In my previous post, I commented on how we didn’t get to eat everything we wanted to eat…that’s because there’s quite a bit of street eats that takes away our stomach space…whether it’s on the street, a little shop, in the subway station…there’s always something that catches our…well….mostly my eyes….
Myeongdong is such a busy and vibrant area at night. There’s so many lights and so many shops jam-packed. On the first night, we had planned on finding me Mister Donut to satisfy my mochi-donut craving…which I haven’t had since I first tried it in Japan 2 years ago. Sadly, the tour book was misguiding, as the Mister Donut listed in it is no longer in business. So in my disappointment…I looked for other rice-cakey things to eat.
We happened to walk by a Lotteria burger joint. One look at their products and you’ll see that they’re a complete rip-off of McDonalds…from the cups to the burgers…even their spoon for their McFlurry-ish treat is exactly the same as a McFlurry spoon.
Anyways on their window was a poster for what seems to be a Red bean soup with rice balls (4,900W). Of course I was sold on that.
It took forever for it to be ready…probably because no one else really orders it lol just tourists. The soupy part was not bad actually…not overly sweet and I actually detect a hint of saltiness. There were an assortment of seeds and nuts and beans in it too, topped with sliced almonds and a (generous) sprinkling of cinnamon.
The disappointing part was the rice balls…pretty mushy and not very chewy. Oh well.
Over the next few days we had come to really know what food carts there were. They seems to be a lot but in actuality many of them offer the same things…even their layout is the same. I suspect some of them might be owned by the same family.
On a previous night I’ve already spotted what I suspected to be gingko nuts roasting. The next night my suspicions were confirmed. I ordered a bag (5,000W) and they were roasted on the spot. Fannypack alerted me of the potential dangers of eating too many, and a quick google search told me I could only eat 5-7…but I couldn’t resist.
It came piping hot, which was welcomed in my hands on a chilly night. I chose the ones that were the most cooked to eat as google tells me those are the safest. I’ve always enjoyed cooked gingko nuts, especially in that Chinese sweet soup of bean curd and boiled egg.
They did have a slightly bitter taste to them, but nothing I couldn’t handle…in fact I didn’t really detect it. Fannypack on the other hand, scrunched up her face upon tasting it. I was glad I tried it though since I’ve never had it just straight up roasted before. I felt I tried something very “Korean” =)
Also notice the HUGE pieces of dried tentacles on the same cart…I wonder how they serve that up??
This sausage and rice cake cart was another that had many copies all around Myeongdong (and beyond). For 3,000W you get a skewer of 3 different flavored sausages, plus two pieces of rice cake wrapped in fish cake. The sausages were very yummy, and went from non-spicy to pretty spicy. The rice cake got a bit cold though, so the outer part started to harden up which I did not appreciate.
That marks part 1 of street eats Seoul!
