7D Korea Golden Rama Tour: First Meal in Seoul
When mom initially suggested to join a tour group to South Korea, I was not particularly interested about the idea. I went to South Korea before and I think it's more fun to go there on your own. However, I do realise that going on your own is easier done when you are travelling with friends instead of family. Lured by sponsored expenses by mom, I agreed to her idea and we signed up to join Golden Rama's 7D tour to South Korea. Golden Rama is one of the popular tour operator from Jakarta and Mom has heard pretty good review from her peers who joined tour packages from Golden Rama before. The name of the tour package is rather lengthy i.e. Favourite Jeju Ecoland + Petite France & Trick Eye Museum but in a gist, the tour package covers Seoul, Jeju Island, Mt Sorak and some attractions in Gyeonggido.
We met our tour guide, Nico, at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and took a night flight by Asiana Airlines to Incheon International Airport in South Korea. The flight took 7hrs+ and we were kinda relieved when we finally reached Incheon (more like our butt were relieved).
We met our tour guide, Nico, at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and took a night flight by Asiana Airlines to Incheon International Airport in South Korea. The flight took 7hrs+ and we were kinda relieved when we finally reached Incheon (more like our butt were relieved).
As the first leg of the tour itinerary involves visiting attractions which are located at Jeju Island, we practically did not have time to do a lot of stuff in Seoul except having a quick lunch before catching up our next flight at Gimpo Airport to Jeju Island. I could not read the name of the lunch venue but if you are able to read Hangul, well, this is the name of the restaurant.
As what the food display show us in front of the restaurant, this Korean restaurant specialises in spicy stir fried squid. Do you realise that a lot of restaurants in Korean drama has low table where diners are supposed to sit on the pillow on the floor? This restaurant has the exact same setting. It's gonna be hard on those people who can't sit on the floor but thankfully none of the our participants have difficulties sitting on the floor. LOL.
Price of the food served in this restaurant, if you are interested to know (and can read Hangul).
As usual, it is customary for Korean restaurants to serve banchan (re: side dishes). I was particularly curious on the side dish which is placed in the middle.
The tour guide explained to us that the white side dish is actually konyaku (something with jelly texture) but interestingly it is served with gochujang sauce. It is served cold and I'm not really sure if I like this kind of side dish to be honest with you despite the QQ texture.
Oh well, never mind the side dish, because all attention were directed at the big plate of seafood pajeon (re: Korean pancake) served on our table after that. I freaking love pajeon and this is the reason why you are supposed to eat in a group which at least consist of 4 people when you are having pajeon, because it's huge and filling.
Next is the rice which seems not supposed to be eaten on its own as it has some cabbages and scallions at the side. Korean rice is kinda different in texture compared to the Thai's rice or even Indonesian's rice. It's rounder in shape and texture-wise, it's those texture which is more suitable for sushi-making. Kinda similar to Japanese version of rice I suppose. The tour guide forbid us to eat the rice at the moment.
The reason is because we have to eat the rice together with the spicy stir fried squid, which I wish can be served in a bigger portion as we need to share this plate among the 4 of us. I see mostly veggies compared to the squid on the plate. Hmm. Feels like asking ahjumma to give us more squid but scared that she will throw tantrum and slap me with kimchi.
Okay, managed to mix rice + small bits of squid + veggie with the sauce of the spicy stir-fried squid as instructed by the tour guide. Oh right, talking about tour guide, Golden Rama provided us with service from local tour guide in addition to Nico. Her name is Jenny and she's so fluent in talking in Bahasa Indonesia.
Jenny also explained that clear soup always be a part of the meal. Initially, I thought the soup has mandu (re: Korean dumplings) inside but turns out they are just the skin of the dumpling with no meat inside. Hmm, kinda wondering what's the purpose of this soup but anyway, always keep an open-mind when dining in other countries.
Overall, our first meal in South Korea taste pretty good especially the pajeon and the spicy stir-fried squid. If only the ahjumma can give us more squids instead of cabbages. Must feedback to Golden Rama but not sure if they can help. Probably they are also scared of ahjumma slapping them with kimchi on their face. LOL.
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