Grilled Eel in Seoul

I never knew that eating eel would cause such a big fuss in this country, until I was introduced to jellied eels. For those who do not live in the UK, this dish consists of chunks of eel boiled in a stock, which is then left to cool and jellify. In my world that translates to EWWW. No wonder eel has such a bad reputation here.

Steaming is the most common way of eating eel in the Tang household. My dad would cut the eel into chunks, marinate it in a garlic and black bean sauce, steam the dish at a high heat, and then finish with a splash of hot oil – a truly delicious dish that I demand to eat every time I go back to Hong Kong. The downside of eating eel this way is the bones, I know that many people avoid eating eel because they are so put off by this. The Japanese people are a bit smarter, they eat them filleted instead. Check out how they do it here.

On our final day in Seoul, we went to an eel restaurant in the Jongno area for lunch. There were several tanks full of different types of live eel outside the restaurant - a promising start. We ordered three eel between five people. Similar to the Japanese method of preparation, they were pinned onto a board, filleted and then grilled on a bed of charcoal. The soy sauce glaze caramelised the skin under the heat to form a golden crispy crust, around the firm and meaty white flesh. The freshness was phenomenal.

As with most of the barbecue/grill restaurants in Seoul, the meal came with a few vegetable sides to eat with the meat. This time we also had some deep fried eel bones. They were wonderfully crunchy!

Eel restaurant

If you are interested in cooking eel at home, you can get them from Billingsgate market or Chinese fishmongers. I have seen them in SeeWoo in North Greenwich. The eel I mentioned above is freshwater eel, please do not confuse it with conger eel which is much bigger.

This is the last of my Seoul posts for now! You can find all the Seoul posts here.

Seoul Cafés

I like the taste of coffee, but I cannot really drink much due my hyperactive nature. It would only take one shot to send me to restless-land. Despite that, I love going to cafés, particularly the Asian ones. They sell cakes made from light fluffy sponge, layered with fruit or tea flavoured cream. I like to eat them with a cup of rich green tea latte.

We went to a few cafés during our trip in Seoul, here are the two that I really liked, located in my favourite areas Samchungdong and Sinsadong.

Samchungdong is an ‘old’ part of Seoul to the east of the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Here you will find a group of traditional houses on a hill overlooking the rest of Seoul, known as the Bukchon Hanok Village. Most of them now serve as guest houses or cultural centers. There are also plenty of little alleyways you can explore in Samchungdong, featuring art galleries, cafés and small shops.

Retrona Pie is a three story café specialising in sweet American style pies. My guide book said the chef was trained in Japan before starting his own business here, no wonder why the pastries looked so immaculately pretty. We ordered a slice of raspberry and green tea pie, and a slice of earl grey and chocolate pie. The cream was light yet full of flavour, just what we needed for a mid afternoon break.

Retrona Pie

Unlike in London, the posh part of Seoul is South of the Han River. Sinsadong is modern and full of trendy and relatively high end shops, and it is also the capital of plastic surgery. It was not hard to notice the advertisements at the station showing the “before” and “after” images. Apart from that, Sinsadong is lovely to walk around with no shortage of good restaurants and bars.

We popped into Deux Amis for dessert after binging on some KFC nearby. It was still very busy even though it was past ten o’clock, I wish London had somewhere like this. We shared a slice of salted caramel and chocolate cake, how cute is the little macaroon on top? My husband was very happy with his pink lychee juice and raspberry sorbet in a sundae glass.

Deux Amis

Ginseng Chicken Soup, Seoul

I had been to Seoul once when I was little. Back in those days my parents were not very adventurous travellers (not with two kids anyway!), so we just joined a tour group - one of those tours ran specifically for Hong Kong tourists, which only took us to Chinese restaurants for most of the meals during the trip. But on one very cold day, when we had just got off the coach after a long drive from the mountains, feeling tired and hungry, we were treated to a local speciality. My parents told me I could have one whole chicken to myself, and wow, I was over the moon. It was served in a black casserole filled with a cloudy chicken stock. I remember scooping out the glutinous rice from inside the chicken cavity, and my glasses steamed up with the fragrance of ginseng. This is one of my earliest food memories.

