Food is really an expression of our personalities and our cultures and our history.
It's something that you can share with someone and it creates an experience and a memory.
Korean food, not the only thing you find here.
Food and soul is becoming really diverse.
These days you can find anything.
There are so many different little pockets in neighborhoods where you can find authentic
foreign food.
I think the diversity is partly because of the foreign community.
It's really growing a lot more.
It's really interesting to see too the way that Koreans are adapting to these new flavors
and new cultural food and they really have that respect for the unique or the authentic
and I think it's really helping things grow.
I can never really get tired of eating Korean food because there's just so many different
kinds of Korean food and Korean dishes that I can eat every day and I think what the world
knows or people outside of Korea, what people know of Korean food is so limited.
My name is Sarah Lee and I'm from Chicago and I've been in Korea for about two and a half years.
I moved to Korea because I wanted to learn as much as I can about Korean food and eventually
take it back home.
Sarah works as an apprentice at Bean Table, a restaurant that takes a thoughtful and organic
approach with traditional Korean cuisine.
Hucked away in the hills of Songnam, we were greeted by a lush landscape, the perfect backdrop
for the multi-course menu specially prepared by Chef Won Il Lee.
What's the overall concept here?
What's Bean Table all about?
It's very simply farmed to table.
Chef Lee, he really tries to preserve all the authentic flavors with just modern plating.
We make our own tofu and so, tofu is used in most of the menu items.
We have this small farm that we get some of our produce and fruits and vegetables.
So how long have you been working out here?
A few weeks, actually.
Yeah, I've been coming here as a guest for over a year since they opened.
What helped you make the transition from guest to employee?
A lot of persuasion.
I try to persuade him to take me as an apprentice.
I wanted to join their team here because I really wanted to see what they have going
on with Korean food and just the type of training that we get here.
You can't find that in schools and Chef Lee, he's really good with just educating every
little detail like the history, the products, like why we use them in produce or in meats
or everything.
So in that respect, I kind of wanted to come here and learn from him.
What kind of training does he have, what sort of separates him from a lot of other people?
One thing that I appreciate about Lee is that he's one of the few young chefs who have such
devotion about Korean food.
From what I hear from him and other chefs, especially the chefs in Korea, they really
pursue Western cuisine and Italian, French.
And you don't see too many young chefs, up-and-coming chefs really just really pushing Korean food
and trying to make it global.
What I'm learning here and what I've learned the last few years, it's like I want to continue
that and possibly bring being table over to the state.
So this is something you guys have talked about already, like sort of starting to lay
the groundwork for laying the business floor?
Yes.
Are you guys hungry yet?
Yeah, I'm definitely hungry.
Okay, we're going to bring out some food for you guys.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, thanks.
You're welcome.
Wow, that looks amazing.
We've got Korean hobak juice, which is like pumpkin porridge, and this is cold kimchi
soup.
Oh, it's so good.
Done again.
What did you say?
So much.
What did you say?
Do you say going to get fat?
Our approach is to use the most fresh and organic ingredients to create authentic Korean
recipes and dishes.
Oh my goodness.
Wow.
Two different kinds of jeon, we've got kimchi jeon, and we have a tofu pork with assorted
vegetables.
What draws me to Korean food is, I think the most obvious for me is that I'm Korean,
and I really want to carry that on and to share that and to share what I know about Korean
food.
It's a little different from the typical hongap-tang or the mussel soup that you find in other
restaurants.
Here, Chef Lee, he actually adds a little bit of a tomato.
Oh my God, the tofu is amazing.
It's so creamy and nutty.
You never ever taste anything like this in a grocery store.
The approach that Chef Lee has and what he's brought here is that he uses authentic Korean
recipes, doesn't lose the flavors and the textures and the taste.
We've got the next course.
This is called samap, a combination of three.
So we have bulgogi, tofu, and washed kimchi.
The washed kimchi, it's a little different from just white kimchi.
Basically, they get the red kimchi and they actually just wash it off.
So you kind of have both flavors.
It's quite interesting.
The way to eat this, eat a little bit of tofu, the meat, and the kimchi together.
I feel like a kid here playing with my toys, kind of stack it all up.
It almost looks like a s'more.
It's funny because I always worry about if my parents came to visit and where I would
take them to eat because they're really picky about everything they eat.
But these mussels and this here are positive that they would really, really get into this.
Anyone who is new to Korean food, they can eat it very comfortably, which is pretty cool.
