City Guide Restaurant Review: Song Jeong Tteokgalbi (송정 떡갈비)
Tteokgalbi is the forgotten sibling of other, more popular forms of Korean BBQ such as galbi (short ribs) or samgyupsal (pork belly). Originating from the city of Gwangju, widely considered to be one of the food havens of Korea, tteokgalbi usually features a combination of beef and pork, shaped into rectangular loaves and grilled over high heat. Think meat loaf, but far more delicious.
City Guide Restaurant Review: Goong Joong Samgyetang / 궁중 삼계탕 (Daejeon)
Samgyetang is a Korean soup dish that consists of a whole, young chicken stuffed with rice and broth flavored with ginseng, garlic, ginger and jujube fruit. Korean people often attribute curative and regenerative properties to a hearty bowl of samgyetang, preferring to eat it on the hottest days of summer. I, however, crave chicken soup when the weather becomes cold, and a good serving of samgyetang is the perfect fix for the winter blues.
City Guide Restaurant Review: Nam-Chuncheon Dakgalbi (Chuncheon)
Dakgalbi is one of my favorite Korean dishes and a recurrent craving. Spicy cuts of boneless chicken, rice cake, cabbage, sweet potato and onion are stir-fried on a giant stone hotplate. Like other Korean BBQ dishes, the meat is then wrapped in ssam (쌈), such as lettuce leaves or sesame seed leaves. Though dakgalbi restaurants can be found all over the country, the mecca of the spicy chicken dish is Chuncheon, the capital of Gangwon Province.