Day 5 Korea.  Sept 18, 2016

Today started off with a happy bang!  After casually getting up around 8:30 a.m., we got ready and went out at 11 a.m. to have breakfast in Myeongdong.

I was looking for a rice porridge shop or something that would serve local Korean cuisine and I was elated when I came across a dakgalbi shop!  What excited me was that this was the spicy chicken galbi with cheese fondue that I had been wanting to try since seeing it in other people’s photos on instagram in Toronto several months back.  Ah!!!  I really wanted to try it and I got the chance to today!

Thus, we walked into Yoogane.  After ordering the Fresh Cheese Chicken Galbi set for 2 people, we retrieved some kimchi and other banchan from the self-serve bar.  Before long, the server brought over the gigantic round pan which had raw chicken, rice noodles, cabbage, and green onions seasoned with spice in the middle part of the pan to us.  The circumference of the pan had a moat of cheese curds!!

We didn’t have to do anything except sit there and watch (and take photos) while the server cooked everything for us.  After the chicken was cooked thoroughly, she slid the pan to its sides so that the cheese would melt too.  Ah!!  It was a beautiful and amazing sight. 😀

When the cheese ring had all melted, she turned off the grill and it was time to eat.  Yay! 😀

We took photos of course and when it came time to eating, it was exactly what I wanted.  The gooey melted cheese pulled apart to reach sky-high levels and the spicy chicken galbi was perfectly seasoned and tender.  It was basically cheese fondue with spicy chicken, two of my most favourite things to eat ever.  You can now understand why I’ve been wanting to try this so much.

We cleaned up the entire dish — pretty good for just the two of us for our first meal of the day — and didn’t even feel that full either.  Yay! 🙂

We went back to the hotel after the meal and a short stroll in the shops to meet up with our friends and take the subway to the Majang Meat Market (馬場洞烤肉街).  It was a indoor-ish market lined with butcher shops and restaurants not fit for vegetarians.  I’ve been trying to eat less meat, red meat in particular, and found it a bit unsettling to walk among so many shops displaying dead carcasses of pigs and cows. 😦

Despite this, our friends found the meat restaurant they were looking for and we walked in to have Korean barbecue at 龍門家韓牛.

We ordered the miscellaneous set as well as two sets of ribeye and other ribeye.

The server cooked everything for us on a hot grill (the ones with a tube that allows the oil to leave the grill.  I did enjoy the ribeye since it was so tender and melted in your mouth.

However, after trying one to two pieces of each type of beef that we ordered only, I cleaned up the rest of what was on the table like the omelette, cabbage leaves, and banchan.  I didn’t want to eat that much beef.

Our friends cleaned up the rest of the beef and even ordered a second round.

When we were all done, we walked back to the subway station and commuted to Seoul Station to visit Lotte Mart and Lotte Outlets.

Lotte Mart is a gigantic supermarket selling everything from hot food, groceries, household goods, and more.  We ate some squid samples that they were selling and it was so good!

After a brief look around at both shopping plazas, we headed back to Myeong-dong.  The day had already come to 6 p.m. (so fast) and we spent the rest of the evening shopping in the underground mall, Myeong-dong streets, and eating from the street vendors (we were too full from earlier in the day to eat a full sit-down dinner).

I tried the flower gelato!!!  I had seen this on the first day in Myeong-dong and wanted to try it since.

I chose the chocolate, strawberry, and green tea flavours of gelato.  The man behind the counter carefully crafted the gelato to make the petals of the rose.

Of course, lots of pictures ensued when it was done. :p

I really liked this!  Of course, the 5,300₩ was really spent on aesthetics but even the Italian gelato was worth it.  It was so smooth and each flavour tasted exactly what it should be.  Yummy!

After a quick-see in the small supermarket, I enjoyed my first banana milk this trip (a staple of Korean convenience store visits).

We kept browsing the vendors on the streets and eventually tried a stick of grilled corn (its quantity was impressive but the kernels were very dry and it wasn’t sweet corn) and an Egg Bun: a combination of almond, peanut, sunflower seed, and of course egg.

The Egg Bun was a bit on the dry side but the nuts and seeds within the sweet bun made it a unique experience.

Soon, as the shopkeepers started to close up shop by 11 p.m., we headed back towards “home”.

It was great day today and the best part was getting to try the chicken galbi with cheese!!! ❤  Tomorrow is our last half day in Korea.  We fly out at 8 p.m.

Stay tuned for the next and final Korea post!

[You can click to view the blog posts for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 6 of the trip here.]