I inch closer and closer to being done with my Seoul restaurant reports from our five week stay there this past spring. There are still a bunch to come after this one but I think I should be able to get them all out by the end of October. It is nice to relive these meals, in a manner of speaking, months later in the process of writing them up. In the case of the meal I am reporting on today, it is one we had tried and failed to eat on three separate occasions, first during our sojourn in Seoul in early 2024 and again earlier on this trip. This was a particularly annoying/amusing situation as of all the Seoul restaurants I’ve yet reported on, it’s the one that’s closest to the place we put up at on these longer trips. It’s literally located at the head of the alley right behind the building. And yet, we’d been rebuffed on every prior attempt to eat there. This is partly because it’s a popular spot for young people and office workers to stop in at on the way home from work; and because on the third occasion we tried eating there right after the lantern festival at the Jogyessa Temple down the street and there were roughly 5000 people waiting (on that occasion we ended up at Chicken House and had a very nice dinner). So, we were very glad that we finally made it in one night not too long before the end of this trip. I am pleased to report that after all the anticipation it wasn’t a letdown. Continue reading →

Given how identified Korean fried chicken (KFC) is these days with Korean food, it might surprise you to learn that its popularity, particularly in combination with chilled beer (chimaek, as the combo is known), is a relatively new thing—probably arising in the late-70s at the earliest and not really becoming hugely popular—as a combination—until a couple of decades later. That said, it is very much an iconic thing now and the country is dotted both with outlets of many, many popular chains (all seemingly excellent) as well as many stand-alone restaurants that serve up chilled beer, fried chicken, and other things to eat with chilled beer. Walking around the city, especially later in the evening, you can see a number of these smaller establishments with younger people eating and drinking outdoors. We passed one such place, Chicken House, a number of times while walking late in the evening near Anguk subway station and finally repaired there for dinner one weekend after taking in the lantern festival near the Jogyessa Temple. Here’s a quick look. Continue reading →