of course now, I love having nothing to do here because I've become much more familiar with this place and can find lots to do, but back then, having a job was the most exciting thing ever.

Here's the neighbourhood cafe that I went to almost every day in between that time I left my job and was waiting to enroll in school again. My parents are going to move soon, so this time will probably be my last chance to visit there again. Maybe next time, the place will have shut down or moved elsewhere. I went there a few days ago, but the owner couldn't quite recognize me with my wool cap on. She eyed me curiously, and I wasn't sure if she knew I was or not. As soon as I took it off, she remembered who I was.

The Galleria! This was what I passed every time I took the bus home from Apgujeong. It also reminds me of that brief internship I did at a luxury goods firm, which mostly required me to run errands around the city in cabs. I never realized how many different brands of high-end watches there were. I thought it all began and ended with Rolex, but there are only about maybe 50 others. At that time, I wished that I would be faced with a trivia night question that asked us to name as many luxury watchmakers as we could, and I'd be one of the few who'd be able to whip out all these brands that nobody's heard of. But then I would've looked like a complete tool.

Here's a popular type of self-serving bar where you just help yourself to any beer that you want. Then at the end of the night, you bring the bottles up to the front and you pay by the bottle. The selection is pretty good and it's probably the cheapest way to drink imported beers in Seoul.

A little less than 2 weeks left. Want to do as much as possible.

Things I'm looking forward to doing this winter in Korea

Thankfully, I'll have a much lengthier winter break than last year. And unlike a year ago, I hopefully won't get sick as my body gets shocked by the cold Korean winter.

Here are the following things that I'm looking forward to doing:


1) Walk in from the cold to eat something hot and/or spicy

Piping-hot kalguksu. Sizzling samgyeopsal. Tongue-scorching spicy galbi-jjim. I can't wait to come in shivering from the harsh winds, melt my hands by the searing coals in the middle of the table, and guzzle down some hot hot food.

2) Take the metro across the frozen Han River

I live just on the southern banks of the Han River, so if I take the metro and want to go north, I have to cross the river. I just really like that long and uninterrupted glide from one side of the river to the other. It kind of reminds me of that part in Spirited Away when Chihiro and her friends take that train across the ocean.

3) Order jjajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce) when it's too cold to go outside and I'm sick of eating ramen

In case you don't know, jjajangmyeon is to Koreans what pizza is to Americans. It's the omnipresent default delivery food and eating too much of it all the time is usually a sign that you're a broke student or perhaps failing at life in some way. Jjajangmyeon is even the official food of Black Day, which is a sarcastic "holiday" for people who didn't get anything on Valentine's Day or White Day (which takes place a month after Valentine's Day and has girls giving chocolates to guys).

But regardless of its connotations, jjajangmyeon is delicious and I can't wait to eat it when I get home. I just feel a bit bad for the delivery guys who have to scooter through the snow to deliver the foods AND return later to pick up the dishes. It's too bad that it's against Korean custom to tip because these guys deserve it.

4) Get caught up on Korean TV and Korean celebrity gossip

ZOMG, did you see who was holding hands with whom out in public this weekend?! Who did you say had a secret marriage from a decade ago?! Who accused whom of plagiarizing his music?!

5) Travel somewhere else in Asia

This is obviously something I can't do in Korea, but since the break will be a lot longer this year, I'm hoping to travel somewhere else in Asia that I've never been before. I would really like to go to Vietnam because I really like Vietnamese food and I want to see the countryside. I'm not a beach person so perhaps places like Thailand and Bali aren't going to be my destination. I've been wanting to go to Hong Kong for the longest time though. So many places!

Leaving Seoul

A picture of kimchi fried rice because I'll miss this very much

Since I'll be leaving Korea in just a few hours, this blog will probably once again lay dormant. It's been great fun reviving it this summer, and I hope that it's entertained you somewhat. I may add some more stuff to it even when I'm back in the U.S. if the topics are of any relevance to Korea.

Later!

The Challenging Beauty of Seoul

Some people like to slag Seoul as an ugly city because it's not the easiest city in the world to appreciate at first glance. There aren't many obvious tourist destinations, and the overall look of the city seems to reflect functionality and practicality over aesthetics. But these people should keep in mind that this is a city that had to rise literally from ashes in order to foster the fastest economic explosion of any country in the history of the modern world. So perhaps the city planners and architects had to worry about things such as building apartments and offices as quickly and affordably as possible, as opposed to debating how best to gentrify a neighbourhood block with cute brownstones.

That being said, Seoul is a world city now, so it's time for the city to look to not only be a commercial capital but also a a city with a distinct architectural fingerprint. I dream of one day seeing a Seoul that'll embrace its Korean architectural heritage and show the world that a beautiful city does not have to look like New York City or Paris or Bruges.

Since I'm Korean, I am probably too biased to make an objective analysis. But I think there's a unique beauty to Seoul, one that's perhaps more tied to its narrative and sense of possibility than to aesthetics. One has to work a little harder and use a little imagination to appreciate the city, but because of this, it's more rewarding. Even when I look at the most generic, plastic-and-glass clone-tiled building on a block, I am reminded of the fact that just a while ago, there was probably nothing there. If something could spring up in so short a time, what could be around the corner in just a few decades?

Plus, it's always exciting to be in a city that remains wholly yours to be discovered, as opposed to being a gallery of postcard cliches that draw the same breed of tourists every year.

Here are just some pictures that I took last year when I had a lot of free time and had the luxury of just wandering around the city. All these pictures were taken on my Fujifilm X10.

The surrounding walls of Gyeongokgoong

An alleyway in the Bukchon Hanok Village

Gwanghwamun, the front gate of Gyeongbokgoong

A cafe in Samcheongdong

A building in the Bukchon Hanok Vilage

A food cart in Apgujeong

A couple of curious-looking buildings near the Banpo Bridge

Insadong at sunset

A Seoul street

Near the river at Yeouido

Sunset at Yeouido

A train crossing the Han River

A view of Suwon from the Hwaseong Fortress

A crosswalk in Sinchon, near Yonsei University

A barbecue joint in Sinchon

A food vendor (pojang macha) in Gangnam

A view of Olympic Bridge from the Seoul metro

A street bend in northern Seoul

A peek into a coffee shop

A back alley in Apgujeong