Seeing how Gwyneth Paltrow’s fondness for bibimbap generated such emotion, I’ve post some photos of the real McCoy, a Jeonju bibimbap happily consumed Sunday at Gogung, one of Jeonju’s most famous bibimbap restaurants:
At 10,000 won, it’s a pricey bibimbap. But oh-so-worth it. And probably still cheaper than the ones Gwyneth Paltrow is eating.
Oh, today I dropped by the lovely farming community of Pyeongdong-ni in Jecheon-si, Chungcheongbuk-do to interview woodcut artist Lee Chul-soo (see English page here). On the way back to Seoul, the scenery was absolutely beautiful, with seas of clouds hanging in the mountains surrounding Wonju.
Anyway, in case you were wondering how green and lush Korea gets in summer, see below:
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Man, I will never gush sentimentally over some bi-bim-bap; it’s just simple food.
I wish most Koreans had Lee Chul-soo’s eye for negative space; the result would be pleasing. His work is nice.
That may be true, but a Jeonju bibimbap is in a completely different league.
Ahh…I needed that. Nothing like the summer in the countryside in Korea. The lushness, the cicadas.
Ha, bibimbap is not even my favourite dish (ttongmanduguk—rice-paste dumpling soup—is), but my mouth is watering. That photo of the fields in the valley is stunning, too.
Trying again…
떡만두국: tteongmanduguk, or if one prefers, ttŏngmanduguk.
Trying again…
떡만두국: tteongmanduguk, or if one prefers, ttŏngmanduguk.
D’oh!
Posts about Korean food that some guy in Ethiopia can’t put together with a bowl of rice, left over vegetables and a fried egg, are great.
The peasant thing is ok, but playing yanky doodle dandy while feeding your readers bimbimbap is misleading.
Posting about bibimbap while wearing hanbok is like going to Germany and writing posts about eating sauerkraut while eliminating references to one’s wearing of leiderhausen.
Come on, bimbimbap is the ratatoullie of Korea.
Wow, Sewing can type in Korean.
Cool stuff
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CTRL X + CTRL V = 우리말
I like bibimbap, but that close-up shot is kind of nasty.
I first flew into Yecheon airport on an early August morning. It was the greenest scene I had ever seen.
Some of you folks don’t seem to get it. This is JEONJU bibimbap we are talking about. It is like comparing a Subway steak & cheese (which is not bad, IMHO) to a steak & cheese you can get on 9th Street in Philadelphia (which I have only had the honor of eating once, alas). They are the same… but different.
In my experience, Korean cooking gets better as you get further away from Seoul. I find that Korean cooking in Seoul is incredibly bland and not very authentic. Last weekend, for example, we had lunch at one of the ‘famous’ Korean restaurants in Insadong. The kamjacheon tasted more like chapsal-ttok than potatoes, had the same texture, too. The soups were bad…which is to be expected given the quality of Seoul’s tap water. People seemed to like it, but my wife and I weren’t impressed.
Yes, Someguy, that is what I get from many about the tourist restaurants in Insadong too. Around Chongno-sam-ga there is better.
I don’t eat bibimbap so much anymore, because for my first coupla years in K i was mostly-vegetarian, and i just LIVED on bibimbap, often twice-a-day… burned out on it… But when i do have one these days, Jeonju is def the way to go!
Except for a really good Sanchae-bibimbap in the deep mountains, of course!
Of course indeed!
Sanshinseon: By the way, someone posted a reply to your question on the Geumsan-sa thread. (Just happened to notice it.)
#10 –
Great analogy. Only thing you flubbed was the terminology: what you got on 9th Street in Philly was a cheesesteak. You’re liable to be denied service if you ask for a “steak and cheese” down there.
¡Pobrecito!
(thanks for the tipoff, Sewing; i’ll check it out)
You guys are all crazy, the best bibimbap is in Seoul but you pay out of the ass for it and of course the scenery sucks. Hardly a true epiqure in this crowd. The best foods are always peasant dishes reworked with a delicate hand and fresh ingredients. For example, the best tasting gourmet pizzas have no more than three to five toppings.
Sumo294: You haven’t tried the sanchae bibimbap in Juwangsan National Park, then. It’s all as fresh as you can get.
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