Saturday, August 7, 2010

That's one way to find a meal

On our first night in Gyeongju we felt ourselves overcome with the desire to have some Dakgalbi (stir-fried marinated chicken), yummy, one of our favourite dishes.

So we hit the streets, we are used to there being Dakgalbi places on every street corner, but Gyeongju, to our amasement is quite dead at night. In fact we struggled to find a decent place open which wasn't on the tourist path.

So Oliver took the lead, turn left here, a right there, and another turn and yes before we knew it we were lost...horribly lost. So in true Claudia fashion I decided to take charge. Adamant that I could get us to our beloved Dakgalbi. But all I did was get us even more lost! Hmmmm!

Before we knew it we had been walking around for two hours, were starving, my feet were dying, and we had ended up where we had started. Dammit!

So we thought another approach was needed. We hopped into a taxi but didn't know the name of any place where we could eat. So I confidently said Dakgalbi to the taxi driver, in my typical mumbled Korean. She repeated, or at least I thought she repeated Dakgalbi. I smiled, and responded with a YES, VERY HUNGRY!

She drove for about ten minutes and we were in the heart of what felt like local territory (how did we miss this?), she did a couple of turns up small winding roads and before we knew it we were outside a restaurant (HALLELUJAH!!!).

We confidently stepped inside, greeted the host, and looked up at the menu anticipating the awesomeness of our Dakgali meal ahead! To our shock, there was no Dakgalbi on the menu, nothing! URG!

Stay or leave? stay or leave?

Skrew it, we have had Dakgalbi so many times, lets try something new! And I am so so happy we did!

We ended up eating Dwaegi galbi Jjim (steamed pork in a sauce that makes you want to cry it is so good). And in typical Korean fashion it was accompanied by several side dishes and salad leaves. That together with some beer and soju made for a great first dinner in Gyeongju!

Dwaegi galbi Jjim in a no fuss pot which comes straight off the stove
Some of the side dishes which accompany the Dwaegi galbi Jjim


Highly recommended!


Post by Claudia

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