Tom Kha Gai Soup

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 Tin Coconut Milk
• 2 Salmon Fillets or Chicken Breasts – both diced
• 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 6 Lime Leaves
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 2 Sticks Lemongrass, (peel outer sheath and chop them into 3)
• 6 Slices Galangal Root
• 6 regular sized button/white mushrooms, halved (or 12 mini button mushrooms)
• A dozen or so cherry tomatoes (kept whole)
• 1 red chilli, sliced.
• Fresh Coriander (cilantro) chopped 2/3 tablespoons

Please note* If you are reading this from Korea, I obtained the coconut milk, lemongrass, fish sauce, coriander & galangal root  from Itaewon’s Foreign Food Market and  the lime leaves were from High Street Store. 

Method

1. Empty the tin of coconut milk into a medium sized saucepan.
2. Add 3/4 tin of water.
3. Add 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce, Lime Leaves, Lemongrass, Galangal Root and Mushrooms.
4. Bring the contents to the boil.
5. Add the Salmon/Chicken (chicken will take longer) – continue to boil until it is cooked (a couple of minutes).
6. Reduce the heat and add the chilli, tomatoes.
7. Simmer for 5/10 minutes, the longer it simmers, the spicier the soup will get.
8. Finally, stir in the lime juice and sprinkle the coriander generously over the top.

*This is nice with pumpkin seed bread (freshly baked) or by itself as it is quite filling.

Big Buddha Restaurant

Before I came to Korea, I assumed that Asian foods would be the easiest to find here, what with being in Asia. However, I found a lot of the key ingredients to a lot of Thai meals such as lemongrass, limes, galangal and coriander are generally non existent in most supermarkets. I had been craving Thai food and had heard about Big Buddha in Itaewon. It certainly did not disappoint.

Like most foreign restaurants, I expected the prices to be at the higher end. Apart from the drinks menu, all of the dishes were very reasonably priced and the dishes we had were packed full of flavour. Although the drinks were expensive, they were delicious.

I was a little disappointed that my Phad Thai didn’t come with the usual wedge of lime, but it was still really tasty. I tried the Tom Kha Gai soup and it tasted exactly how I remembered it and didn’t appear to be missing any key ingredients. For those of you who are fans of this coconut soup, I shall be posting the recipe here soon.

Getting There:

Subway to Noksapyong exit 3. Cross over the road and walk towards the main strip of Itaewon. There is a sharp left up a steepish hill and it’s just at the top of it. (Less than 1 min from the turn).

The Brooklyn Burger Joint, Seoul

I have been meaning to do a write up on this place for a while now. But the good news for you all is that I’ve collected a few decent photos of the food to demonstrate just how awesome this place is.

For those of you who live in Seoul, you will know that a decent burger is not a culinary forte here. When I heard that there were not just decent but excellent burgers to be had at the Brooklyn Burger Joint, I had to try for myself even though I was skeptical at first.

The place is very small inside. When you first arrive, expect a reasonable volume of people milling around outside. There is a clipboard at the front door you MUST put your name down on, or you’ll be bypassed in the queue.

We’ve waited up to 45 minutes for a table so don’t arrive starving. There’s a coffee shop next door but it is on the pricey side even by Korean coffee shop standards.

“The Brooklyn Works” burger, chilli cheese fries and slaw

The food is well worth the wait. The burgers come in two sizes, both are more than enough. The chilli cheese fries have really tasty chilli and that gooey liquidy cheese that is oh so bad for you but oh so good!

The bacon was delicious and crispy and the burger buns were just like the ones from home.

As a dessert, the shakes are well, pretty amazing. I’ve had the burnt marshmallow one and it is a meal in itself. Perfect for sharing.

… as a MASSIVE Heinz fan… too cute

Slaw

Getting There:

Take the subway to Express Bus Terminal: Exit 5

Cross over the road and keep walking left along the main road. You will turn off the road after about 5 minutes. (You will walk past a biggish hotel) It is in a very quiet area so don’t be put off by the fact there is nothing around there. You pretty much walk straight until you see it just on the corner where there is the coffee shop I mentioned above. I marked it on the map so I hope you can find it.

On the Border

Mexican is probably my favourite cuisine which is why I have to do a write up about On the Border.

It’s definitely the most expensive Mexican restaurant I’ve found in Seoul but it’s also the tastiest one I’ve found. It’s located in the COEX Mall in the south of Seoul.

They make fresh salsa and guacamole and if you pay extra they’ll make the guacamole at your table. I think they used lemon instead of lime but it was still amazing and zingy.

The mains are incredibly generous, you certainly won’t be leaving hungry – more like unable to move. If you fancy a drink try the Coronaritas – they’re delicious and refreshing and pretty strong 🙂

Coronorita

Double Stuffed Quesadilla

Getting there:

 COEX MALL: Samseong Station (Seoul Subway Line 2), Exit 5 or 6.

 

The DMZ

I had a friend come to visit at the weekend so we took the opportunity to visit the DMZ. We took the Panmunjom Tour with TourDMZ.com.

