A Warrior Wife: Korean BBQ in Seoul

Korean BBQ in Seoul

Weekend before last, hubby and I headed up to Seoul on Sunday to visit a friend. He is in South Korea for the scheduled military exercises and only had Sunday off for us to visit.

We took the 20 bus to AK Plaza in Pyeongtaek. It costs 1200 won per adult. I believe childrean are 750 won (which is roughly $0.75).

Then we purchased tickets for a train to Seoul. The train ride is only about 50 minutes long!
The other option is the metro - it stops at a lot of small stations and takes longer. Sometimes you have to get on different metro lines, depending on where you are going.

So, just a side note, if you get a ticket on a train, it doesn't mean you get a seat. There are two types of tickets: sitting and standing. There is a slight price difference.
Most people on trains are pretty quiet. Seems like many take advantage of a chance for a nap.

Hubby sat since he is recovering from plantar fasciitis :)
But for the last part of the trip, I got a seat.
When people get off at their stop, their seat is up for grabs!

We arrived at Seoul Station!

Then we took a taxi and since the driver didn't speak any English, that was an adventure! He didn't understand "Yongsan" or "Army base" so finally we tried "Itaewon." He got that one and on the way we were able to point out where we wanted to go. We had to walk the final half mile, but we got there!

We met up at the Dragon Hill Lodge and headed out to Itaewon for lunch.

Yes, I know we just came from that direction, but our friend did not have communications, so we had to find him at a pre-determined location ;)

Well the day was overcast, but we still got a great view of Seoul Tower in the distance!

Itaewon was full of people. Here in the square there were lots of young teens skateboarding.

Cars in Korea are generally smaller, or at least more narrow, than cars in the states - the roads are more narrow and parking is always an issue ;)

This is the smallest car I have seen yet. I'm not sure if it is must for advertisement or if they actually use it!

After a super steep climb, following signs for Namsan Park (I think...we never actually made it...) and found this amazing overlook at the Grand Hyatt Hotel parking lot.

And it is amazing to think that only a fraction of Seoul can actually be seen from this picture!

We passed by many interesting looking boutiques, including this one with a vintage bicycle on their sign...but notice the tiny wheel in the back! Seems like it'd be easy to get a flat tire with that one...maybe that's why they don't make that kind any more...

We finally turned around. We were only halfway there and really not sure what would be at the end of our climb, so we enjoyed getting our cityscape pictures and headed back toward Yongsan. We weren't sure when the bus would be returning to Camp Humphreys.

Better safe than sorry ~

We passed several embassies on our way back down - each waving their own flag!

It's amazing to think about all the international connections essential in a city of this size.

We weren't sure whether this was a vet, a kennel, a pet boutique or a restaurant (just kidding!), but this plastic pouch definitely caught my attention!

Then, we saw plenty of beautiful architecture!!

This was a beautiful restaurant we passed.

Then we came across this Turkish entertainer.

He was serving a sticky, taffy-like ice cream in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.

The interesting part is the show he performs before he gives you the ice cream...amusing to watch when performed on children...annoying when you just want to take your ice cream and walk away ;)

Here below, you see as the ice cream server suspends an ice cream cone, attached to a metal stirring rod with the taffy-like ice cream, as he twists and turns the rod to keep the ice cream out of the child's reach.

This area was predominantly Turkish, including a grocery store!

We found a little Korean BBQ place to have lunch at!

This little restaurant was not busy, but a decent-size Korean group was partaking, so we figured it was safe ;)

It looks a little weird from the outside! We think the plastic siding is raised to get a breeze through in the summer...

I think they just use the plastic portion to commandeer some of the sidewalk for extra seating ;)

Funny story, hubby and I actually found this place (came recommended) a while back, but no one was inside...including staff...and we had no idea at the time what those large metal tubes were for.

We hadn't had Korean BBQ before.

Now we knew better!!

Korean BBQ places are characterized by tables with a hole in the middle for the fire and a vent pipe above. As you can see above, there are little basins in the middle of each table.

And below, a fire is places in the basin and a grate is placed on top.

Our friend really struggled with the chopsticks, but he persevered!

Our waitress/server (not sure what term they use here) was kind enough to attempt helping him even though she spoke very little English and we spoke almost no Korean.

Here you see the meat and whole garlic cloves placed on the grate. If the grate gets covered in burnt stuff, they will bring you a new grate and move your meat to a new grate.

Whole garlic cloves, grilled is so tasty!

When you order your meal, you typically order multiple meats - it never goes as far as it seems ;) or maybe it's just so delicious, we just eat more!

You have to order rice for each person separately - usually around 1,000 won (or $1 each).

You can usually order some kind of noodles, but we typically stick to rice ;)

All Korean BBQ meals come with a plethora of sides.

Usually some kind of kimchi - there are two kinds: cucumber kimchi and pickled cabbage kimchi.

I like the cucumber kind, which is spicy.

I'm not a fan of anything pickled, so I struggle with kimchi.

I keep trying it though! Maybe by the time we leave I'll like it!

Most places bring rice in little metal bowls with lids.

This place brought them in little rectangular, metal boxes. They were nifty ;)

A lot of places will take away your lid and most will not provide you an individual plate or dish.

Koreans often share all the sides and eat after one another.

I think the chopsticks help with this as there is less surface touching each item...course he have to be pretty good with them for this to help ;)

Most places have some sort of shredded cabbage salad.

This one on the right had a ginger dressing that was really good!

On the left are bean sprouts and lettuce with hot pepper paste.

Koreans really like spicy food!

After eating we walked around a good bit!

Below: There are a lot of businesses that are underground! They look super sketchy from the street, but are typically well-lit and completely normal on the inside (except of course, no windows).