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