Tosokchon is a very popular Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) restaurant in Seoul. It is often swamped by Chinese and Japanese tour groups, therefore most of the staff are fluent in both languages. The classic ginseng chicken soup came with a shot of ginseng liquor, some people drink it before the meal but I like to pour it into the stock. The young chicken was stuffed with glutinous rice, chestnuts, ginseng and dates, and then poached in a herbal stock. The sweetness from the flesh was a perfect match for the gentle bitterness from the ginseng.

From a Chinese medicinal point of view, eating ginseng is said to enhance the inner strength of the human body, so we do not become ill easily. I did feel my body temperature boost for a good while afterwards. It is quite hard to bring myself to believe that this is actually a summer dish!

Tosokchon 토속촌삼계탕

After the meal we stumbled into a nearby local market. We saw a herbal shop, countless bowls of pickled vegetables and some spicy fish.

Just a normal day for these ladies, sorting through a huge basket of chillies.

Tongin Market 통인시장

A short 15 minute walk away from Tosokchon, you can find one of the must-visit palaces in Seoul - The Gyeongbokgung palace. Apart from its history and architectural background, the guard changing ceremony was also a highlight of the visit. Check out the stick-on beards!

The beautiful floating Gyeonghoeru pavilion is located at the west side of the palace, where the king used to hold feasts for important guests and officials.

The Gyeongbokgung Palace 경복궁

Hanu Beef, Seoul

It all started with a photo-envy. I came across this (via @TomEats) when I was looking for restaurant ideas in Seoul. Pure beef porn. I too wanted to have a photo of beautifully marbled hanu beef on my blog. And here it is.

South Korean people take great pride in their beef. Hanu beef is considered a luxury because its price is a lot higher than imported meat, therefore it is generally only eaten on special occasions.

Despite the high price of the meat, the restaurant we visited was relatively basic - it had no menu, and we had to sit on tatami (Japanese style floor with mats). Our host ordered the food by showing a photo of hanu beef on her phone. The waiter smiled, and then the food was on our table within five minutes. You know those places you see in Chinese movies, where the kitchen porter is actually a retired kung fu master? Yes I felt like I was in one of those.

The beef came with kimchi, pickled onions, seaweed, a small spring onion salad and raw garlic. We greased the hot plate by rubbing a piece of beef fat all over it, followed by some garlic. The smell was amazing. We then lightly seared the beef for around thirty seconds each side. The beef did not melt-in-the-mouth as much as the wagyu I tried in Japan, but it was tender with a slight chewiness, a texture I had not come across before.

We also had Gyeran jjim (steamed egg in casserole) – a mild and comforting dish that made all the gluttonous beefy action feel right.

The location of the restaurant is a secret. I also have no idea how much the meal was as we did not pay for it. Sorry!

We were determined to have another hanu beef meal before we left Seoul, but since we did not know where to go we just picked one that was recommended in my guidebook. I was a bit sceptical about this restaurant because 1) it was in Myeong-dong and 2) it had an English menu. But it was all fine when the food arrived. We ordered some beef and pork, all farmed in South Korea according to our waitress. The colour of the beef was not as dark as the one we had previously, maybe not as aged? But the marbling was again insanely good.

Similar to the baby octopus restaurant we visited earlier in our trip, the meat was cooked on a rack placed directly over charcoal. It did not take long for the beef to become charred around the edges. Am I the only one to get overly excited about the sound of oil dripping onto the smoking hot charcoal? *tizzzzz*

During this trip, I discovered my favourite way of eating barbecued meat – wrapped in a shiso leave with miso.

화로이야기

If there is one kind of beef you cannot buy in London, it has to be hanu beef. Definitely worth including one of the hanu restaurants in your eat-list if you are planning to visit South Korea.

