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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Korea Enters the Luxurious Burger Wars
2008-06-04 03:21:00
My friend Chris Wright sent me this.  W Seoul Walkerhill has come up with the 180,000 won W “X” burger.  It’s Australian Wagyu beef with some big ass lobes of foie gras, black truffles and lobster tail served on a brioche bun. This whole luxury burger thing started a while back with Daniel Boulud’s DB Burger ...
More About: Korea , Wars , Luxurious

SK Government Plans to Label Beef
2008-05-29 02:37:00
Yonhap News Agency reports that more stringent measures are in the works, where on June 18th, the South Korean government will require restaurants and caterers to label where each cut of beef comes from prominently enough so that consumers can choose for themselves.  In the case where something like a stew is made from beef ...
More About: Government , Beef , Plans , Label

Annalog Tries Space Kimchi
2008-05-27 05:11:00
Valuable research from Annalog.  Her cousin got a set of Korean space food. Mmm… freeze-dried kimchi! Check out the video!
More About: Space , Kimchi

New Korean Rising Star in NYC?
2008-05-26 12:00:00
New York Magazine has an article featuring the new restaurant Persimmon, headed by Momofuku alum Youngsun Lee.  The relaxed restaurant has a prix fixe menu ($30-$60 range) that revolves around one ingredient, emphasizing traditional Korean food. Kimchi Jjigae is trendy.  Whoda thunk? There’s also a Chowhound topic about it.
More About: Restaurant , Star

Lotteria?s Avocado, Shrimp and Cheese Burger
2008-05-23 05:21:00
Okay, I tried it. I saw the ad for it on Mongdori, and I had to see this for myself. Are avocados finally going to become popular in Korea? Well, I stopped by Lotteria last night. Honestly, looking at some of the new stuff on their menu, they seem to be getting better. ...
More About: Cheese , Shrimp , Burger , Junk

New Lotteria Creation: Avocado, Shrimp and Cheese Burger
2008-05-22 09:26:00
Mongdori has a video of the commercial for this latest monster to emerge from the Lotteria labs.  I’m going to see if I can track one down tonight and give a report.
More About: Cheese , Shrimp , Burger , Creation , Junk

Special SeoulPodcast: A Talk with Stephanie White, Mother of Michael White
2008-05-21 05:08:00
In a special edition of the SeoulPodcast, we talk to Stephanie White , the mother of Michael White, who died recently under suspicious circumstances at a sauna near Daegu. [Seoulpodcast - Special: A Mother 's Worst Nightmare -- The Tale of Michael White]
More About: News , Talk

SeoulPodcast: Tales from the Dark Side
2008-05-17 05:45:00
[Click here for the episode] This week we have one of those evil recruiters, Rowan Hall, from ESL-Planet Recruiting.  He actually has a lot of background info on the current trends in the Korean ESL industry and personal experiences and advice on how to navigate the new E-2 visa regulations.
More About: Dark , Tales , The Dark , Side , The Dark Side

Finally, Some Sanity in Sogogi-gate
2008-05-17 04:51:00
The Korean media is finally coming around to agreeing with me.  Because, you know, they always turn to me for their talking points. My point throughout this whole “scandal” has not been that American beef is totally safe.  It has been that it is not much different than Korean beef and is possibly safer.  In America, ...
More About: News , Gate , Finally

Epicurious the Epicaterer
2008-05-15 02:55:00
I’ve just been informed by Dan at SeoulEats that he will help cater an art gallery event. Here’s the message I received from him: There are a whole lot of exciting food events this weekend. Tomorrow at 6:30pm there will be a art gallery event at Gasan Gallery in Bundang for artist Lee Jung Tae. ...
More About: Event , Epicurious

The Miele Guide — Coming October 2008
2008-05-14 18:36:00
I was asked a few months ago to be one of the “84 of Asia’s most influential and respected restaurant critics” to participate in the preliminary submissions and judging to the new Miele Guide .  It’s basically the Michelin or Zagat Guide for Asia.  I’d say it’s a welcome publication in this culinarily exciting yet confusing corner of the world. As for my participation, anyone who knows me knows that I don’t go to many of the fine restaurants in Seoul.  I don’t have the time, I don’t want to spend the money, and frankly, I’ve been disappointed with most of the pretension in upscale or trendy cuisine here.  I don’t want to pay 30,000 won for something I could easily make at home.  So I submitted some of my basic favorites–and only places I had been to.  No Gorilla in the Kitchen.  No The Gaon.  Nothing with a lot of pretension unless it actually tasted good. Now here’s where you come in.  From May 15th t...
More About: October , 2008

SeoulPodcast: Amanda Takes Off?
2008-05-13 06:06:00
The latest SeoulPodcast features Amanda from Amanda Takes Off, one of the more entertaining and well-respected bloggers in Korea Blogland. We talk a lot about what to do when employers screw you, the multiple food scares and the new Seoul mascot.

