Phil Kyung Jae - Traditional Korean Food.

Fancy, traditional, and the best Korean food I've had in Korea! 

My friend Alina has family in Korea. Turns out they own a super fancy, classy, traditional Korean restaurant called Phil Kyung Jae, located near Suseo subway stop (Orange line) in Seoul. It's maybe a 15-20 minute walk from the subway and easy to find! 

So, the menu -- you choose which option you would like (each including different food and amounts). They range from 54,000 won to 240,000 won per person. (we got the 84,000 option). I am not sure if I will ever be able to afford/ever want to spend 240 bucks on food at one sitting and I'm not sure if any of you out there could or would want to either. But if you can/want to/do let me know - you'll be my hero!

We (Alina, Kim and Tina - my co-scholar who is now working at Alina's school!) were taken to our table. Yes, it was actually a table with real chairs (which I was honestly surprised a little) but it was enclosed and we had our own private little room. The restaurant used to be (Alina's relatives') home way back who knows when and her aunt and uncle turned it into a restaurant.

Then the feast starts.....

they bring dish after dish after dish after dish of food. I just kept eating and eating and eating ohhh and eating some more!




The side dishes:

 King's Kimchi

 Named because only the kings ate it. Why? Because it's hard to make (apparently - although I am now determined to make it) and probably because it's the best!! It's hands down the best kimchi I'VE had! 

Some greens and white stuff (wow, so technical).

Salad.

Sweet pumpkin soup.

Clear, jello-y stuff with cucumbers and eggs.

Bamboo Salad.

Japchae - 잡채 (sweet potato noodles with vegetables). 

Fried zucchini dipped in eggs, some meat and more egg stuff.

An assortment of veggies/meats and little round wrappers.. eaten kind of like a little taco.

Main dishes/hot food:

Soup.

Pork and kimchi.

Shrimp.

 Dokgalbi - 떡갈비 

I am not joking I think this is the best meat I have ever had in my entire life. Coming from a girl raised on meat, that's a big deal!

Fish.

Raw Crab. (weird sounding but it was so juicy and tender. I loved it!)

More soup - Seaweed soup.

Dessert:

Fruit - Watermelon (수박) and Asian Pear (배).

Rice drink.

 I left so happy, so full but so happy. My love for Korean food sky rocketed after this experience! I would highly recommend this restaurant. Save your money by eating at home for a couple of weeks and then go here - you will not regret it! Oh and make sure you get the Dokgalbi - 떡갈비 :)




More FOOD!!


After we were stuffed.. what did we do. Oh we went and got more food! Why? because that's what we do!



We went to a famous Patbingsu (팥빙수) restaurant on the edge of the strip in Insadong - Seoul. It was a cute little place. They have a DJ there on the weekdays and you can write a letter to someone (usually your bf or gf), which will get mailed out 100 days later! The patbingsu was ok here, not my favorite - I would still say that Caffe Bene has the best! :)

Sunday Drive - Daejeon

Sunday Drive with no destination...
but we ended up in Daejeon.

They just put these little weird things everywhere. Oh Korea :) 

So a friend, who has a car, decided to come down to Cheongju and from there we would take a little drive. I was happy to be in a car and happy to be out and about exploring the country side of Korea. So, we did just that. Scott drove, I pointed which way to go and well we ended up in Daejeon - about 30 minutes from Cheongju. I guess Daejeon is a lot bigger than Cheongju, but I didn't see that. It almost looked smaller, so I guess there was more out of site!

It was a lovely afternoon. We hung out on a bridge, under the bridge, and by the river. We didn't get far into the city, but I didn't even mind. Where we were was quite (except for the multiple trains and the cars) and beautiful!

How cool are these old men? Just hanging out by the river.

As we were wondering around by the river (me taking a million photos) a Korean man approached us and handed us each a 4-leaf clover. Ok, so you guys probably don't know but I am seriously the 4-leaf clover finding queen. I mean not to brag but I'm pretty good. I guess maybe it's because as a kid I would sit outside in a patch of clovers just looking for hours and hours. However, my dad would come out and try to find them with me, and would fail. I would even give him a 3 inch circle of where one was and he still couldn't find it! I didn't get it from my dad, that's for sure.

The man in the red is the one who gave us the clovers!

I also found one while hanging upside down on a swing set and one at camp while I was walking to get lunch -- seriously now that's talent! I had found one 5-leaf clover and found a 4-leaf in South Africa! It's just kind of my thing and I literally have a Tupperware at home full of them (probably like 100 -- no joke!) So, there was no way I was going to let this Korean man show me up.. it was ONNNN!! I found a patch, and the search began. It wasn't long till I had found 1, 2... oh shoot too easy. So, then my goal was to find one with water droplets still on it so I could photograph it. I seriously didn't even pick them, I had found too many and wanted to leave some for other people. :)

The Korean man walks back over to us, holds out another clover and says 'pie-bu' (translation from Konglish to English -- five). Whattttt? Man, this guy was too good. Shoot, again there was no way he could show me (the master) up. So, the search was on for a 5-er. And what did I find.... yup, a 5-leaf clover and not just 1, or 2, but 3! And I picked all 3 of those and pressed them (You don't leave 5-ers for other people!) So, take that Korean man! boom. winner, me. I also got several pictures of 4-leaf and 5-leaf clovers so it was just a super win!

