[Restaurant recommended by Korean in Seoul] Sweet and spicy Myeongdong Bongchu JJIMDAK!

JJIMDAK: Steamed chicken cooked with veggies and spicy soy sauce

Although there are various foods in Myeongdong, it is not easy to come up with Myeongdong’s best restaurants. Well, Mydongdong Kalguksu (or Myeongdong Kyoja) can be the most famous one in Myeongdong. The problem is that menus and tastes of many restaurants in Myeongdong are not that special. However, many franchises in Myeongdong would give you various menu choices.

Ana and Debby, my best Hong Kong friends whom I met in Germany during the exchange program, visited Korea for Christmas. I naturally guide my international friends whenever they visit Korea.    

Reputations on restaurants in a travel book are not that countable because not many Koreans actually eat there. Is that the power of marketing? Anyways I do not want to take my friends such places, so I take them to famous restaurants among foreigners as well as Koreans.

This time, I went to Bongchu Jjim DAk.

With the very clean, Korean style interior, it has enough seats on the first and second floor, so you don’t have to wait long. Moreover, foreigners enjoy its taste as it has a chain store in Japan and has been certified as an excellent franchise.

There are other Jjim Dak franchises in Korea but I love Bongchu’s most. Not very sweet, affordably spicy and above all, I love wide glass noodles (called Dang Myeon) in the Jjim Dak sauce..! OMG. No worries, it is not so spicy that foreigners can enjoy it. If your friend cannot eat even a little hot foods at all, ask a clerk to make the food not spicy beforehand.
My friends love Korea’s spicy foods so we ordered medium Jjim Dak.

A simple menu! You just need to choose between boneless and regular and the size of your dish.
This menu is best for such a people like me who cannot choose easily. Foreigners can also select a menu easily. The menu is written in Korean, though…^_^;;

Side dishes are Dong Chi Mi, neutralizing its hot taste, and Kimchi, a must-eat side dish when having greasy foods. Side dishes are free and can be refilled unlimitedly. This is “Jeong”, meaning “affection” in Korean, toward customers.

My eyes opened widely because of glossy, plentiful Jjim Dak and my mouth watered when seeing wide glass noodles.

That wide and flat noodle is a kind of glass noodles. It is different from thin glass noodles put in Jabchae (Pan-fried glass noodles with veggies and meats).

After having everything from soft chicken legs to the brittle chicken breast, a bowl of steamed rice mixed with Jjimdak sauce is the best finale!

Some branches give Nureungji (overcooked rice) as a side dish but in this Myeongdong branch only regular steamed rice is served. But, if you order half dish for lunch, you will get 2 servings of steamed rice for free and for one full dish, you’ll get free 3 servings of steamed rice. I can’t remember the dinner service. Mix rice with sweet and spicy sauce!

When we came back to the earth, the plate was completely empty. We were very satisfied with Bongchu Jjim dak. Agreeing that we were so full that we need to take a walk, we left the restaurant.

Parking at Bongchu at Myeongdong is not possible. There is Olive Young and Tout les Jours out of exit 8 of Myeongdong station. Walk down the street around 200M between them and then you can see the restaurant on the left side. On the way to the restaurant, there is a Forever 21. Walk down straightly while passing by Forever 21!

This is a full, satisfying meal only available in Korea! Don’t lose the chance to have sweet and spicy Bongchu Jjimdak! Have a good trip!

Merry’s Lunch Roulette – Yoogane Dakgalbi(유가네 닭갈비)

Hello, visitors! This is Merry.
It is always hard to choose what to eat for lunch.
Since I am working in Myeongdong where tons of good restaurant is located, me and my coworker “C” decided to go to one of the famous restaurant in here. There were so many options, Chungmu kimbap(Kimbap without any topping and two spicy side dishes), Ddeokbokgi(spicy rice cake), old-fashioned lunchbox……
But we decided to go……
“YOOGANE DAKGALBI”, the spicy grilled chicken. YUM!
It has chicken, vegetable, rice cake… (We thought it would be healthy… cause of vegi……)

Before we arrived at here, we heard many comments from Koreans that Yoogane is commercialized having many chain stores and becomes a tourist place. So we worried that what if it is not authentic, but we were so hungry and want to have meat and something spicy.
ANYWAY, we ordered two Yoogane Dakgalbi. I think the price is not that expensive…??? 8,500 won for one. It includes fried rice after you finish chicken and vegetable.
Ok. Take a seat. So before you start eating the main dish, you need to go to so-call “SELF-BAR” where you can get raw cabbage salad, pickled radish, spicy and cold vegetable soup. (I forgot to take picture of self-bar and radish. Sorry Radish…… :( )

Then a guy will come to you with GIANT ring and Dakgalbi, and he will cook the chicken for you.

We first thought that meat and vegi are not enough for two.
But…

The server will get you an apron in case that sauce splashes all over your new pretty blouse. Well… it may look a little silly though, I highly recommend you wear this if you wear bright color clothes.

So let’s start with these fresh vegetable and marinated chicken.

Wait! Don’t go crazy. Just wait for the server to finish cooking your dish like what “C” doing below.

(After a few minutes…)

I think it’s done! When it’s done, the server will take the big ring out around the grill. Nom.nom.nom.

