Fried okra.  After I had okra for the first time in Greece, I vowed never to eat the mushy, slimy vegetable again.  Maybe it’s because I’m older, but I’ve been trying it again whenever I can, just to make sure I don’t like it.  You know what?  It’s not bad.  Fried okra or picked okra in a spicy Bloody Mary at Screen Door is actually pretty good.

This is jambalaya, if I can remember correctly.  It was a little soupy… is that how it’s supposed to be?  It was spicy and I felt the heat was hiding the dish’s lack of flavor.

Group photo on the cow couch

Warning: Food porn ahead

grilled summer squach panini, feta, pickled peppers, basil

charcuterie board, house made and artisanal daily selection

house made and artisanal daily selection cheese plate, daily selection of three cheeses, marcona almonds, fig jam

barbeque wagyu brisket, cornbread, caraway onion ring, apple slaw

razaor clam poboy, stewed pepper jam, remoulade, red leaf

local summer cherry salad, goat cream cheese, arugula

fish and chips, pacific halibut, farm fries, remoulade

The Urban Farmer menu can be found here.

Tasty Margarita

Kerry had to touch some Nip/Tuck-esque booty on her way out.

Photos taken during lunch.

It was a great lunch with delicious food and wonderful company.  Thanks Ellen!

Ras called the restaurant (02-529-8248) to find out when it opened and to make a reservation.  Since it was 1pm at the time, the call was forwarded to Chef Kim’s cell phone, who took the reservation himself.  At first, we weren’t sure if a reservation was even needed at 5:30pm, when the restaurant opened its doors.  Upon arriving (late) at 5:40pm, Chef Kim smiled towards Raswan and said, “You must be Ras.  Welcome.”  We were led to the back area of the restaurant and saw that all seven tables there were reserved.  We were then relieved to have made the call after all.  The two larger tables in the front of the restaurant were the only ones not reserved.

When we entered the restaurant, we were only the second party in the restaurant.  Menus were given in both English and Korean.  Ras and I already had an idea of what to order, having read ZenKimchi’s blog post.  As a starter, we opted to skip the BulGalbi and Grilled Mushroom Organic Salad and get some other mushroom appetizer with bread.  Upon hearing of our order, Chef Kim came out of the kitchen, kneeled down to our table, and offered to give us advice on what to order.  He said the mushroom/bread starter was just a regular dish, nothing special.  Instead, he advised us to get the BulGalbi and Mushroom salad.  Hey, who are we to argue with the chef?  We agreed, he smiled, and went back to the kitchen to prepare the salad.

While we waited, this came out: broccoli with garlic oil and sprinkles of deep fried garlic pieces.  Delicious!  Ras and Kevin ended up fighting for the last pieces of the deep fried garlic.

Our salad then came out.

Wow.  We were not disappointed by this.  Utterly delicious.  The meat was tender, the mushrooms were perfectly grilled, and the dressing was robust and flavorful.  Out of the four dishes ordered last night, we all agreed that this was our favorite.

The next dish was Million Won Samgyeopsal Jjim with aged kimchi.  It’s very much like a tender, but thick piece of “bosaam.”  Since I love bosaam, I loved this dish.  The guys did too.

Then came Sweet and Sour Beef (Tangsooyuk).  While this was delicious, the batter crispy and light, and the saucy not gooey, it’s still Sweet and Sour Beef.  There’s a Chinese restaurant near my university that also has a similar tasting “tangsooyuk”, although it’s with pork and not Australian beef.  I wasn’t disappointed, but it wasn’t anything too special.  We all agreed we wouldn’t order this one again.

The last dish was Fried Whole Mullet.

As Ras commented, this is not a fishy fish.  The cilantro, ginger, and onions were a great combination to the fish.  The waitress came out and de-boned the fish and squeezed the lemon on it for us.

Dessert: Apple Snowman

It might not look so good because it was melting fast, but it was delicious.  The first two layers are apples, and then vanilla ice cream on top.

The service at the restuarant was great.  The staff took great care to bring out our dishes right after we finished the previous one.  There were no long waiting periods.  Instead we were constantly eating and drinking, as it should be.

The head waiter was top notch and it was obvious he had good training before working at this restaurant.

Last, but not least, this restaurant is not cheap.  A couple dishes start at 10,000 won, but most are in the 20,000-30,000 price range.  For the three of us, we had four main dishes, a dessert, and three bottles of wine over the course of three hours, for 220,000 won.  While this is 73,000 won per person, we all thought it was absolutely worth the price.  The food was fantastic and we can’t wait to go back with a larger group of friends next time.

Star Chef:   Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Dogok-dong 417-2

Map here.  Line 3 – Maebong Station

02-529-8248  (Opens at 5:30pm, reservations recommeded)

Including me, there were seven of us on the tour, which lasted about 20 minutes.

