Does Korean Food Taste Better in Korea? HELLZ YES.

So far, my foodie experience has been faboo -- as expected.  Thankfully, I heart Korean food and they seem to do that particular cuisine pretty well here in...well...Korea.

My uncle, before he left for Ulsan on Sunday (where he spends the weekdays at his hospital -- he has a home there), asked me what I wanted to eat most now that I was here. Before I could stop myself, I replied, "Samgyupsal."  For those of you who have never heard of it nor had it, it's a very thick (supposed to be, anyway) cut of pork belly that shows three layers of the meat: flesh, fat, flesh. "Samgyupsal" translates to "three layers of meat/flesh." At first glance, I suppose it could be thought of as just a thick cut of bacon but it's oh so much more, dear friends.  It's an uncured, juicy piece of porky heaven and a carnivore's delight (sorry, Sam). Nothing gets in the way of the unadulterated pork flavor, mostly due to the tender layer of fat.

We went out for a late lunch and so the restaurant was not crowded when we arrived. Maybe some of you have seen it, but while I was in the States, I had always cooked my meat on a flat grill of some sort. This table was fashioned with a polished metal disc that looked like a lid for a huge pot. I was pleased to find that the meat was cooked directly on top of its lightly oiled grandeur. The pork was cut super thick; way more thick than any I had ever seen back home. This made me a happy camper.

Served along with the meat, as usual, was an array of side dishes of the vegetable variety (some spicy, some not), different soups, salad, rice, lettuce and sesame leaves to use as wraps and cold buckwheat noodles to fend off the heat. I was in heaven:

Along with the pork, there were raw cloves of garlic and large slices of mushrooms and onions to slap on the grill in order to accentuate the meat as they co-existed and cooked together. I barely got my camera out in time to take this picture before we were about to annihilate the last remaining pieces.I know you wanna go get some now.  Go on...run to your nearest Korean restaurant and have at it. You'll thank me later.

Today, my lovely cousin took me to Insadong, largely a tourist area with many souvenir shops and rows and rows of street food, it is also a bustling arts. crafts, and pottery district. Even though it was raining pretty hard, people were still out in droves. I suppose when it rains this much, people just treat it like any other day.

I also got to see my very first Korean demonstration (protest):

I guess some property conglomerate bought land out from under some residents in order to build a huge mall (isn't that just the way?) and they were speaking out against it. No tear gas or rubber bullets were fired in the making of this demonstration.

There's a Starbucks here that is the only one in all of Korea that doesn't actually say "Starbucks" on the storefront. Because this merchant street is historical (it's 500 years old) and there have been protests to keep it from modernizing, the signage on storefronts are mostly, if not all, in korean....even if the store has an English name. So, this particular Starbucks location asked special permission to allow the name to be written in Korean, rather than English. The corporation obliged (please excuse my FOB pose...I'm being assimilated):

My cousin and I continued to make our way in the rain, weaving through a back street and tiny, narrow alleys, guided only by our noses. Finally, we came across a traditional sit-down restaurant. By "sit-down" I mean you sit on the floor at a low table, not in chairs. For a measly $6, I had eight side dishes and a delicious beef stew (imagine the yummy, meaty sweetness you get when you eat bul-go-gi -- BUT NOW IN STEW FORM!) served in a hot pot.  I am going to do my darndest to remember where this little hole-in-the-wall joint is so that when you guys come to visit me, I can take you there!

Yeah, that's just me at the low table before the food came. There is no picture of the food. I horked it down too eagerly to even think about taking a picture of it. I suck. If this was a food blog, I'd be ashamed.

Next time, on omgwtfbbqkorea, "Walking more in one week than I have in the past year and what the hell is up with that?!"