FeedTheTang In Twenty Twelve

A slightly late round up of 2012. My personal highlight of 2012 was definitely the launch of my supper club - FedByTang. I had lots of questions when I started seven months ago. I was worried that the location would be a problem, what if no one wanted to come? More importantly, what if no one liked my food? Hmm... Did I say I am a worrier? Well there was only one way to find out, so I just went for it. It was a pretty nerve racking moment when I read the first review, so it was such a relief to find that it was positive! I have also met many lovely people via my supper club, and it has given me the opportunity to do things I never would have done otherwise. I am not going to bore you with details, but I will mention a couple below.

Back in February, I took a one day course making petit fours at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. It was quite an intensive course as we had to make macaroons, chocolate mousse, pistachio and almond financiers, chocolate and raspberry cakes, and creme brulee all in one day (from 8:30am to around 4pm). The chef was very knowledgeable and we were encouraged to do everything ourselves. I was quite pleased with my raspberry macaroons, although I have only successfully made them once since...

Le Cordon Bleu Paris
One day petite fours course 160 euros (2012)

We took an extra couple of days to stay behind. One of the most memorable meals I had this year was at a tiny bistro called Le Timbre. I rarely go for the same kind of meat twice but I could not resist the sound of crispy pig’s feet with red cabbage and black pig with winter vegetables. The meal costed around 25 euros each for three courses, which was very reasonable for Paris. Booking is a must.

Le Timbre

In April I took a food photography course ran by the well regarded food photographer Paul Winch-Furness. We shot around the Maltby Street Market and then had lunch at Bea’s Diner. Here are a couple of my favourite shots:

More photos here, Paul’s PhotoPopup course

We spent 4 days in Lisbon for a friend’s wedding at the end of April. I loved the trams, the hills and of course the Pasteis de Nata (Portugese custard tarts).

At the beginning of the summer I went to the Bea’s crawfish boil at Maltby Street Market. We swallowed 10 trays of crawfish, potatoes, sausages and sweet corn (+ lots of margaritas) that night. I hope they will do it again next summer as it was so much fun.

More photos here, Bea’s diner

Just before the Olympics kicked off, we went to Barcelona to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. I remember sitting in the hotel room trying very hard to understand the inside jokes of the opening ceremony. Then suddenly the Queen jumped out of the helicopter, and nothing seemed to matter anymore.

In August I was invited to be one of the guest chefs at the Global Feast - a 20 night dinner party held at the Stratford Old Town Hall, featuring dishes from all over the world. For the Chinese night, I made soy sauce infused soft boiled eggs, crispy roast pork and a tofu and shallot canapes. Main was Sichuan peppercorn duck breast with stir fried Chinese broccoli and black fungus. It was not easy to cook for so many people but the hard work had paid off as I got a mention in Hot-Dinners!

My little brother left London for good early in September, to return to Hong Kong. We used to go to our favourite lunch spot, City Caphe, once a week. Sometimes we would eat in, sometimes we would just chat while waiting in the queue. Oh how I have missed those days.

But not long after he moved back I went back to Hong Kong myself for a three week holiday. We also went on a short family trip to Seoul during my visit. Seoul is not really an established food destination compared to other Asian cities such as Tokyo, Taipei or Hong Kong, but it’s an interesting city to visit nonetheless thanks to the abundance of K-pop, kimchi, soju and cosmetics shops.

One of the happiest moments came later in the year. I paired up with the Plusixfive supper club to hold a Singaporean/Hong Kong night at the School of Wok in Covent Garden. We had fun cooking, singing, and dancing in the kitchen. Our guests were well fed and we both felt that we had achieved something incredible that evening. One of my favourite reviews of the event is written by @Ailbhetweets. Loved the illustration of my steamed sea bass dish.

A few memorable meals I had in London this year, thanks to:
The Corner Room (remains my all time favourite)
Upstairs At Ten Bells
Dabbous
Sushi Tetsu
Kitchen Table At Bubbledogs
Ben Spalding At John Salt

Pretty good year huh? May there be more happy food adventures in 2013! Happy new year!