@chocolatesuze The viral fried chicken #kyochonpilbang #seoul #korea #itaewon #koreanfriedchicken #koreanfood ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

One thing Korea has absolutely nailed is Korean fried chicken and a must visit is Kyochon Pilbang in Itaewon where the non-descript entrance had us walking past a few times before we spotted a giant paintbrush that you have to pull to enter.

Walk through paint brush filled lobby and into the main dining room where there’s a paintbrush feature swirling in mysterious smoke and is meant to symbolize how much care the restaurant puts into each brush stroke of sauce.

To test this we have ordered the signature chicken platter which comes with different sauces we can paint onto the chicken. I love this concept because I hate how sometimes the sauce can be too overpowering or just too much of it which makes the chicken soggy before I’m ready to eat The chicken was incredible, super juicy and tender and with the most earth shatteringly crisp skin. I loved the honey butter sauce the most for that sweet and salty kick followed by the spicy chilli which had a decent level of burning. And of course what is a meal of fried chicken without some beer to wash it all down.

@chocolatesuze Incredible quality Hanwoo beef #majangmeatmarket #seoul #korea #kbbq ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

Another day another market and today’s adventure was at Majang Meat Market which is the largest meat market in Korea! I’d had Hanwoo beef previously and wasn’t super impressed by it so on our second last day in Korea JY and I rugged up for the cold and ventured out.
Each stall at the market will have meat displayed at the front with prices clearly labelled, majority are beef but there were a few selling pork. All up we bought nearly a kilo of meat for around $150. Goods secured we asked a vendor for their recommendation on which restaurant to go to and he led the way upstairs. For around S10pp you get the use of the charcoal grill and then another S5 if you want sauces and banchan and there’s a touch screen if you want to order any additional items like drinks, mushrooms or ramyun. The meat is definitely high quality with the perfect amount of marbling and has ruined me for all other kbbqs because this is now the standard I will be wanting.

We had also gotten some pork jowl which was super fatty and may have accidentally set alight so defs learn from us and cook at a lower temp. Highly recommend getting the abalone as well, we grilled them in a foil tin with a lot of butter and it was incredible. Another highlight were the slabs of cheese, grilled to melty perfection and of course ramyun to end the meal.

@chocolatesuze The abalone was insane #noryangjin #noryangjinfishmarket #seoul #koreanseafood #korea ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

I love visiting markets whenever I’m travelling and the Noryangin Fish Market in Seoul was high on my bucket list. I booked a tour on Klook for $180 AUD per person which is defs on the pricey side but I was worried we wouldn’t be able to communicate with vendors when purchasing seafood. Honestly next time I would chance it and use a translator app, yes the vendors do get a little pushy and try to direct you to buy from their stall but just walk faster or embrace the hustle. Our tour guide took our group quickly through the market before stopping at her preferred stall when she purchased a variety of seafood and then we were led upstairs to a restaurant who would cook our bounty.

All the seafood was of course super fresh, the raw fish sashimi plate had olive flounder, red snapper and amberjack which I loved eating on perilla leaves.

I tried a super small piece of the live octopus but probably wouldn’t eat again, I loved the perfectly cooked clams and scallops and the abalone in particular were incredibly tender.
A plate of simply grilled salmon belly with a sprinkle of salt was beautifully fatty and the restaurant used the bones and offcuts in a spicy soup with hand torn noodles. Last but not least was the abalone congee which was so deeply flavourful and rich and dessert was fresh pineapple and a pineapple sorbet.

@chocolatesuze Clam bbq #myeongdong #seoul #jogabi #clam #kbbq #korea #koreanrestaurant ♬ original sound – ChocolateSuze

So we’ve all heard of Korean bbq but I was very excited for seafood bbq at Jogabi in Myeongdong. We ordered the seafood tower for about $70 aud and luckily the staff cook for you because we would’ve hated to overcook the seafood! The tower comes with scallops, clams and a giant tairagai also known as a pen shell clam. We picked at our banchan and drank soju while everything was cooking and everything was perfectly juicy and tender. There’s also a foil tray holding molten stretchy cheese but actually the seafood was delicious just in its own juices.
I also couldn’t resist ordering the Shin Ramen filled with mussels, calamari and prawns because I’ve just become so used to having some kinda soup with my meals.