What to eat in......Seoul - Incheon

Bibimbap Galbi Tang

The fun about going to new countries is trying the local food. Especially when you can't really speak the language, every meal is an adventure!

Hubby and I just came back from Seoul, Korea. And we had a whale of a time exploring and enjoying authentic Korean food!

The first night, when we touched down at Incheon airport, we were brought to Royal Hotel Incheon for a night's stay. Having gone without dinner in the flight, we decided to have our first Korean meal at about 11pm.

Just beside the hotel was a small cosy Korean BBQ restaurant, which to our surprise was open 24 hours! As if Koreans eat BBQ up until the wee hours of the morning!

So for our first meal in Korea, Hubby had a bibimbap (6,500 Won) and i had a Galbi Tang (Beef Rib Soup) (7,000 Won). As usual, a variety of side dishes were presented to us together with a jug of ice cold water. The best part about eating in Korea is that every restaurant serves as a matter of fact, cold plain water to every guest. No obligation to order any drinks. There was the requisite cabbage kimchi, white radish kimchi, spinach with fermented soy bean paste and jellyfish marinaded in chilli sauce. The bibimbap also came with a soy bean paste based soup which was quite robust. My hubby didn't like the hot, sour and salty taste of the soup, but i found it quite tasty. The bibimbap was served with beef and vegetables with a soy bean paste. Tastes just like every other bibimbap i've tasted.

The Galbi Tang was a clear broth with beef ribs in it. Deliciously delicate taste of the clear broth and the joy of chewing the beef after dipping it in a special sauce made the dish a satisfying and filling meal. The rice was fragrant and fluffy and went well with the Galbi Tang.

Although none of the waitresses in the restaurant could speak English, we were fortunate as they had English translation for the menu and we managed by pointing to the items we want and hand signals. The waitresses were friendly, helpful and wielded scissors to cut up my beef ribs with smooth efficiency. The waitresses taught me how to dip my beef ribs in the special sauce.

All in all for our first meal in Korea.... it was a gourmet experience that we hoped it would be!