Train2eat with Danny Chen

Day 4, Sep 16 - Lunch (Bulgogi) My flight was at 4pm. Had to be at the Incheon airport by 2pm latest. My friend, Ryan was kind enough to take half day leave to pick me up and send me to the airport. My morning was spend blogging.  Anyway, we reached the airport before 2pm. Checked in my luggage and went for lunch at a korean restaurant on the 2nd floor of the departure hall. I ordered the bulgogi while Ryan ordered the dry buckwheat noodle. The bulgogi was rather average. Ryan's cold noodle was not bad. Apparently, the restaurant is reputable for good cold noodle.   The flight back felt shorter. Dunno why... I had a great trip. Hope to be back in Seoul soon.

Day 3, Sep 15 - Lunch (Dumplings) We had lunch at around 3:00pm. I think I did well. I admit that I was tipsy but not completely drunk last night or should I say earlier this morning. Anyway, I had a fantastic time. I remember we had breakfast... some pork stew with rice and the whole works. Extremely heavy for breakfast but I suppose you need to rejuvenate and replenish your energy after the marathon night out. I vaguely remember eating, hence probably why I didn't take any photos. What I remembered clearly was I had a major cramp on my legs while sitting cross-legged for breakfast. Most korean restaurants are like that i.e. tatami mats and low tables. Some newer ones will have the a recess for leg room but so far, half the restaurants we went to we had to sit on the tatami floor. It took me two rounds around the block to get rid of the cramps.  Lunch was at Insadong. It was extremely busy. Public holiday coupled with regular tourist crowd. It was very nice day. Good weather.

Day 2 Sep 14 - Lunch (Beef hotplate, beef soup and mortar rice) Of course, we didn't wake up till past noon after such a fulfilling night out. Anyway, by the time we were all ready it was lunch time. Time for something nutritious and soupy... "Modeum  suyuk chongol" - mixed meat hotplate; Besides slices of lean beef meat, it comes with some ribs, tendon, tongue boiled with mushrooms, green pepper, some vegetable that looks like spinach in some delicious beef broth. This was accompanied by beef soup with rice cooked in a mortar  "tolsot seolleongtang". The rice is really cooked on the mortar... so, you have to scrap the rice from the mortar and add into the soup, which already comes with meat, vermicelli, peanuts... add a bit of salt and pepper and you are all set. The most interesting part was... after scraping off the rice, quickly pour some cold water into the mortar... what's left of the rice or crust will be "dessert"... unfortunately, I wa

This is my second time in Seoul and this trip was a very different one compared to the previous. No shopping, no sightseeing... just a whole lot of eating and drinking. Thanks to my Korean friends, I now can appreciate what is good Korean food and more interestingly, I can now claim that I understand their drinking culture better. I had discovered that there are only 3 reasons to stop drinking... #1 - it is morning already,  #2 - you are completed wasted and can't even open yours eyes (while the rest of your friends dual on while you huddle in the corner asleep) and #3 - if you or one of your friend gets into a fight... we did a #3 on the first night and a #1 on the second... ^^ As for the food... let me start with Day 0, Sep 12 onboard flight KE642 (Korean Air) from Singapore to Seoul "Bibimbap"... you are probably very familiar with bibimbap. You find it on the menu in all korean restaurants and even in the food courts. As for the airlines version, the rice comes in