Wanna Big Screw?
2008-05-13 05:17:00
The witty and gorgeous lao-ocean-girl found this one.  If you can’t read the hangeul, is says, “Screw .” Lao-ocean-girl claims, “Big screws are refreshing.” Okay, guys, wipe the drool from the keyboard.
More About: Junk

Makguksu Makeover
2008-05-12 07:49:00
This article first appeared in my column in The Korea Herald. Click here for the PDF version (1.43 MB). Over in the small town of Yeoju in the southeastern corner of Gyeonggi province is a noodle shop that has been getting attention for taking a humble dish and doing something special with it. Makguksu, or ?rough ...
More About: Restaurant , Makeover

Alas, More Sogogi-gate? with Cartoon
2008-05-11 19:20:00
It’s getting weirder, folks.  So, let’s summarize this cartoon.  This cow is infected with mad cow via the three major Korean newspapers labeled on it.  I guess the newspapers who created the mad cow hysteria are considered crazy now that they’re backtracking and trying to clarify the rumors they had spread before.  Oh, whatever, here’s ...
More About: News , Gate , Cartoon

New Site: My Epikorean
2008-05-08 15:30:00
I’ve just been informed of a new Korean food site, called My Epikorean, that looks great and has innovative California-style Asian fusion dishes, mostly Korean inspired.  Come on, who could go wrong with a Bulgogi Buffalo Burger? The site design is clean and easily navigable, and the pictures are gorgeous.  And of course, the recipes sound ...
More About: Site , Out There , New Site

Video of Elyse Sewell Enjoying Seoul Cuisine
2008-05-08 04:05:00
And not just any cuisine.  We get the live octopus at the end of a video that highlights some of the quirkiness of everyday life in Seoul from one of the biggest celebrity ex-pats living here.
More About: Video , Cuisine

More Sogogi-gate Weirdness
2008-05-08 03:28:00
Matt from Gusts of Popular Feeling posts this hypothetical this conversation on the bus between two Koreans: Hey, you know that girl I told you about in my class, the one who was crying after she saw her test scores? Yeah. Well after school my friends saw her eat a burger at Burger King. So? Guess what happened? What? They found her ...
More About: News , Gate

Streetside Korean Catchin? on in DC
2008-05-07 04:22:00
Erin Zimmer at Serious Eats praises a Korean streetside vendor (L Street Vending) in Washington, DC, for its consistency (in terms of regularly showing up and having good flavor).

Sogogi-gate
2008-05-05 17:09:00
And now, my friends, is when, like many things in Korea, events become surreal. The U.S. beef weird-coaster is riding the chain to the top, about to be launched.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has executed an emergency Sunday press conference to calm down the panic in Korea over the media’s scare tactics in generating fear ...
More About: News , Gate

OngGi Mandu ? Fresh Dumplings
2008-05-05 13:30:00
A mandu shop opened up near my work to add a slight bit more variety to the dearth of places to eat in that neighborhood.  It’s a shop the size of a closet called OngGi Mandu ?? ??, and it looks like it’s a franchise. Now, in the past few years, people in Korea have been ...
More About: Restaurant , Fresh

Korean Beef Producers Coping by Innovating
2008-05-02 03:14:00
I know it sounds cold.  But protecting the Korean beef industry through silly measures as saying that boneless beef from the U.S. is safer than bone-in is bound to not last long.  It sounded like a desperate charade and still does. Full importation of U.S. beef will continue this month for the first time since 2003.  ...
More About: News , Beef , Coping , Producers

Chinese-Korean or Korean-Chinese?
2008-04-27 04:17:00
SFoodie, from SFWeekly, talks about JjajangMyeon and Tangsuyuk in San Francisco.  In Korea, we know this as Korean -style Chinese food.  In the post, Brian Bernbaum calls it Chinese-style Korean. So which is it, any of you with any opinion on the subject?
More About: Out There

More Vids of Larvae and Live Octopus
2008-04-23 04:42:00
Gilad and Dawna from It’s Korea Now have posted some videos of them eating Beondaeggi ??? (Silkworm Larvae) and picking and eating their super fresh seafood in Busan. Here’s a sample:
More About: Video , Live , Vids , Octopus

A Few Words on Acorn Jelly
2008-04-22 03:31:00
Wan Yan Ling, the Grocery Ninja at Serious Eats, explores the controversial questions about Korean acorn jelly (DotoriMuk ????) that everyone wants to know. And come on, you know those questions have been itchin’ at ya.
More About: Words , Out There , Jelly

Epicourageous is now Seoul Eats
2008-04-22 03:10:00
My partner in culinary crime, Daniel, has changed his site from Epicourageous in Seoul to Seoul Eats.  It looks like it’s going to concentrate more on food events and actual places to eat in Seoul, an area that I woefully come short on (considering I live slightly outside Seoul).

Annalog Does Dalk Galbi
2008-04-22 03:04:00
Our good videographing friend Annalog recently posted a video of eating Dalk Galbi ? ??, chicken stir-fried in vegetables, spicy sauce and squishy chewy rice cakes.
More About: Video

?They Taste Like Nuts, But They?re Juicy Inside?
2008-04-22 03:02:00
Joshua from An American in Geoje and his friend Michael recently had a very ZenKimchi experience dear to my heart. They went to what seems like a makkoli bar and randomly tried the food there. Makkoli bars are shamelessly traditional–to the point that the guys were served Beondaeggi ??? (Silkworm Larvae) in lieu of ...
More About: Inside , Taste , Nuts

Cold Sesame Noodles with Kimchi
2008-04-16 07:32:00
Courtesy of Blake from Serious Eats.
More About: Cold , Out There , Sesame , Noodles , Kimchi

Pinkberry Settles
2008-04-16 07:28:00
Korean-style frozen yogurt trendsetter Pinkberry has settled with the state of California for claiming that its frozen yogurt-like product was actually frozen yogurt and for making unproven health claims. For those of us who live in Korea and deal with slam advertising of “well-being” pizza, coffee and even cigarettes, we say, “What’s new about that?” Now, excuse ...
More About: News