Showing posts with label Seoul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seoul. Show all posts

Wednesday, 31 December 2008

Le Petit Four, dessert, Seoul

Le Petit Four serves macaroons and cakes/dessert. (The name of the shop sounds not so original but I am not complaining) The chef is said to have trained at Paul Bocuse in France and worked under Alain Ducasse. I had tea and coffee at the store and brought macaroons back.


Chocolate popping pie (?)
A layer of hazelnut brownie, marshmallow, mousse, crispy chocolate biscuit coated in thick chocolate. If I weren't so full, I would have finished the whole thing. It can be eaten like a lolipop.

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Petit gateau au kaka, a.k.a. s**t cake.
The base is hazelnut cake layered with pineapple compote and then covered with whipped cream. The chef uses special cream, which is thicker but less fattening. I don't know how that works, but anyways, it tastes like whipped fromage blanc. It was very nice.


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I don't remember what is called, but basically, it is fondant au chocolat, but not too sweet. It has runny centre.
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Macaroons...
I don't think I like macarrons any more. They are pretty to look at, but too sweet for me.
But still, the macarrons at Le Petit Four was nice.

Banana and chocolate macaroon, vanilla macaroon.
I liked the chcolate ganache in B/C macaroon, but I did not like banana macarron part. But that is because I am not a fan of banana.
Vanilla macaroon was nice and chewy.
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I am not sure what flavour is the macarron on top, but I smelled rum in the frosting.
Pink one is vitamin mixer, green is pistachio and the bottom one is coconut. They were all nice. Probably the best one I tried in Korea.


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Cakes are priced somewhere between 2500KRW to 4500KRW.
Macaroon is 1800KRW each.
Americano: 2500KRW. A bargain!
The portion is small but the quality was very good, which is perfect for me.

Le Petit Four
Tel: 02 322 2669
Mon~Thu:10am-11pm
Fri~Sat: 10am-12am
Tube: Line 2 Hongdae station, exit 5. Walk towards the main gate of Hongdae university. On your left, there is a shopping arcade called Purugio. The shop is on the second floor.

Waiters were very friendly.

Sunday, 28 December 2008

Goongyeon, hanjeongsik / (Korean Table d'hote)

Hanjeongsik (한정식, 韓定食) refers to a full-course Korean meal where various dishes are served in series rather than all at once which is more traditional style. Serving style may seem westernized, but the food is usually still very authentic.
Yesterday, my family and relatives (over 60 people!) gathered at Goongyeon to celebrate the wedding of my cousin who got married in New York in August. Since my cousin and her doting husband are both ABK, a restaurant that serves elegant Korean was chosen. Goongyeon is run by mother and daughters who work very hard to pass on the heritage of authentic Korean food. The mother (Ms Hwang) learned how to cook royal meal from a court cook. They have opened a few restaurants and Goongyeon serves food that was served to the kings of Korea. You may have watched/seen a very popular Korean TV series called Dae-Jang-Geum (대장금, 大長今). Ms Hwang and her daugthers were consulted for all the scenes that involve food and the heroine herself learned how to cook here.
You may think of Korean food as spicy, garlicky, red food, but those dishes are generally considered to be not so elegant. The style of cooking used in royal court or aristocrats houses favour less of chili powder and heavy seasoning, but try to bring out the best of each ingredients.
I don't use much seasoning at home, but Goongyeon uses much less. So some people may find it bland. But once you are used to it, you feel a lot better after a meal.

Individual table setting.
Next to the tea is sweet mustard sauce and sour soy sauce for dipping.

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Cute brass spoon (for porridge) and chopsticks.

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Tang-pyeong-chae

Jelly made of mungbean starch is sliced thinly to be mized with various toppings, and in this case, beef, yellow bean sprouts (not mungbean sprouts), shitake mushroom, dropwort, bit of egg, seaweed in light soy sauce.

Usually, people put too much sesame oil in it, but this case, it was very light. I am not even sure there is any in it.