On the way back to Cheongju, we made a little stop over at some rice fields. I just had to get some pictures!! I felt pretty at home amongst the fields. But rice fields are so different and I'm very intrigued by them. So, here's what I have gathered about them from observation (in between sleeping) on a bus out to my school each day! They till the field, flood it and then they use a machine/tractor like thing to plant the rice shoots. So the shoots are already about 6 inches tall (maybe) and they are stacked neatly onto the planter. Then they drive it up and down the flooded field and plant the shoots. Why is the field flooded? No clue -- but I just googled it and I guess it's to keep the weeds down and to discourage rodents and other animals. Hmmm interesting. I had no idea!

So, yes having a car is nice. You can stop where you want, go where you want and not worry about how to get there/getting lost and taking the wrong bus. However, would I (personally) drive in this country? - ummm I don't think so. I am not aggressive enough. You've kind of got to be a jerk to drive in Korea. Honking, cutting people off, breaking rules, and being selfish. However, I'm thankful for friends with cars and thankful for this photographic, clover hunting adventure!

Icheon - Pottery

Icheon (Gyeonggi Province), South Korea

Pottery town with a good ole Cheongju Clan (Alina, Kayc, Peter, Annette, Elliot) and a couple of Icheon-ers!

So each town in Korea is kind of 'known' for something. Like my city is known for the movable type, Boseong for green tea, Jeungpyeong for ginseng and Icheon is famous for pottery. They have museums and places to make pots. So, what do you think we did there, yeah, we made pots and saw some pottery.

Of course art major me was super excited for this town! I am in love with throwing (you know like a spinning wheel, which you put clay on and make bowls) but this time we did hand building, which is not my strong suit in the slightest. It still worked out and didn't turn out too bad especially for the 2 hour time frame they gave us. You can't rush art but I guess in Korea you totally can!

I decided to make a vase, which turns out I think it could maybe hold half a flower. But hey, whatever. Time limit remember -- so it's not my best work, I did not have proper time to sketch and plan and think and pick out the best option!

So, these things are all over Korea. Like a shade apparatus for plants? I just have no idea but they cover the landscape of Korea. It's either these things, or rice field! I actually think it's rather beautiful, just a little strange and seems like it takes a lot of work to construct!

We took a cab to the top of the mountain, which over looked the small city. It had a museum and ceramic everywhere. Literally. There was a fountain and gardens and bridges all made with pottery or decorated with pottery. There were ceramic murals and statues as well. It was quite the interesting little area.

A cool wavy bridge. I think a bike ride on it would be super fun!

(You can always grow and thrive even in the toughest places).

But, I was starving. I hadn't eaten lunch. All I could think about was food. Something you should know  about me-- I need sleep and I need food and I'm happy (well and throw some art in there that makes it even better). But I was tired from little sleep and hungry from not eating because I was traveling but I guess at least I was taking pictures?! But still, food was on my mind.

The 2 Korean girls we were with ordered some chicken and had it delivered. You know life is so much easier when you know the language. There is no way I could have figured out how to order chicken and get it delivered (but maybe one day before I leave Korea I will be able to - goals folks, just make goals and take baby steps!) Yeah, they deliver to a mountain and they literally delivered to the exact spot we were sitting in the grass. He ramped that motor bike right up there and parked it a couple of feet from our circle, hopped off the bike, set the boxes of chicken down, and was off! It was an awesome 'oh Korea' moment for sure! The chicken was good and satisfied my ravenous hunger. As we sat around we noticed a cat had wondered up near us, but still a ways away. I decided it needed to eat some chicken. I felt her pain! So, I chucked some bones and the chicken necks (because who wants that anyway). She was pretty cautious at first, but after a few more times of throwing more.. she became quick at finding and grabbing after I threw it! She was such a good 'hunter'! 

It's sometimes funnier to take pictures of other people taking pictures. :) But, I of course got some of my own too don't worry...

We headed back down off the mountain and towards the bus terminal. Icheon has a really nice lake and there were lanterns up for Buddha's Birthday. It was a beautiful walk, the perfect ending to our day....

Spring time in Korea is really beautiful! 

So, we get to the bus terminal to buy our tickets (there were 2 busses left back to Cheongju).... ops-sso-yo. Nothing? No tickets to Cheongju? Are you kidding me. How were we supposed to get home? We all had to teach the next day! So, we had to get creative. We tried Deajeon - nope none. We thought maybe Eumsong, but decided against it. So, instead we went all the way back up to Dong Seoul (which is in the opposite direction) and took the last bus from there at 9pm (which we had to reserve online). We made it to Dong Seoul around 8:30. I got some BR -- it was just one of those days - I needed it. Found our bus and of course there was a delay because the bus was broke. So, we played some 1 potato, 2 potato, 3 potato 4 and waited. I finally made it home about 11:30. It had been such a long weekend, but a good weekend!

What did I learn? Book your tickets home from a small town when you arrive! Especially if the city is the super popular city of Icheon (apparently).