And so Korean natives, foreigners, they all enjoy what we offer here.
This is something you might not know because I will explain.
The smell is so familiar.
This is actually a new item that's going to be on our menu soon.
Perlucid, sundubu, sujebi.
And this is kandengjang, like very strong fermented doenjang soup.
You can mix the panchan and the soup with the rice or you can eat it separate.
I'm addicted to this now.
I know it's real.
I don't want to stop eating it.
Chef Lee's amazing meal left us completely stuffed.
So we decided to step out into the garden to work off our lunch.
These are all really huge.
With summer's end, the earth was erupting with vegetables.
Let's pull it out.
Oh, that was so easy.
I told you.
That's true.
You guys want to harvest some carrots?
Yeah, let's take a look.
Okay, so you want to grab a bunch at a time, not just like one.
Expert.
Oh.
Really cute, huh?
Yeah, yeah.
How'd you become interested in food and cooking?
Back in Chicago, my family had a ginseng farm years ago.
So my mom had a samgyetang restaurant.
Growing up, I didn't really eat a lot of Korean food.
That sounds really funny because my mom, she's an amazing chef.
But in college, I craved everything.
Everything Korean.
So then did you end up coming to Korea to visit your mom's family,
or just to learn more about Korean food?
I came here to work for this one chef,
but also to learn more about Korean food.
And my mom, we had this really crazy discussion that she's like,
you know, why do you have to go to Korea to learn how to cook Korean food?
I can just teach you.
Yeah.
That's true.
And you know, I'm, thank you.
But it's different, you know, learning from your mom and having that experience
and a little bit of the adventure, but I kind of wanted change.
I just wanted to do something different, but also if I want to learn more about Korean food,
this would be the place.
Sure, yeah.
I had a passion for food before I came to Korea,
but here I think it really hit home.
Now, does it feel different working here in this kitchen versus, you know,
working in your mom's kitchen?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Actually, a lot of times you wouldn't even let me chop or prep.
Really?
She's so picky with how things are done, like really.
But I think sometimes moms could be like that.
Yeah, sure.
Are you really nervous about going back?
And you know, every time I go back, which is usually about like once a year.
Yeah.
Reverse culture shock.
You know, like I've lived in Chicago my whole life, but I don't know.
I'm used to certain things here and out that maybe I took advantage of it before.
And yeah, I think it will be hard at first, but you know, it's always good to be with family
and I can always come back here.
I love gardening.
You should see some of our neighbors.
Huge gardens just on the rooftop.
Did they ever share there?
No, unfortunately, we don't know them very well.
We just moved into a new place.
That's why you have to be friends with them.
Yeah, yeah.
I saw you.
Bring them some beer.
Yeah, we'll trade them beer for produce.
That's a good trade.
I like that idea.
Music
Especially when I moved to Korea, food was the easiest way to contact Korean culture.
Also, it's an integral part of your life.
You have to eat to survive, so it should be good.
I'm Megan Mastriani.
I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and I've lived in Seoul for two years.
I'm a food writer, and I write for several different publications.
I love writing.
I've always been a writer, and I think just sharing it with people,
and I've had a lot of people tell me,
oh, I went to this restaurant because you recommended it and it was great.
So even if we're not sharing a meal together,
it allows us to share a meal somehow and share the experience.
We're in Daedim, which is the neighborhood where I live,
and it's a pretty special neighborhood because it's known for this...
It's not a Chinatown, but there is a few blocks where there are Chinese markets
and really authentic good Chinese food.
We joined Megan for a wander around the market.
At first glance, it looked like a regular neighborhood shijong,
but for avid cooks, these stalls offer some rare and hard-to-find ingredients.
I can find a lot of things that I can't find at a typical Korean market like cilantro.
I like to cook with cilantro, making salsas or pho or those kinds of things.
This one is one of the more Chinese of the stalls here.
You can see all the cilantro. You can smell it in the air.
And they also have things like these mooncakes.
This is a... It's pretty heavy, right?
Yeah, it's so dense.
Yeah, they're really dense. They have these, and they also have...
You can see it over there. These are called thousand-year-old eggs.
Wow.
And they're basically rotten.
Oh, wow.
They bury them underground and just kind of let them do their thing.
They're very pungent. They're very strong.
Have you tried them?
I've tried it. It's kind of an acquired taste.
Do you experiment a lot with cooking or with just where you eat and things like that?
You do have to change the way you cook, definitely.
