Once I started the downward spiral into my rabbit hole of previously unprocessed photographs from my 6-month-extended-business-trip-slash-sabbatical to Korea, it was only a matter of time until I found myself deep in the thralls of food porn again. The food in South Korea is not only delicious and complex, with everything from starchy noodles drenched in rich, savory sauces to sweet and crunchy bingsu in the summer, amazingly crispy yet juicy fried chicken (the one true KFC supreme; Korean Fried Chicken), to sushi so fresh it'll latch to your throat and try to climb its way back out if given half a chance- but it's often quite affordable, too! Like, absurdly, unreasonably, questionably affordable for the volume of food and variety of side dishes provided. This, naturally, leads to a sense of frustration and/or annoyance when returning stateside and searching out Korean meals- what was a $6 freshly cooked restaurant meal in Seoul is now only available in packaged format in that price range, and if you dare to try to dine in a restaurant it will cost at least twice what you're used to it costing in Korea. Sigh. The ex-pat's dilemma... is this the true definition of a first world problem? I suppose I should really be happy that I can find these dishes in my home country at all, and quit bellyaching at the fact they cost more than I'm used to.
This bowl of noodles, drenched in a savory black bean sauce of disturbingly high mucilaginous material, is a good example of that unreasonably cheap food. This meal cost less than $3, and was cooked fresh in a restaurant less than 20 feet from the front door to the complex I was living in. This feast was legitimately cheaper than buying an instant cup of ramen from the convenience store equidistant to my front door. They had several other options available at exceptionally low-cost points in this tiny restaurant, too. To be fair, though, the exceedingly slimy consistency of the sauce was a bit of a turn off for me- and this is coming from a girl who happily slurps up the auspiciously named "Dead Body Soup" made with super-slimy fermented soybeans and makes "tororo okra" with boiled okra minced until fluffy and snot-tacular. But for such a low cost, it's hard to complain about a freshly made meal where someone else ends up doing the dishes... While this wasn't my favorite jjangjangmyun of all time, it's a dish I would still recommend anyone try while visiting Korea!
Mm, slimy!
Until next time!
맛있는
💜
XOXO,
NAU
No comments:
Post a Comment