Nau speak: Seoul: Hangover stew in Dongdaemun and snacks

After having lived and worked in Seoul for a while, the company I worked with opened a new location in Dongdaemun. If you're unfamiliar with the area, it's a fashion shopping mecca and houses multiple buildings tailored to a variety of textile needs, whether you're a casual shopper looking for something cute and unique or a maker searching for your latest inspiration. There's truly something for everyone! And it's a massive area, too, because despite the relatively small footprint there are multiple high-rise buildings packed with shops on every single floor to explore, along with many small shops spilling onto the streets and alleys below. On top of all that, there's a thriving immigrant community with Cyrillic menus and writing popping up alongside buildings. If you've been missing some Russian or Eastern European classics, this would be a good neighborhood to find some. There are also many food stalls, street vendors, restaurants and chains proliferating here, so there's no shortage of options when it comes to food. I tried Korean Street Toast in this neighborhood for the first time and found myself hooked, unfortunately. So tasty, but not the sort of thing that really made it's way back to the US yet. It's not the most difficult of things to make, I suppose, and it was a lot of fun watching the ladies make it on their hot griddles in a stall the size of most bathrooms stateside. The billowing steam, rife with the smell of hot butter and sizzling ham, would attract many visitors and there was often a line. Some days, however, you need something more substantial, and that's where the hangover stew comes in.

It's not going to win any awards for beauty, but it's a hearty, filling soup to heal what ails you. If you're squeamish, don't ask what cuts of meat are used. It's full of protein, though! And the broth is studded with enough spice to wake you from a half-drowsed state and reinvigorate your senses. Good stuff. Not to mention the serve-yourself banchan bar so you can load up on all the crunchy pickled radish (spicy kkaktugi this time), kimchi and other goodies your heart desires. It's good stuff. I ate it a couple of times during my stay and I'd recommend it to any brave eater. It kind of reminds me of posole, actually, so if you're familiar with that dish it might be an easy one.

The restaurant I ate this in, this time, was right behind the building I worked in and I think it was actually more of a barbeque restaurant than a stew one, but I digress. There were at least 20 restaurants nestled among the buildings and alley, though, to be fair. No shortage of options, believe you me. They left me to my stew and banchan with no fuss, though they may have judged me. I left happy with my belly full, reenergized and ready to tackle the remainder of my day!

More photos below!

After work, I picked up some snacks for the evening...

Who could resist a choose-your-own macaron box? And they were SO good! There was a tiny shop selling these near Yonie's house, and it was so tempting to get them more often than I should... They had so many fun flavors! Lemon, vanilla creme, matcha, strawberry, pistachio, cappuccino...mmmm!