Dearest Readers!
Merry belated Christmas and a Happy New Year!
As we are ending our stay here in the Far East (Japan/Korea), we are glad to report you with pictures, pictures and more pictures!
What do you think of the Christmas ‘tree’ picture above? Eerily beautiful, isn’t it? This was taken today at Cafe Goshen (located in Apku, Seoul–S. Korea). We stopped by here after lunch, had our waffle dessert and said our last minute goodbyes to our friends.
Let’s backtrack now. We enjoyed lunch at an Asian-Italian Fusion restaurant called Zen Hideaway. This was one of the most smartly interiorly decorated restaurant I have ever been to…it was beautiful! If interested, I took a few pictures of the place, but the pictures do not do justice. Anyways, onto the food! Our big group ordered a quite a few dishes: garlic salad, fried rice, seafood in pumpkin, risotto/noodle seafood pasta in tomato spicy sauce and spicy noodles. Actually, all these dishes have names, but I cannot recall any of them at the moment. Sigh.
The previous week, we dined at a Korean-Chinese Restaurant. Chinese restaurants in Korea are not the typical chinese restaurants found in the United States. Just like how orange chicken is served in Chinese restaurants in the US, the dishes served in Korea are also adapted to the Korean’s tastes. The three big dishes that are popular in a typical Korean Chinese restaurant are: Jja jang myun, Jjam bbong, and Tang Soo Yook. Black bean paste noodles, spicy seafood noodles, and sweet and sour pork. These are all dishes found in authentic Chinese restaurants, but the tastes vastly differ from those in Korea. The following are a few dishes we ordered at the restaurant:
We also dined at a Vietnamese restaurant. The pho there tasted very similar to the ones served back home. The only difference was the absence of cilantro. Cilantro is not native to Korea, and you rarely see them around. Since I dislike cilantro, I didn’t mind this minor (MAJOR) detail. 
Before we end this entry, here are two other places we visted: Ara Ara Seafood Restaurant Buffet and a restaurant specializing in Gamja Tang – Potato Stew. Potato stew is a spicy stew that consists of potato, boiled pork ribs (oh so tender!), various leafy herbs, mushrooms, and other veggies…very good on a day that is below zero temperature!
We hope this satisfies you till our next entry which will include more food from Korea and from Japan. Until then, Happy New Year again!!!
-tastymealsathome
A very belated Happy New Year! We’re looking forward to more great eats in the coming year.