All posts tagged: food

Daytripping | Chinatown

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  The only official “Chinatown” in Korea is located in Incheon and takes a long, boring ride on the subway to get out there. It’s a full on tourist destination and it has a quintessential selfie tourist trap, the barf-worthy Fairytale Village. But, as much as those things irk me, and they do, don’t let it stop you from heading out there just once. It’s an interesting and quirky place. There is a different feel to the area, in no small part due to the different smells and different building styles. There are many restaurants and spots to buy a snack. We found a dim sum restaurant that squelched some cravings I’d been having for weeks. It’s also the birthplace of the ridiculously popular Chinese-Korean dish, Jjajangmyeong. After eating, you can wander around and find a beautiful cafe, like one we found that doubled as a gallery. TLDR: A Brief History The history of the area is…interesting. When Incheon Port opened in 1883 a small settlement of Chinese people grew.  The population has remained small for …

Kyoto Food Collection

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After taking a healthy hiatus from blogging, I’ve returned ever so gently with a blog about food.  I took a jaunt over to Japan for Christmas this year and ate some amazing things. I travel to eat in a new location. You too? We are probably very cool. Just like you, I spend more time researching food and restaurants than possibly anything else before a vacation. I will gladly leave a monument early to get to a restaurant rated well on Tripadvisor. You can learn a world of things with just a picture of food. So I spent a good deal of my very precious time usually reserved for rewatching 30 Rock to research all the amazing food I could shove in my mouth in Kyoto. The city of Kyoto is breathtaking. It looks like a fairy tale, it’s immaculate and people have manners. I felt like it was a world away from the rushed and stressed life I sometimes live here in Seoul (🖤  you Seoul) although it’s only a 2 hour plane ride away. At different …

Guilty Pleasure | southern american in itaewon

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This year I decided to stop using the term guilty pleasure. I figured I’m at an age that I shouldn’t feel guilty if I want to indulge, so I don’t anymore.  But, I won’t hold that against this Southern American style restaurant in Itaewon who took on the name so cleverly and basks in the warm glow of fat, cream and cheese. Guilty Pleasure is a basement level restaurant in one of the back alleys of Itaewon. It’s become a class act staple of good brunch spots and after one visit, I get the hype. It’s cozy and dark and a perfect place to grab a meal with a little mood. Sure the name sounds like a house of ill repute, but you will only find great food here. What I mainly took away from GP (i.e. what I daydreamed about the rest of the day): all the good stuff on the breakfast plate we ordered was homemade. The biscuits-homemade. The compote-homemade. Even the sausage was homemade. It’s a small portion compared to something you would get back …

Winter Vacation!

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year…to travel! Actually, I’m not sure if it’s the most wonderful, but I am having winter dreams about this one…Kyoto. I’ve saved up all my yearly stress for this holiday vacation and now it’s Crystal-time! The history. The architecture. The food. I can’t wait to walk aimlessly around for seven days, landing in coffee shops and stationery stores (oh, the money I will spend).  I will take loads of pictures of all the touristy things and then try to snap every Christmas in Kyoto-y thing I can find. If I see a geisha posing near a Christmas tree I may pass out. To organize my thoughts and enthusiasm, I’ve made my ideas list below. Any suggestions? Things you loved in Kyoto that are worth it, things that are tourist traps? Please let me know! Please visit soon! Likes and follows are loved! Facebook Instagram Bloglovin Tumblr

Korean Spiced Chili | with sweet cornbread

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Spicy chili and the sweetest, cake-like cornbread merged together to make me incredibly happy with this meal. It’s been cold, drizzly, and the sun disappears sometime before I get off work…this is what I needed. This is what you need. This chili’s blend of Korean gochugaru, chipotle peppers in adobo and cumin are a mouth full of spice, love and warmth. Mine is vegan, and, wow, bring on the fake stuff! I loved the vegan meat I got at High Street Market in Itaewon. It had a great consistency and I didn’t miss the beef at all. Top it with your all time favorites: avocado, cilantro, sour cream, Greek yogurt, corn chips, cheese, green onions and all other manner of deliciousness. Keep the cheese out though if you want to keep it vegan. I’d also like to rave about the chips I used. These tortilla chips are also a new favorite! You can find them at IHerb for a bit cheaper than High Street Market; they are made from beans but are won-der-ful! It’s winter. Be …