Now you can go crazy. YAY!!!

LET’S EAT! You can eat meat and saucy vegetable together. Or…

If your spicy tolerance is only 1 or 2 out of 10, try a piece of chicken with raw cabbage you brought from self-bar.

Look at C. She’s fully enjoying her meal. Heehee

After you “almost” finish Dakgalbi (REMEMBER, “ALMOST”), you may want to push the button on your table to ask the server for fried rice on the grill.
Then… VOILA! There is fried rice with left over sauce. It is savory, and you can feel the crispy bottom of the rice.

Look at what we’ve done. It will be your picture.

We were so stuffed unlike first we thought the food is not enough.
It is satisfying meal to walk around Myeongdong until dinner. Also, we were worried that the place might be lame for us, Korean. But it was quite authentic and fun on the grill.
For those of you who want to know more about menu. I am posting the picture of menu. You need to click and magnify them.

There are 1st and 2nd, two Yoogane in Myeongdong. We went 2nd store. Here is a map to get there.
<1st Store>

<2nd Store>

For your more information about experience and real travel in Korea, please follow us on this blog, Twitter and Facebook. If you have any question, please leave comments below or ask on Twitter and Facebook. We’ll answer in real time as fast as possible. Hope you have a super fun and delicious lunch. Enjoy your trip!
See you soon. Bye bye.
Merry♥

Growling boys, EXO!

Hello guys!

Yesterday was Christmas! How did you spend Christmas?
I had a big meal with my family.
Please leave a comment below how was your Christmas in Korea or somewhere in the world. Let’s share Christmas spirit.

Today, I went SMTOWN POP UP Store in Lotte Young Plaza in Myeong-dong, and I would like to talk about this cool store for EXO’s fans.

Yes, yes. The EXO…

Before we go on the expedition to the pop up store, I want to introduce a restaurant when you need soothing and warm delicious food. It’s called Bon Juk(본 죽).
I have sore throat and a slight cold… :( I have lost my appetite so I decided to go to Bon Juk.
Bon Juk’s menus are basically Korean style rice porridge. There are also many other types of porridges. So go and try some!
When I got there it was really busy and a little crowded. There are many tourists but the food was authentic. I guess only a few people know this place.

I had Jeon-Bok Juk (Abalone Porridge) which is my favorite. It was good choice without doubt.

When you take exit 6 of Myeong-dong station, there is Uniqlo. Bon Juk is located behind Uniqlo building and it’s on the 2nd floor.
I put pictures of menu. They also provide take-out service.
 
Ok. Let’s talk about the EXO pop-up store.
Now there are two pop up stores in Lotte Young Plaza, on the first floor and first basement level. I went through underground shopping center. When you go down from the gate to the underground level in front of the Lotte Young Plaza, you will find a small piano stairway. Take the steps, and then you will never miss the SMTOWN world. That is one in the first basement level.
Honestly, I am not that huge fan of EXO, but while I was seeing these growling cute boys, I couldn’t help myself. Well… >_<
OK, let’s take a look what’s in the store.
There are lots of people. Mostly, they are young Korean girls, and it seemed they were buying new school supplies since their winter semester was just ended. There are many goods of EXO, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls Generation, SHINEE, f(x), and Infinite.
 
Across the SMTOWN pop up store, there is a little section for YG Entertainment that is one of major entertainment management agencies in Korea. It has goods of Bigbang and Psy like clothes, towels, toys, accessories etc.

Let’s go back to the SMTOWN store. There are goods of all SMTOWN families.
Clothes… (TVXQ t-shirts, hoodies, pants…)
 
Posters… sold by a member of a group.

Notebooks, necklaces, tumblers, and mug cups of TVXQ, Girls Generation, and Super junior.
   
Stamps, stickers and temporary tattoo stickers of SHINEE
   
It was…… really loooooooong line for checkout.

OK, let’s take a look at the EXO’s shop.
There is a cape with a wolf hood. I have watched “EXO’s Showtime,” which is EXO’s first reality show, and I saw the boys love not only snap back or baseball cap but also animal character hat. I thought it was cute♥

It was interesting that they have kind of old-fashioned style goods like photos of EXO members. Before I went to the shop, I expected there would be more electronic accessories like phone cases or more clothes. However, there are still more goods like photos, pencils, notebooks, buttons which are type of goods I always wanted to have when I was young back in mid and late 1990s. It was actual developed film not paper photos.
 
EXO’s little Christmas edition. (Christmas card and wall decor stickers)
 
Also, they have rings, necklaces, emblems… like little accessories.

 
There are more things you may want to have. So, visit Myeong-dong and enjoy this cute and growling pop up store!
When you go upstairs, there is another pop up store. They basically have almost same goods with the basement one. But there are more clothes, scarves, hats, eye patch and hologram card cases.
   

As I expected, long line and crowd.
 
I think this is it for today.
If you are a big fan of EXO or other SMTOWN boy or girl groups, this is the place you MUST go. It would be awesome if you go to EXO’s concert wearing the wolf hood.
Stay healthy, travelers. Don’t catch a cold!
If you have any question about EXO/SMTOWN pop up store, please leave a comment below. I would love to answer and talk with you guys. Thank you!
Merry♥