In Korea, there are two notions about food: Eumyangohaeng, the yin-yang and the five elements theory, and Yaksikdongwon, which is similar to Hippocrates’ saying, “Let thy food be thy medicine”.
Eumyangohaeng is combination of two words – Eumyang and Ohaeng. Eumyang, or Yin and Yang, means the balance of light and darkness. Ohaeng, on the other hand, means the five elements of fire, water, tree, metal and earth. All this play of balance between nature and food can easily be seen in the different colors of Korean dishes, with the Korean palette of the colors red, yellow, white, black, and green or blue.
Yaksikdongwon, on the other hand, is based on healthy food that is important for disease prevention.
Evolving from its cultural and agricultural histories and its geographical location between China and Japan, Korea’s cuisine is something that the citizens are proud of and is worthy of crossing the international dateline for.
Korean meals always include kimchi, and are “largely based on rice, vegetables, seafood and meat.”
Here are some of these foods in our favorite places to eat in Seoul:
1 - Maple Tree House
Website: http://www.mapletreehouse.co.kr/eng/html/main.asp
Locations: Itaewon, Samchon-dong, Gangnam
📍South Korea, 서울특별시 용산구 이태원1동 이태원로27가길 26
What we love:
Although Maple Tree House is greatly known for their barbecue & good quality meats, they also serve great tasting Korean traditional food in modern decor. We ate here twice and loved it both times! We had their Bibimbap, Bulgogi and Soft Tofu Stew the first time and had the Grilled Hanwoo and Jeju Black Pork the second time.
Grilling Hanwoo beef. What Kobe beef is to Japan, Hanwoo is to Korea. Check this article as to why Hanwoo beef might be the best beef in the world.
Grilling Black Pork from Jeju. Click this link to find out why this is touted as the Kobe beef of pork.
2-Sanchon (must experience)
Website: http://www.sanchon.com/en/index.php
Location: Insadong
📍2-1 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
What we love:
Founded by a former monk who learned how to cook temple foods, this restaurant feels like an oasis in the middle of Insadong.
Apparently, the restaurant’s reputation has dwindled in the past years. It used to be that waiters explained each serving and people would sit on the floors making the whole experience of eating temple food more authentic. Nevertheless, if you haven’t tried anything like this, I would still recommend it for the experience.
3- Yeokjeon Hoegwan
Website: https://www.yukjeon.com/
Location: Mapo
47 Tojeong-ro 37-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
What we love:
Their Crispy Bulgogi is to die for! We literally braved the rains and floods just to eat here for a second time. You can order the crispy Bulgogi a la carte and get the bigger portion or as a set with soup and rice included. Of course, banchan is always included.
If you want to eat it the traditional way, follow the steps below:
- Place a desired amount of bulgogi and raw garlic on top of a sesame leaf
- Wrap the leaf around the bulgogi
- Dip the wrapped meat in the ssamjang (red paste)
- Eat it in one bite and enjoy!
4 - Oh Se Gae Hyung
Website: http://www.go5.co.kr/default/
Location: Insadong 14-5 Insadong 12-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
What we love:
Located in Insadong, the adventure starts in getting lost in the charming alleys to get here. Their food is ah-mazing and you might just turn vegan once you eat there. Oh Se Gae Hyung is a traditional restaurant where you dine while sitting on the floor. I had the bibimbap all three times we ate here!
Myeongdong Kyoja
Website: http://m.mdkj.co.kr/
Location: According to their website , they only have three locations: two (2) in Myeongdong and (1) in Itaewon.29 Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
What we love:
We had the Kalguksu and the steamed mandu for lunch. They were sooo good!
The restaurant has only 4 items on their menu. The Myeongdong branch opens at 10:30am but when we arrived at 10:35, upstairs seating was already almost full and there was a long line that formed after us.
These are our favorite places to eat during our 2 weeks stay in Seoul. We tried a lot of restaurants in various neighborhoods but these stood out the most. We hope that we have stimulated your taste buds enough for you to start planning your visit here. And that’s just the top of a long list of reasons why you should be flying to South Korea.
Sources:
https://www.korea.net/TalkTalkKorea/French/community/community/CMN0000005585
https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=48906
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8321624/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_cuisine
https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/HonoraryReporters/view?articleId=194270