Food and delicacies.

I always have the habit to back log entries. And sometimes, WAYYY BACK. Shan't let that happen too often. Besides I was just about to write more about Korea, but didn't really know how to do so, because there are SO MANY THINGS. If I categorize into days, it'll be 7 entries.

And so I figured I'll break them down into 3 post. One already up, more like a summary of miscellaneous stuff. And this one, is gonna be about food.

Before I touch on food, let me tell you what inspired me to blog about food. Haha. This is so unexpected. Karmen's Kallesta. No seriously. I saw her shout-out on how Kallesta (which is a Tarantula by the way) is balding. And I went BINGO!!! FOOD.

How is that gonna link together? I'll tell you later.

So, one thing about visiting a foreign country, is to always try out their local delicacies.

Everyone knows this thing about Koreans. It starts with a "K". Yup yup. K..k.kkk....kkk... *come on getting close*... k....KIMCHI!!!!!

I'm not a very big fan of this spicy, cold, sour, salty mixture of a dish. In fact, I kind of think it slants more towards the disgusting side. And much to my annoyance, this cheeky little dish appears at EVERY OF MY MEALS. *pinches nose* Eww.

But Koreans love it. My tour guide seem to ask for refills 3 to 4 times throughout every meal, as though Kimchi is some kinda Malaysian Sambal Belacan. I bet poor Mr. Kimchi always feels inferior at my table because it always goes untouch by the end of every meal.

When you say "Korean Food", images of tatami tables with no chairs, a big pot for frying food in the middle of it, and a huge tube like structure hovering above it appears in your brains doesn't it? Yeapz, that's Korean BBQ for you. Which by the end of my trip, became pretty much something I was sick of consuming.

In my opinion, Korean BBQ is the yummiest meal. But it does comes in a lot of styles.

Seafood BBQ steamboat

Dumpling BBQ steamboat

Vegetable BBQ steamboat

Traditional Pork BBQ (which is the yummiest)

Actually I have no idea why they call everything BBQ (huo guo) because some of them are steamboat!!

And just like Japan, Seaweed is something you cannot avoid in Korea. Just like Kimchi. But thank god seaweed taste good. =)

The more interesting products would be the cactus range found in Jeju Island. Yes yes you heard me. CACTUS. The plant that has a fat body a lots of needles.

They have cactus chocolates, cactus sweets, cactus mask, cactus everything under the sun.

Cactus Chocolate

And of course, Korean mince meat noodles. Another yummy indulgence. And seriously a sinful one, if you know how much OIL OIL OIL they use.



Lastly, the most interesting meal of the day. Of the YEAR actually, because it is so, interesting. *this is where Kallesta comes in* Our kind tour guide told us that Korean love to indulge in raw food. and for us to enjoy to enjoy the same meal will cost us RM114. So being in a foreign land and all, nothing is holding me back. I mean sashimi, ebiko, all raw also what. No kick la.

I chipped in the RM114 (more like my dad did), and sat down in front of a whole array of any kind of seafood you can think of. Raw.

Now the Kallesta link. You know like how in Thailand people eat cooked insects, like fried ants, boiled crickets, maybe even Braised Tarantullas. (okay I'm pretty sure Tarantula's are too rare and expensive to be eaten), Korean and Japanese eat SEAFOOD RAW. Every kind of seafood. ANY thing out of the sea. R..A..W..!!

To think everything have to be eaten raw. Well, it was fortunate enough that that particular restaurant dealt with a lot of tourist, so they provided a steamboat BBQ pot for us, IN CASE. and trust me, the pot is VERY CONVENIENT.

The raw fish was delicious, raw squid taste like jelly, and raw shell fish is just plain disgusting (I nearly puked). Half way through my meal, the raw abalone MOVED. It was happily sliming in and out of its shell, unaware that its about to be in someone's intestines soon. I was grossed out to my max. Luckily the restaurant owner saw my freaked out face, and chopped poor abaloney into pieces and it stopped moving. And its quite yummy eaten raw.

The most horrfying dish was the octopus tentacles. Its kept MOVING!!! So I wanted to out beat it, I took one moving tentacle and chopped it up. *evil grin* Now you wont move at all. nguahahaha. BUT IT CONTINUE MOVING. even after being chopped. Gross.



Watch it watch it. Moving moving moving. And my tour guide happily SLURPPED it down claiming its the most delicious thing she ever tasted. EEEEKKKKKKKSSSSSS.

=) thats Korean food for you. I hope your appetite is still there.