The way I cook has changed because the typical ingredients that you would use back home
that I would use in Georgia are so expensive here or difficult to find here
and it just doesn't make sense to cook that way.
It makes sense to use what's around you.
So this is actually... This is one of the places where I buy my den jang.
Oh, cool.
And they have different kinds that I've never even seen before.
Yeah, you can see some are darker, some are lighter, the red's extra aged.
I have gochujang, which is made from red peppers.
It looks like they make it right here.
They've got the pepper mill.
The huge bag.
So did you guys notice these giant buckets of salt?
Yeah.
Yeah, they're pretty fantastic.
It looks like snow.
It looks like you just want to take it and eat it.
It's always a treat to try the street food as well
because it's different from other markets you see.
This is the best place.
It's the best place to get spicy noodles.
Megan took us to Bong Jo Mae Woong Tong,
a shop that serves authentic Sichuan style noodle bowls.
Yeah, it looks really good.
Yeah.
There's a lot of dishes that I've never seen.
I'm not really familiar with.
In Korea, they have like the Korean Chinese food,
the jajangmyeon and jajangmyeon.
Yeah.
This is not like that.
This is authentic Sichuan food
and I don't even know the names of a lot of what I order.
I just know what I like and I pray that somebody else has it on their table
so that I can get one of those and one of those.
Yeah.
I really like it because it feels like a hidden gem.
It's like an Ajit kind of place.
If you go at lunchtime, it's almost always full.
Sometimes you have to wait,
so I think that's a sign that it's really good.
I think we should try the most popular one,
but I don't know the name of it.
Do you have two famous noodles?
Yes, it's spicy.
It's good with the onion, malatang, and fried noodles.
What would you like?
Malatang.
Malatang.
Do you have two Malatang noodles?
Yes.
Okay.
Thank you.
They have these really thin soy noodles that I like
and if you go there, you can sometimes see the woman
cutting it into these very thin slices.
Wow.
Wow.
This just, it looks so spicy.
It's like all the red colors.
It's like bright red.
Oh, God.
Yeah, so you can see all of this on top.
This is all this tongue-numbing spiciness.
So we should mix it well.
It tastes better.
And you can see, so on top, this is the knife cut noodle.
Oh, wow.
And it's kind of sticky, so you can like pull it apart.
And then underneath, you'll see the glass noodles
if I can get to them down here.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So, thank you.
And this one is actually my favorite one.
It is quite spicy, but temperature-wise, it's cold.
And it also has this meat substitute protein
and some long noodles and some bean sprouts
and a nice sprinkling of cilantro on top.
How do you guys handle spicy?
Can you handle it?
I don't mind a little bit of spice.
You got me a little nervous.
Yeah, this looks really good.
What do you think?
Really good.
Yeah?
Very different.
Yeah.
This one's kind of like sour a little bit.
Yeah.
The sour flavor is truly nice.
Yeah.
Even the cold, like spicy and cold is something you know,
get a lot except for like something like
naengmyeon, like the bibim naengmyeon or something like that.
Yeah.
I've been a southern girl my whole life
and southern food is really rich.
It's very carb-heavy.
It's very cheese-heavy.
It's very fat-heavy.
So, how do the flavors in Korea compare to southern food?
Totally different.
Totally different.
I would say maybe the thing they have in common is spiciness.
And the southerner is really like spicy salsa
and like peppers.
But apart from that, totally different.
I like the flavors that we don't have in southern food,
the very sour or, you know, sometimes medicinal flavors
or very fermented flavors.
So, that was a whole new world to me.
Each neighborhood has like such a unique feeling.
There's always these hidden spots you go to.
That's part of why I think I will stay here longer
and part of why I love it is because
if you explore Seoul on a micro level,
you could never stop because there is so much diversity.
Every neighborhood has, like you were saying,
every neighborhood has something different to offer
and it's incredibly vibrant.
I'm glad we came out to this neighborhood.
Yeah, me too. This is fantastic.
This is on the list now of like must-go places.
Seoul is known for an abundance of late-night eateries
from street vendors to pojang machas.
It's easy to find a quick and delicious snack.
We headed to Haibongchon to check out a sandwich shop
called Casablanca.
Run by two brothers, Wahid and Karim.
The Moroccan-inspired sandwiches have created a cult following.
Most nights, they sell out completely.
This is kind of, if I would say, a sandwich chonggu.
My name is Nasiri Abdul Wahid.
I am from Morocco and I've been in Korea for seven years.
The only thing that I focused on before opening was
make it really simple and make a variety.
