When we’re in Seoul, as we were again for five weeks this spring, our main focus, food-wise, is on eating Korean food. On each of our trips, however, we’ve also eaten dim sum at least once. This because the branches of Tim Ho Wan in Seoul offer dim sum that is far superior to anything available in the Twin Cities—and to add insult to injury, they offer it at a lower price. And so we’ve eaten at Tim Ho Wan on each of our trips to Seoul as a family (see my reports here, here and here). On this trip, however, we ate another meal that was both Chinese and Korean. I’m not referring to Korean Chinese food as it is usually understood (see, for example, this meal from 2024). No, I am referring to the food of ethnic Koreans from northeastern China—from the part just north of North Korea. People from this community have settled in Seoul in recent decades, with a particularly large concentration in the neighbourhood of Daerim. We did a very informative walk through Daerim with the Royal Asiatic Society towards the end of our program learning more about the community. As part of the walk we went through a neighbourhood lined with northern Chinese street food vendor and also formal restaurants. A few days later we went back as a family to try one of those restaurants. We picked one at random, not really knowing what to expect. We ended up eating not just one of our favourite meals of any kind on this trip but one of our favourite meals of the year, whether in the US, South Korea, India or Japan. Here’s a quick look at it. Continue reading →