For those interested, tickets to the museum are only 700 won and the nearest subway station is City Hall.  There’s also an abstract art exhibition going on at the same time, which runs until August 23, 2008.

After Amy got off “work,” the three of us walked to Insa-dong for lunch.  We found a great hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant tucked away in an alley.

The food was cheap, plentiful, and unpretentious (unlike other restaurants in Insa-dong).  My “soon duboo” was 4000 won and we all shared 9 side dishes including fish. It’s very easy to get to.  Directions: With Starbucks behind you, look across the street and to your left, and you’ll see an alley.  In the alley on your left hand side, you’ll see the restaurant.  Below is also the menu.

By this time, it was pouring down rain.  We hid out at The Coffee Bean and waited for the storm to pass.

After it did, we went looking for a movie to watch.  Of course, that was a bad idea.  It seems like everybody and their mother watches movies on the weekend and most things were sold out until much later in the evening.  Instead, we decided to look for a chicken and beer place.  After a few blocks of walking around Jongno 3-ga, we found Chicken Maru.  It was only 6000 won for each of us, and that included an order of chicken and 2000cc of beer.

I finally left around 8pm for Gunpo, where I was to met Courtney, who was having her birthday party in Sanbon.

El Plato would be a once-in-awhile, treat yourself nice, kind of restaurant.  It’s definitely worth it, though.  The three of us almost spent 100,000 that night.  That included 6 glasses of house wine and 1 sangria.

Afterwards, we visited another bar on the same street.  Peering in, you could easily see people dipping their feet in the cool water.  We went in for at least one drink.

Reardon tried to get ME to chat up these Korean girls so he could then make a movie.  First of all, I can’t speak enough Korean to hit on Korean girls.  And second, I’m not your wing man!  The girl next to Reardon is cute though, isn’t she?

Yup, it’s time to go home.

This is the first time I’ve grilled chicken like this in Korea.  Usually at a restaurant, you grill pork or beef.  Chicken doesn’t seem to be a popular grilling meat.  Six chicken thighs were de-boned and marinated in a dakalbi-like web rub.  It was a little precarious cooking with the arc shaped grill, but the results were delicious.  The table next to us were eating “saam gyup saal” marinated in the same dakalbi sauce.

Dakalbi is chicken marinated in spicy pepper paste and cooked on a large hot plate (don’t know a better way to describe it) with cabbage, sweet potato pieces, and ddeok (Korean rice cake). That’s the simple recipe, but of course, you can also add more vegetables. We took a taxi downtown to Myeong-dong (same name as in Seoul) and told the taxi driver to take us to “dakalbi street.” He corrected Ras and said, “Oh, dakalbi alley?” If you happen to see the sign below, all the dakalbi restaurants are on a parallel side alley to this street, which happens to be a shopping street.

On the way there, I saw this New Orleans type building (above). It looked really out of place. Below is the restaurant I chose – Myung Mule Dakalbi. It seemed to be one of the three big restaurants located at a “Y” intersection. Their website is: www.dacgalbi.co.kr. (Warning: in Korean with annoying music)

The side dishes were really simple. Upon arrival at our table, we both ask, “This is it?” We received a small bowl of cold kimchi soup, pickled vegetables in a slightly sweet sauce, raw onions, extra chili paste, and a basket of lettuce to wrap the dakalbi in. The side dishes were simple because the star of the show was the secret recipe red pepper sauce, that the chicken was cooked in. The sauce was much better than at any dakalbi restaurant I’ve had in Seoul. Maybe you’re saying, “But it’s just red pepper paste. What’s the big difference?” Well, even though the sauce was crimson red, it wasn’t too spicy at all. It was never overpowering and complemented the sweet cooked cabbage, chewy ddeok, and sweet potatoes so nicely. I dare say, the sauce was PERFECT. Even Ras, who doesn’t like dakalbi that much, noticed the flavor, and said it was very good.

In addition to the boneless chicken in the dish, there was another option of “cheese dakalbi.” Ras and I were both wondering what that would consist of – maybe cheese ddeok? It was our lucky day, because the table next to us ordered that exact dish. Upon seeing what they received, I think it was a rip-off. For 3,500 won extra (per serving), they received a plate of shredded mozzarella cheese to put on top of their cooked dakalbi. Sure, maybe it was good. But 7,000 won more delicious? Hmm… If you look carefully at the picture below, the cheese is on top.

I would have eaten the last little bits, but was WAY too full.

For a dakalbi recipe you can make at home, check out My Korean Kitchen. It’s a great Korean food blog I found a couple days ago that has recipes for Korean food in English. I’m really excited to make many of the dishes she has listed.