Food Street in Myeongdong, Seoul

Sotetsu Fresa Inn, the hotel where we stayed in Seoul is situated right next to Myeongdong Walking Street. Myeongdong is where tourists come to shop at the numerous shopping complexes and departmental stores that are aplenty in this area. But significant number of visitors come to eat at the makeshift food stalls that lined along either side of Myeongdong Walking Steet. 

Every late afternoon, this Walking Street is transformed from a normal vehicular road to become pedestrian walkway. Stall owners move in their mobile stalls as early as 4pm and set up their stalls. This Street reminds me of our Jalan Alor Food Street in Kuala Lumpur. It is said that Jalan Alor Food Street offer some of the best culinary delights that Malaysia has to offer and at reasonable price, i.e. far below prices quoted in the overpriced restaurants. This cannot be said about food sold in Myeongdong Walking Street, they are comparatively more pricy!

Unlike Jalan Alor Food Street where almost all stalls are provided with dining tables and chairs by the road sides for diners to enjoy their meals, visitors to Myeongdong Walking Street do not have this privilege. They all have to eat while standing next to the stalls or find some nearby empty spots. 

The baked sweet potato was good!

Royal Meal in Seoul

When our niece asked whether we like to have a Royal Meal in Korea, we had no hesitation and asked her to proceed with the booking. We were looking forward to it and had high hope of enjoying a Royal Meal at Myongdongjeong, a restaurant that specializes in royal cuisine.

In the end, the meal turned out to be at best mediocre and nothing to brag about. While the number of dishes are very substantial, they are just plain ordinary dishes, far from food that royalty are supposed to enjoy. 

On another note, If the Korean royalty indeed eat similar ordinary food just like their subjects, then it's a consolation to appreciate the simplicity of Korean royalty considering the extravagance and wastage of some royalties of many nations!

On the cost of the meal, I consider the prices charged are disproportionate to the quality of these dishes. I doubt I will ever recommend to friends to have a go for it!

The only consolation after the meal was probably the "exclusive" time granted for us to try out all the Korean costumes normally offered to customers. Since we were the last group of guests in that afternoon, we had all the time until closing of the closing of the restaurant.

Church in Seoul

It's free and easy for us in Seoul in the morning of 4 May 2023. We decided to explore area around our hotel in Myeongdong before going to the restaurant which serves the Royal Meal. Along the way, we saw this huge Cathedral of French gothic design. We soon discovered from the signboard that this is the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception or the Myeongdong Cathedral in short.

Before visiting Korea, our perception of South Korean Christians are predominantly Protestants mainly because of the well-publicized mega Church of David Yonggi Cho, the Yoido Full Gospel Church established in 1958. This Church has a membership of 480,000 members.

A search in the internet indicates that South Korea has a sizable Christians. Out of the country population of 52 million, 28% are Christians out of which 16.5% are Protestants and 11.3% are the Catholics. Pope Francis also chose South Korea to be the first nation among the Asian nations for his official visit on 14 August 2014.

The spread of Catholicism in Korea began in the late 18th century. This came about because of exposure of some educated Koreans to Catholicism through western books with Chinese translation.

In early 19th century, early Korean Christians faced persecution soon after Simeon-Francois Berneux, a French Catholic priest was arrested and expelled from the country. The Joseon government then issued orders banning Catholicism and many adherents were subjected to torture and even execution. Despite this, the Catholic community grew. In the process, many Korean Catholics died as martyrs for their faith during that period. The 2019 Korean TV drama series "Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung" was set in that era (Read here). Many of scenes in this historical drama were filmed in Changdeokgung Palace and the Secret Garden where we visited on 5 May 2023 (Read here).

The Myeongdong Cathedral is the first Catholic Church built in the midst of persecution under the Joseon government.

In the Church compound, we saw the statute of Andrew Kim Daegeon (21.8.1921-16.9.1846). He is the first Korean-born priest who was martyred. A year after he was ordained at the age of 24 as a priest in 1845, he was beheaded a year later in 1946. He was canonized as a saint during the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Korean Broth

Koreans are proud of their "Tang" or broth which we call soup. A Korean TV documentary series called "A Nation of Broth" was produced to highlight the importance of broth in Korean cuisine. A meal without broth is unimaginable to the Koreans!

In Seoul, we had a chance to savour some of the "Tang" shown the the documentary. We had "Samgyetang" or ginseng chicken soup at Tosokchon Samgyetang. This restaurant was reported to be frequented by the late Korean President, Roh Moo-Hyun. 

Most customers come for the most popular dish, the Samgyetang which is made from a host of ingredient - ginseng, glutinous rice, pumpkin seeds, black sesame, walnut, pine, chestnut, ginkgo, garlic, sunflower seeds, Chinese date and other special ingredients.

Long queue of customers waiting to be called in.

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Myeongdong Kyoja, in Seoul is accredited with Michelin Bib Gourmand for seven years from 2017 to 2023. It is known for four dishes - Mandu (Dumpling), Kalgulsu, Bibimguksu (Mixed Noodle) and Kongguksu (Soy Milk Bean Noodle). 

We ordered three of them except the more spicy Bibimguksu. Both the Kalgulsu and Konggusu are served with their typical broth.

Kalgulsu and Mandu. Broth of Kalgulsu is typically made from dried anchovies, shellfish and kelp. Korean Mandu is similar to our Chinese Jiaozi but served typically with kimchi and soy-vinegar-chili dipping sauce.

Kongguksu - The broth is thick and whitish because of the soy milk content.

In terms of pricing, it's rather pricy. Obviously, the cost of living in Korea comparatively is higher than in Malaysia. A bowl of Mandu with 10 dumplings costs RM40, a bowl of Kalgulsu costs RM33, a bowl of Bibimguksu (Mixed Noodle) costs RM33 and a bowl of Kongguksu (Bean Noodle) costs RM40.

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We had Dwaeji Gukbap for our breakfast in our last day in Korea. Unlike our Nyau Chap, the dish is rather simple. It consists of slices of boiled pork served in bone broth. Mee or meehon is replaced by rice!