This is how it was presented....
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and this is what it looks like after mixing.
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Milsam (my favourite Korean appetizer) and Eo-seon (hmm...kind of fish pâté)
Milsam is a pancake roll filled with thinly sliced vegetables and meat (or without meat). Filling is cooked but still retains crunchiness which is a nice contrast to soft pancake. You dip it in mustard sauce.
Eo-seon...I had a better one. It smelled of soil. Texture was horrible. I don't want to think about it.
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Seafood salad in sweet mustard dressing...sweet I said, but still a sinuses-cleansing mustard. Seashell, squid, prawn were used along with flat matchsticks of perssimon, cucumber, sliced raw chestnut, pomegrante.

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Sweet pumpkin porridge to calm your toungue afterwards.

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Trio of chili paste pancake, seaweed fulvescens pancake and fish and squid pancake. Fish and squid pancake again smelled of soil. Yuk.
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Grilled fish. I forgot what fish it is.

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The last course before dessert. Rice, sea mustard soup with green perila seeds (rich but delicious!), kimchi, pickled perssimon, water kimchi, 3 types of namul (nicely done) and some seaseond root.


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Bulgogi
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Dessert

Rainbow ddeok, ssalganjeong (in pink) and clementinePhotobucket

O-mija tea to finish.
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Tel)02 3674 1104~5


Friday, 31 October 2008

Mashin-neun Jip Miga, home-cooked food, Seoul

Being a working girl, one thing that I get frustrated about is a lack simple Korean food without MSG. So I was very happy to learn that my colleague OH's mother re-opened her restaurant. It is called Mashineun Jip, Miga (味家) right behind Daehan Cinema in Chungmuro area. To celebrate the reopening, all of my colleagues went there to have dinner.


The restaurant serves baekban (which literally means white rice) where various banchans (side dishes) are served with rice and soup/stew. This is what Korean eat every day at home, and we do go without dishes like BBQ. Since there were seven of us, we ordered dak-bokkeum-tang (spicy chicken stew) and Miga Sangcharim (more hearty of the two baekbans on offer).



Dak-bokkeum-tang (spicy chicken stew). Chicken, potatoes and onion pieces are gently cooked in sweet spicy broth.


If you order Miga Sangcharim, these are what you will get. But I must remind you that banchans change daily, all prepared by OH's mother. I usually don't eat kimchi when I eat out, because most of them are from kimchi factory. But since I knew it was all prepared here, I ate it. It was good, like what you will get if you visit your friend's house.
My favourite among them are steamed green chili (green chilis are tossed in seasoned flower, steamed and then seasoned again) and courgette pancakes. So yummy. I was also quite surprised that pan-fried platycodon tasted nice.

Rice and doenjang jjigae (bean paste stew). Inside jjigae are tofu, onion, courgette and fresh water seashell. It was a light jjigae which I liked.

Spicy chicken stew is kept warm through out the meal.


We had Miga Sangcharim on the left, and more simple Miga Jeomsim is available during lunch.


More menu available...I would like to try stir-fried pork in sweet chili sauce in the future. If you want simple meal, you can choose from noodle soup, dumpling and rice cake soup or noodle mixed in sauce.

It is a very simple restaurant, nothing fancy. However, a lot of attention has been put to make simple yet hearty meal, and that defintely makes a huge difference. I would definitely go back after watching a movie. Poor excuse for pasta can easily cost more than 12,000KRW (around £5-6), but for 6000KRW, you get a hot meal that is a lot healthier. I was told that they have regulars who come back. I wish it was near where I work. I would know where to go to if I want MSG-free meal.

Unfortunately, it is not very eas to get to. But not an impossible task either. Refer to the map and pics.

맛있는 집 味家
Tel)2269-8492
충무로역 1번출구로 나와 대한극장/행복예식장 직진.
LG Telecom 골목으로 들어가 왼쪽으로 보이는 좁은 골목으로 10m 직진.


Mashin-neun Jip Miga
Tel)2269-8492Chungmuro Station (Line 3/4) Exit 1
Walk past Daehan Cinema and Hangbok Weeding Hall.
When you see LG Telecom, turn right and take the alley.
As soon as you walk into the alley, you will see another very small alley. Take that alley and walk for 10 m. The restaurant in on your left.






