My Korean Life #40: Raw Beef (육회)

I'll admit, for the longest time I was completely against eating raw beef here in Korea. The last thing I want to experience is food poisoning or some other nasty stomach ailment. Therefore, I wrote off eating 육회 ("yook-hwae"/raw beef) basically from the moment I started living in Korea over 1.5 years ago. BUT...lo and behold...the more my Korean friends as well as other expat friends talked about eating this dish, the more curious I became. I figured, if all of my friends have already eaten raw beef and if tons of Koreans eat it every day, it must be relatively safe. So, I mustered up the courage to visit a local market and brave one of the many 육회 restaurants.

The photos you see below are of the main staple: 육회 as well as 비빔 육회. I wrote the dish contents in the captions below each photo but generally, the standard 육회 is raw beef, pear, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and a raw egg yolk. You are supposed to mix it all together before enjoying...which I did. Now I admit, it does not look all that appetizing BUT it was actually pretty good.

The second dish is kind of like 비빔밥 but with the raw beef. It featured a lot of the same ingredients as the raw beef dish with some added vegetables. I would say the 비빔 육회 was a bit more flavorful in my opinion.

Overall, the raw beef was tender and mild in taste. Yes, you did have the beefy taste but not as strong as if you would have grilled the meat. It is served chilled and is soft and often served to accompany alcohol (almost everyone in the restaurant was drinking). It was rather a refreshing bite to have some pear and raw beef together. I am still alive and kicking and had no bad stomach problems since eating the raw beef so, if in Korea, I recommend trying it!

Raw beef, raw egg yolk, sliced asian pear, sesame oil, sesame seeds.

Lettuce, spicy red pepper paste, raw beef, sesame oil, sliced vegetables, sesame seeds. 

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My Korean Life #37: Seafood BBQ

I honestly don't eat that much seafood besides fish and the occasional crab dish but my friends wanted to try a grilled clam restaurant so I decided to tag along. If you translate the restaurant's name it literally says Hongdae Grilled Clams (홍대조개구이) so, it's not hard to guess the specialty. It is in the heart of the Hongdae neighborhood and was packed when we went. A map is below:

My friends ordered a type of set menu that started out with an appetizer/1st course of pork, squid, and corn+cheese mixture. But this was nothing compared to what was coming next.

Next came a big bucket of seafood. All sorts of clams, mussels, cockles, and oysters with some shrimp on top to boot. I'm not exactly sure what species or types of sea creatures were present but just from my visual I think all of the aforementioned sea dwellers were there.

They all met a very hot fate. Soy sauce + wasabi and a spicy red sauce were available for dipping.

Below is a picture of the bucket for all the shells and any other waste generated from the meal.

Overall, it took us a long time to eat everything. From the time we sat down to the time we had devoured everything 2 hours had elapsed. We were all very stuffed at the end.

What are you eating these days?

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