Their pick -up point was at Lotte Hotel in Seoul at 11.00am on a Saturday. They briefed us on the bus about etiquette such as “no pointing” and not to talk to any North Koreans. We stopped for lunch close enough to the border and had bibimbap 

Firstly they drove us to the Freedom Bridge and then we passed two checkpoints to get inside the DMZ Area. We were then brought into a briefing room where we were given a rundown of the history of the DMZ which was short and relatively interesting.

The meeting room we were then brought into lies directly on the border of the two countries so technically you get to set foot in North Korea itself. It is heavily guarded but despite recent altercations between the two countries, there was no sense of danger whatsoever.

North Korea…

After the meeting room they took us on a short drive around the DMZ area pointing out various villages and border markers in the distance. A lot of photography is prohibited in certain areas so it’s something you wouldn’t get to see unless you actually go  yourself.

It felt like quite a long day, approximately 3 hours are spent on the bus but I’m glad I went and got to see what it was like. It’s unlikely the DMZ will be there forever so I’d certainly recommend Tour DMZ for bookings. They also stated that they’re the only tour group who take groups there on Saturdays so if it’s true then that’s something to take note of.

K2 Motel, Busan

It was the weekend of Buddha’s birthday and prices for everywhere seemed to double and in some cases treble for weekend rates.

We finally came across the K2 motel using agoda.com

On the Agoda website you can see all the themed rooms. We opted for a double deluxe as it was only an extra W10,000 a night and it included a jacuzzi tub.

The room was really clean, with a huge TV and PC and the TV had a USB slot so we could watch our own movies on it.

I’m definitely going to continue to opt for motels over hotels in the future. Apart from the seedy reputation, these rooms are about a third of the price of a hotel and far more entertaining!

Getting There: 

We took the KTX to Busan Station and from there the orange line north to Beomnaegol Station. Exit 7 and it’s right around the corner.

Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital (정신병원 곤지암 )

I stumbled across this place when I was looking for interesting places to visit in Korea. It came up on CNN’s most scariest places on earth list. Being a huge fan of American Horror Story’s “Asylum”, I had to try and visit this place that technically isn’t a tourist attraction.

Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital supposedly closed down suddenly around 1996 when people started dying mysteriously. The owner abandoned the place and apparently went to America, leaving the place as it was.

After a lot of Google mapping and searching on Naver.com, I found the location of the hospital. Unfortunately it is totally closed off to the public, with a large amount of barbed wire around it and signs discouraging people from entering.

There really is an eerie feel to the place, even though apparently several people visit this place each year to take a look and there’s plenty of evidence of that with graffiti and broken windows. However, a large amount of furniture and bits and pieces are still strewn about the place which does give a hint of what the place used to be like almost twenty years ago.

An old lab coat propped up on something.

Getting There: 

The 1113-1 bus goes from Seoul and the stops are marked on the map below. It goes directly to Gonjiam,  It’s a  ten – fifteen minute walk just outside the town Gonjiam.

Please note that this is not a tourist attraction. 

Cherry Blossom South Korea

The Cherry Blossom Festival takes place every year in spring time in Seoul… 

Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon

I headed here last Sunday with a couple of friends. I knew nothing about it but needed a good excuse to get out in the good weather and do something cultural.

The fortress was built around the late 1700s and it’s walls run through the city Suwon itself. Apparently it was built to honor the remains of a Prince whose father was buried alive because he refused to commit suicide… not sure how accurate Wikipedia is but the full article can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwaseong_Fortress

I wasn’t expecting the several steps to reach the top, nor did I expect there to be any sort of incline but I have to say, once I got to the top I was really glad I did and realistically it only took about 20-30 minutes..

It was a great time of year to go as there were plenty of great photo opportunities too.

Getting There:

Take the subway to Suwon. There was a tourist information booth just outside of the subway with the leaflet for the fortress. We took a bus (can’t remember the number this time but they told us at the information place) and it was about 4/5 stops away so not impossible to walk on foot on a nice day by any means.

Taco Chilli Chilli

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon with the girls browsing the markets in Dongdaemun and we needed a quick fix.  Apart from street food in this area, restaurants appear to be the standard small Korean ones that don’t have huge variation and we were looking for something more western.

Taco Chilli Chilli is located in a central spot in Dongdaemun. On the exterior, apart from the name it looks like one of the traditional looking Korean tented buildings for cheap eats. However as soon as you walk in, the smell of fresh Mexican food invades your nostrils.

It’s a simple menu, burritos, enchiladas and nachos. I opted for the chicken burrito. It was cheap and tasty and even had some fresh coriander (something that is hard to come by here when outside Itaewon).

I recommend this place for a quick bite when you’re not stopping for long. It has no atmosphere and certainly isn’t a place to sit in all evening. However, it is tasty and for a Korean Mexican eatery, it hit the spot.

Getting There: 

Take the subway to Dongdaemun Station. Take exit 6 or 7 (7 is closest, but the station can be a little confusing). Walk straight until you cross the river (1 -2 minutes through a market area). Once you cross the river, cross the road and it’s pretty much right in front of you. (Red frontage and the name is above it).