From November 13th to November 18th, I was visiting Seoul to assist my chef(chef Richard Ekkebus) for the event called "taste of star chefs". It was 2nd time I've been to Korea, I mean Seoul.
Korean cuisine is definitely counted as one of my favorite foods to eat. And I feel sorry to say, but I always feel this is one of the cuisine, it has been under-rated or not widely recognized as it should be. In my opinion many of Asian cuisine is crossing over each other, but Korean cuisine definitely have strong unique character, especially the way they season to bounce hotness.
In 4 elemental seasoning (sweet, hot, sour, salty), I think hotness could be the strongest. I mean least it is the most aggressive and addictive. Like we see sriracha in every single U.S. kitchen, people love bouncing flavor with hotness/spiciness. And Korean cuisine is expert to shine the hotness in variety of flavor combinations.
When I was in NY, I used to go to 32nd street all the time... I mean Korean town which open 24/7!! I would say the area could be my most favorite late-night eat out in entire U.S.A.!! Late night, hungry, combo of OB beer & Korean BBQ.... nothing gonna beat this!!! Korean BBQ, bulgogi, dolsot bibimbap, scallion pancake and Kimchi!! Sure I'm not expert of Korean cuisine, to be honest. But still I LOVE Korean cuisine. I would say the prove of bad cooks, would be making something taste BAD with bacon or kimchi!!
The pic showing above is some food pics I had during my stay in Seoul. Bulgogi, Galbi, Namul, Kimchi, Jeon and others. It make me wanna go back to Korea again!
Through the event it was really great to see great chefs from other countries, especially to see chef Alex Viriot (my co-worker from Guy Savoy, currently working executive sous chef at W hotel St. Petersburg). At next post, I'll post some pics from the event "Taste of star chefs"Labels: CJWDT: ASIA, CJWDT'11