The Beastro | new american in hongdae

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The Beastro is a well known and well hearted American bistro in Hongdae. It’s basically the Target of Western dining in Korea, everyone can take away something pretty good from it. My foodie pal Phil and I headed over there one gloriously awesome autumn day to have breakfast, cocktails and to overhear conversations in English. After living in Korea for some time, I really have begun to hate listening to stranger’s banter that I actually understand. I think I really always hated it, even back in America. Why is there something so irritating about listening to people talk about things that are not remotely about you. I’m sure I’m not alone here. Being in a restaurant and not understanding anything, living in a beautiful bubble of dumbness, there is something otherworldly about it. It’s one of the reasons I love Korea. Bubbles. My ridiculous sensitivities aside, the meal was very on the mark. I was excited before even going after reading the menu online and seeing a mushroom tart. MUSHROOM. TART. Did they know I was coming? They …

Loaded Breakfast Fries

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An Ode to Fries It’s morning. You’re hungry. The coffee is getting low and it’s not keeping you full. It’s time for some fries. Welcome to loaded breakfast fries, the adventure. This is a kind of choose your own adventure type of meal. You can follow my recipe to a T, or, you can venture out and make it all your own flavor. I’ll give you some additional options at the end so make sure to scroll all the way down. Fries are the perfect morning meal, no matter what you’ve been taught. Don’t worry about eating healthy, these are oven roasted and spicy. It’s pumped full of vegetables and has protein from the eggs. It’s a savory, delicious mess that you will want to eat over and over again. I’ve been having it on the regular. I’ve mixed it up a few ways and haven’t been bored once. You really only need follow the directions for cooking the fries, after that, you’re free! Click to get your free printable recipe! Fries in full glory. What …

Chuncheon | The Home of Dak Galbi

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This has been a mean and petty summer. Nearly every day since  July has been blistering and it’s too hot to enjoy getting out of the apartment and brushing off the cabin fever. My school had it’s annual quick summer vacation and I took the time to go on a foodie adventure to Chuncheon, where one of my favorite Korean dishes, dak galbi, is said to have originated and pretend I was one of the castmates of my favorite Korean show, Tasty Guys. My plan was simple: eat too much and ignore the sweat beaming through my shirt. Tasty Guys is a reality eating show where 4 loveable comedians eat more food than you ever thought was humanly possible. It’s just…wow. They can really pack it in. So I visited a city based on food and I pretended to be a host of a Korean TV show. I think that’s totally acceptable, right? Luckily, there are several wonderful things to do in Chuncheon, which I will post about later, so we didn’t just eat all day. But, the food was …

ANH | A Review

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Anh is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in the very pop/ ulated/ ular Yeonnam-dong. Most sites will warn you to show up as soon as it opens, and I’m going to go ahead and jump on that band wagon. Yeah…it’s cozy. And by cozy I mean it can sit under 20 people at any given time and you may be sitting with strangers. (awwwwkward) Luckily, we showed up right at 5pm when the restaurant opened. There was no line at that time, and since it’s against my self imposed foodie law to stand in line for food in the blazing hot summer sun for some food, I considered myself very lucky. The food is nice and I can see why people like it. Would I wait in line for it? Nah, not really. While the taste was nice, there are good flavors, but it had no real wow. I kept thinking back to a little run down spot my sister had taken me in Memphis, TN that had the most amazing pho.  That comparison didn’t help …

Jaha Son Mandu | Korean Dumplings

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This was one of the greater Korean food experiences I’ve had in Seoul. I love mandu. I love big ones, baby ones, fluffy ones…I love them all. Then I discovered mandu casserole, Mandu Jeongol, and my life will never be the same. It’s unbelievably scrumptious and I don’t use that word often. The pot is heated at your table and it’s packed with spicy broth, veggies and meat.  To balance out the meat in our casserole, we tried two other vegetarian options, the kimchi  mandu and cucumber and mushroom mandu. We washed my new favorite food down with a Korean wine made from black raspberries, Bokbunjajoo. You can buy it pretty much anywhere, but it’s delicious and I love it. It’s thick, sweetness was a perfect sidekick to the most amazing dumplings. Looking for Jaha Son is not for the faint of heart…it’s tucked far back in Baum-dong. If my Korean friend, Phil hadn’t been there, I would have had a hard time finding it. He was able to tell a taxi driver just where to …