Foods of Seollal (Lunar New Year's Day) create memories in white snow season
Delicious Seollal foods of Yeonsu-gu
White rice cake and fist-size dumping soup, grilled short-rib patties with ground meat and braised short ribs steamed with sweet seasoning make the perfect winter food. Here goes warm winter food that reminds of old memories.
Writer & photographer Lee Hyeon-ju
Back in the days when food was scarce in Korea, Seollal was the day when people could eat meat. Located in Songdo-dong, Gwak Man Keun Galbitang is a restaurant with delicious taste using fruits and vegetables (such as pineapple) instead of artificial seasonings.
The owner is an educator who retired as principal of Younghwa Girls' Commercial High School (now Younghwa Girls' Information High School). Working in education for decades, his management philosophy is "honesty." The reason his restaurant is so popular is because of its delicious but healthy food. The kitchen is strict about using salt and seasoning. Using three salinometers, the restaurant checks the salinity of the stock, and if there is a difference of 0.001, it refuses to put the soup on the table. The essence of galbitang (beef short-rib soup) is the taste of kimchi and kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi). Since the taste of kimchi and kkakdugi served at Gwak Man Keun Galbitang is so delicious, 30 boxes of cabbage and 10 of radish are consumed every week. Eating galbitang with meat coming off cleanly from the bones makes the whole family feel affection for each other.
Gwak Man Keun Galbitang #106, Metro Plaza, 9-26, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu 831-2999
Tteokgalbi grilled on a heated pan is one of the best foods to serve to important guests. At 12 Baskets in Songdo-dong, visitors can enjoy tteokgalbi filled with such sincerity. Take a bite, and the gravy of tteokgalbi bursts in the mouth with a slowly spreading scent of charcoal fire. With the set menu of saengcheongguk and wangtteokgalbi, visitors can enjoy both tteokgalbi and cheonggukjang (rich soybean paste). Minced vegetables and pork are mixed together with pollack powder. After maturing the mix for a day, it is baked brown on a grill and then added with chili sauce to become the tteokgalbi loved by everyone. Take a piece of tteokgalbi and wrap it with a perilla leaf together with a strip of Cheongyang red pepper, fresh cheonggukjang and a strip of garlic. Then put the wrap in the mouth to enjoy savory gravy bursting inside the mouth without meat stench. A feast can be expected inside the mouth with the slowly spreading scent of charcoal fire and gravy.
12-Basket 201-1, Duson Irium, 3-5, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu 834-4433
If you miss tteokmanduguk made by your mother on Seollal morning, visit Hyangwon Dumplings.
In front of this small restaurant located in the alley of the residential streets of Ongryeon-dong, office workers stand in a long line during lunch to try the dumplings. Hyangwon’s dumplings are made by owner Ha Deok-jin, an ethnic Chinese living in Korea, and his wife Choi Yong-geum, a native of Yeonsu-gu. Naturally, people can enjoy both the traditional dumplings of Korea and China at this can’t-miss restaurant. The couple used to run a Chinese restaurant for seven years, and have been selling dumplings only for ten years at Hyangwon.
Instead of meat stock, the dumpling soup of Hyangwon uses anchovy stock. With large dumplings and sliced rice cake mixed in culinary harmony, the taste of the dumpling soup is brilliant despite little garnish added. Scooping the dumpling with a spoon and putting it in the mouth, the kimchi and bean sprouts inside are chewed with a crisp. The savory anchovy stock has a clean taste. While enjoying the dumpling soup with kimchi and kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi), the old memories of Seollal with heavy snow comes to mind.
Hyangwon Dumplings 272-20, Ongryeon-dong, Yeonsu-gu 831-2788