What are the ingredients in the sandwiches?
It comes with an aioli sauce
and we drizzle it with a French vinaigrette
that I use preserved lemon essence with it.
Out of your sandwiches, which ones sell the most?
Is there one that's most popular?
It's the chicken.
Oh, yeah.
And also, never forget about the makgeuda.
Boiled potatoes, spices, garlic, and then deep-fry.
Do a lot of Korean people eat the sandwiches?
Do they like it a lot?
Yes, now, yes.
That was one of my biggest worries in the beginning
when I started because I didn't really want to change
anything of the flavors and the spices I used.
But it turned out that Koreans really appreciate
and now enjoy what we are doing.
Did you guys both come here together?
Come to Seoul together?
Karim came three months after I opened
and I opened first and it was really hard
and we've been talking about it
and Karim told me,
okay, you open and we'll see.
So he waited until you were successful
and then he decided to come?
He came over and saved you.
Yeah, he came to save me, yeah.
My first fall in love with food was back in Morocco.
I was still a kid and I used to work during summer vacations
at our father's restaurant.
What kind of restaurant did your father have?
It's a restaurant for taxi drivers.
Oh, that's cool.
There is not a menu
and the taxi drivers would come
with their bags full of food
and they just give you the bag and tell you,
okay, I want you to cook this way for me.
Oh, they just tell you to surprise me.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So that's pretty cool.
You guys will do the same thing for me
if I come here and drop off a bag of food for you?
It's very wet.
Yeah, that would be fun.
I'll come in with a big leg of lamb.
I'll be back in two hours.
Surprise me.
In Seoul, the variety in late night eating can be endless.
So we headed to Apgujeong
to meet Sarah after her shift at bean table.
She said there was one more place we just couldn't miss.
Oh, my God.
This is my favorite hot dog.
It looks delicious.
Do you like bacon?
Bacon? And chili?
Cheese?
Okay, bacon, chili, cheese?
Yeah.
And he'll customize a lot of the hot dogs,
putting out what you want.
Yeah, that sounds really good.
He has a special chili sauce that he adds.
There's a little bit of cream flair or something.
I can't really pinpoint.
He won't tell me.
I'm really hungry right now.
Yeah, sure.
Once it gets late, you know,
you get that craving and you get that sort of like,
I don't know, do you find like when you get later at night,
do you crave things from America
or do you crave Korean food?
Comfort food.
Both, both, yeah.
Even for me, it goes both ways.
Yeah, especially when I drink,
I crave hot dogs and burgers.
Eric gets hot dog cravings.
Oh, really?
Hot dog and cracker.
I get macaroni and cheese cravings.
The other day I came home, I was like,
so burnt out and I came home and like,
I had a beer and ate a whole box of macaroni and cheese
and like fell asleep holding the bowl
with like just like barely a spoonful left.
How did you end up finding this place?
A friend of mine, she introduced it to me.
I got addicted and I don't know,
it's been pretty bad ever since.
Having those sort of those places that you're regular
and having those places where you go and eat
and you bring your friends to,
it does, I feel like that's sort of like being back home.
You know, you're like, oh, I got these five spots
and even though you're from New York,
and it's like we're eating hot dogs,
like sure, in New York there's a lot of hot dogs,
but this is like soul hot dogs and it's really cool
and you've got to check it out.
Oh, thank you.
Wow.
Oh, my.
Oh, wow.
Okay, so how do we eat this?
We just push it up.
Yeah, you push it up and it's really nice.
Just put the contraption, yeah.
Yeah, make it, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
We're going to get in the center.
Oh, I'm working.
Mm-hmm.
It's amazing.
Oh, so good.
Sarah, thanks so much for taking us here.
This is amazing.
You know, there's always these little stops
and it's so great to share them with people
and it's so great to say, like,
I found this awesome thing that I want you to know about
or that I know you're going to appreciate
like as much as, you know, as much as I do.
I think it's so you can find pretty much everything.
You know, it just, it might take some time,
but you could find almost anything.
Sure.
I think that's pretty cool.
Well, thanks again.
It's delicious.
Let's, uh, let's finish these dogs.
Yeah.
Looks really good.
This hits the spot.
Yeah.
This is definitely on the list.
I can imagine the after-food drinks coming here
would be delicious.
So good!
Oh!
Oh, sorry.
Thank you.
You know you're my favorite, so good.
No, no, no.
Oh, God, y'all are a camera.
Wow.
So good.
So good.
So good.
