Some Nice, Others Not So

I'm not hot about Korean food in general. Not kim chi, and most definitely not gochujang. That makes it a bit tough to find food not soaked in either base. It's even more annoying because I usually wear white tops and I'm a messy eater. Dislike all those little red stains left on the tee/blouse after a meal. This trip, I've been seeking out items that Singapore restaurants don't carry, and other vegetarian or fish versions of traditional Korean foods. Suddenly, from knowing nothing much about Korean food, I know more than a bit about it. Not into the side dishes ('banchan') that are served with every meal. The pickled, fermented or vinegared stuff taste weird. But some, like the mini jeon, are nice.

Happy that I found food items I like. Like naengmyeon. Awesome to finally have proper bowls of it here. Love it. Probably won't find such elegant versions in Singapore. There's a Korean seaweed soup ('miyeok guk') which was tasty and full of umami. That's a specialty from Wando Island. Apparently it's a must-have post-partum dish. I'm like...whatever, I'll drink it all the same. There's also a soybean and vegetable stew ('doenjang jigae' or 'biji jigae') that I gingerly sipped and surprisingly didn't mind. Ate so much of it. It's a fairly non-salty comforting thick soup or gravy that can either be drunk on its own or drizzled over a bowl of rice.

'bibi jigae'

Not so much into the meats. Beef and chicken aplenty here. People go crazy over beef bulgogi. It's the easiest introduction to Korean cuisine in terms of homecooked comfort and familiar flavors. Tried out a few soup noodle thingies. While the handmade noodles are nice, I'm not so hot about the meat-based spicy soup. The Koreans call it 'ra-myun'. Yes I know. Like spicy ramen. Language, culture and food. All similar in many ways. I like spicy stuff, but not in terms of this sort of pepper-spicy, regardless of whichever culture and city.

The man loves kim chi and gochujang. So he's been eating a lot of both items. I don't mind bibimbap when it's not slathered with gochujang. Too often, it's too much of that red sauce in every dish. Kim chi. I can eat a small piece of soaked cabbage leaf and differentiate between what's decent or horrid, but not a big fan of it. At whichever meal when there's kim chi served on the table, the man gobbles a whole jar till it's almost embarrassing.