Sunday, 7 September 2008

Toetmaru, Seoul

When I was little, I did not eat doen-jang, or Korean soy bean paste at all.
I did not like the look of it and it smelled. But you know, as you grow older, your tastebud changes, and you feel good when you eat certain things. Doen-jang is one of them. It still looks the same and smell the same, but now I know the health benefit of it, and I get craving for it when I am not feeling that great.
Toetmaru is the place I go to when I get craving, and when I cannot take Western food. It serves very rustic Korean food, and is known for doenjang bibimbap.
Dried pollock soup with egg drops served complimentary with any dish.



Can you see tofu in gang-doenjang?
*Gang-doenjang is a thicker version of doenjang jjigae, or soybean paste stew.

What you do is...you put chopped fresh veggies on your rice, and put a lade or two of thick gangdoenjang....
and mix!
The restaurant serves nice yeolmu kimchi (young radish kimchi, predominantly made of stalks)

Nokdu Jeon
(mung bean pancake)
Crispy crust and tender centre....

Ahmtoeji bokkeum
(stir-fried female pig in sweet chili sauce)
Slightly fatty and fabulous!
Lunch like this definitely calls for coffee and something sweet to cleanse the palate. So off I went to Coffe and Waffle (I think it is the name of the place. I still have not figured out.) for coffee and bingsu (shaved ice with variuos toppings)
We (moi+ a couple of friends) ordered nokcha pat bingsu (green tea bingsu with red bean) and plain pat bingsu (plain red bean bingsu). Ice flakes are shaved very fine which was a plus, and homemade pat topping was not too sweet either. Ddeok (sticky rice cake) pieces were big and yummy.


Toetmaru: Insadong
Joongwon Building
Phone: (02)739-5683
Walk to Insadong Crossroad
Walk towards Nakwon Shopping Centre for 10 meters or less.
On your left, you will see a tiny alley and at the beginning of that alley, a person is selling brass ornaments. Take that alley and walk for 5-10 meters. You will find the restaurant on your right.
Toetmaru is one of the restaurant in tourist-busy Insadong that targets locals.
툇마루
주소 : 서울시 종로구 인사동 4-2 B1F·B2F (중원빌딩 지하1·2층)
전화번호 : 02-739-5683
오픈시간 : 오전 10시30분~오후 10시
인사동 사거리에서 낙원상가로 10미터 정도 걷다보면 왼쪽에 세탁 이라는 표시와 청동으로 만든 장식 파는 사람이 있는 아주 조그만 골목이 있음. 그 골목으로 들어가면 오른쪽에 있음.
Coffee and Waffle
Opposite Harue or Samcheong Park in Samcheongdong.
Coffee and Waffle
삼청동 하루에/삼청공원 건너편

A working girl's lunch, Seoul

A typical working girl's lunch in Seoul...
kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew normally with pork pieces and tofu)
Layout on our table...with many banchans, rice served in a wide metal bowl, in case you want to create bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables) for yourself.
Gochu-jang (chili paste) and sesame oil are on the table, though not in the pic.


Gyeran mari, Korean-style omelette. Typically served with kimchi jjigae, or as soolanju, (dishes served with alcohol)
I am not going to write where I had this, because
1. It was in a tiny alley in Jongno,a very busy office area, and my friend took me there, so I don't remember exactly where.
2. You can get this just about everywhere in Seoul.
I think it cost 6000KRW(£3)/person.

A working girl's breakfast, Seoul

I normally have nooroongji, a porridge made of toasted rice. It is healthy, not fattening at all, mild and warming to start a day. However, there are times when I really need a caffeine and sugar kick in the morning. One morning, after a work-out, I headed to New York Doughnut Plant for donut and coffee. What you see here is Pineapple and Coconut cake doughnut and Vanilla cake doughnut. I love their donut. So light and reminds me of moist cupcakes.












Another day, at Au Bon Pain...

The view overlooking the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall


Americano, hamd and cheese in croissant, and yoghurt+granola!
They don't serve the best sandwiches, but I go there if I want to pretend that I am elsewhere.

New York Doughnut Plant
http://www.doughnutplant.co.kr/
opposite Lotte Department Store in Myungdong
명동롯데 맞은편

Au Bon Pain
http://www.abpkorea.com/
Location (in Korean)
http://www.abpkorea.com/about/contact.htm
시청광장 옆 프레지던트호텔 옆건물
Next to President Hotel next to City Hall