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Itinerary: Gourmet Gallop
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Each province shows off its top tastebud delights on this circular gastronomic tour around a dozen of the country’s best restaurants and food experiences.
Korean cuisine outside Seoul covers such a multitude of flavours and styles that it would take a lifetime to sample everything, but here’s a start.
Red-bedecked restaurants in Incheon’s Chinatown, a subway ride west of Seoul, offer delicious Chinese food including the famous jajangmyeon, a Korean/Chinese noodle dish.
Sokcho, a fishing port on the east coast, is noted for squid sundae (squid stuffed with all sorts of goodies). Enjoy it in upmarket and green surroundings at the well-known and well-regarded Jinyang Hoejip.
In Daegu city, take a break from Korean food at the ultra-romantic Dijon with its high-class euro food, and candles and a rose on every table.
After a hard day touring Shilla relics in Gyeongju, satisfy your appetite with the wholesome fare at Kuro Ssambap. Enjoy the folk museum ambience and feast on a banquet of more (refillable) side dishes than even the Joseon monarchs could handle. Wrap side dish combos in lettuce and other leaves before popping them in your mouth.
Further south in Busan drop into Grandmother Lee’s Raw Fish House near Hae·undae beach for sushi served straight from the tanks outside. The friendly owner speaks English and loves to explain why Koreans adore raw fish.
Head west along the south coast until you reach the beautiful green tea plantation Boseong Daehan Dawon (Boseong Tea Plantation), where you can try shakes, yogurt and ice cream all made with nokcha (green tea), and lunch in the restaurant on green-tea flavoured jajangmyeon or bibimbap.
Then take a bus to Mokpo, where Igabon·ga offers a splendid tteokgalbi, a giant meat patty with seafood, bamboo shoots, salad and side dishes that are served on leaves and decorated with flower petals.
Head north to the stylish and smart Bakmulgwan Apjip in Damyang. It specialises in bamboo dishes – rice topped with nuts and beans are cooked inside a bamboo stem, the doenjang (soybean paste) soup is flavoured with bamboo shoots, and bamboo leaf tea is free. Diners can take home their bamboo rice container as a souvenir.
The next stop north is Jeonju in Jeollabuk-do, the birthplace of bibimbap, and Hankookkwan is a buzzing restaurant that serves up this classic dish with a bowl of moju homebrew. Order dolsot bibimbap if you don’t want raw meat.
Then on to Daejeon city where Pungnyeon Samgyetang is a large, unpretentious restaurant that cooks up an excellent samgyetang (ginseng chicken) that comes with foreigner-friendly lettuce and cucumber side dishes.
From Daejeon take a short, scenic bus ride south to Geumsan, known as Ginseng Town, where restaurants and stalls sell samgyetang, insam twigim (ginseng in batter) and insam makgeolli (ginseng rice wine), and hundreds of shops and stalls sell ginseng tea, liquor, sweets and other ginseng products.
Next up is a detour to Suanbo Hot Springs in Chungcheongbuk-do, where
Satgatchon serves up a seven-course pheasant meal that includes pheasant mandu (dumplings), mini pheasant kebabs, pheasant steamboat and pheasant soup.
Back in Daejeon, Seoul is less than an hour away on a KTX train.
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