Three Meals a Day

I've been keeping a fairly consistent routine with my meals and eating habits so far.

For breakfast, I'll usually have eggs and toast with either some mini weiners or a piece of crabmeat. Sometimes I have cold cereal and milk. I haven't found oatmeal yet, which was my normal weekday breakfast back in Canada.

For lunch, my standard meals are ramen noodles, curry and rice, or fried rice with shrimp.  Any new experiences with Korean cuisine come almost exclusively during those lunchtimes when a teacher takes me out to a nearby restaurant. Usually, it's some sort of ultra-spicy noodles, but we've also had sushi, Chinese food, and a variety of seafood soups.  Once school resumes it's regular schedule, I will be eating lunch in the school cafeteria with the students and teachers.

For dinner, I'll have whatever standard meal I didn't have for lunch, or often I'll pick something up at the grocery store like a sushi set or a bbq chicken/shrimp and eat that on white rice and mix in some broccoli. Sometimes, I go to Lotteria for a fast-food chicken burger or cheeseburger.

I buy whatever snacks look interesting at the time.  And there is no shortage of interesting snacks in Korea.

I visit the grocery store a few times per week since I have to carry everything about 10 minutes back to my apartment. I decided to make my life easier and made one large online order to fill up my pantry. G-Market is a popular online service in Korea, like Amazon.com. So far, I've bought steamed rice, instant curry, and several different kinds of ramen, as well as garbage bags and a novel, all from G-Market. They have everything!

Pantry after an online order

To push myself out of my comfort zone and to get to know the neighbourhood a little better, I've had take-out meals for three consecutive Friday evenings. I walk into the restaurant, do my best to communicate and order, then I take the food home and hope I ordered the correct thing. I figure, what's the worst that could happen? So, I just swallow my nerves and go to a restaurant.

Bulgogi kimbap

Tuna kimbap

My first outing was to a shop that specializes in kimbap. This is Korea's version of the sushi roll but usually without the raw fish. When I first arrived in Busan my co-teacher picked up some kimbap from this shop for our first meal. I ordered two tasty kimbap rolls - bulgogi (thin marinated beef slices) and tuna for a total of 7,000₩. I had some coaching from my co-teacher before venturing to a restaurant alone. She explained that the staff would understand the word "takeout" and "tuna". I also did my own research on kimbap and decided that I wanted to try kimchi kimbap.  I walked into the restaurant, said "takeout" to the staff and got an affirmative answer. I said "tuna" and she replied, "kimbap?" I nodded, and we were on a roll. Then I said "kimchi kimbap" and she said "no".  Uh-oh, a snag. I looked at the posted menu, and of course, it was all in Korean. I said, "another kind of kimbap?" and the staff, in her broken English, translated for me, "cheese kimbap", "spicy kimbap", "bulgogi kimbap"...  I agreed to the bulgogi kimbap, and she was evidently pleased with her ability to communicate in English.

Donkkaseu

The next week I decided to try a restaurant next to my apartment. I really enjoyed tonkatsu, which is a very common meal in Japan. It's a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet with sauce and in Korea it's called donkkaseu. This time I walked into the restaurant and was immediately greeted by an older lady, probably one of the owners. I figured English wouldn't work in this situation, but I gave it a try. "Takeout?"  She nodded and pointed to the menu posted on the wall. Again, it was entirely in Korean, but thankfully had pictures. I pointed to the top option. She confirmed that I only wanted one order, then set off with instructions for the cook. This encounter was more pressure because there were other customers in the restaurant staring at me the whole time. One slip up and they would think I didn't know how to order donkkaseu! For 7,500₩ I received the set meal and it was worth the effort.

Seasoned fried chicken set with french fries

For my third attempt at take-out, I couldn't resist the Thunder Chicken restaurant that I've walked past every day for two months. I walked in and immediately the cook pointed to a pile of menus. I opened it, and yes, an English menu! I flipped through and after seeing a picture of the chicken dripping with sauce, the seasoned chicken was the obvious choice. I asked for take-out. The cook made a gesture of carrying a bag, then he went to work. This was one of those restaurants not really set up for single customers. There were no meals for one. If I wanted chicken, I had to get a box of ten full pieces, at least. So, while this set cost 15,500₩, I had enough food for at least two meals. Not sure I'll ever go back to dine in, but the chicken was pretty good. It had a sweet chili slow burn and the sauce was incredibly thick and sticky. This was the first time that I actually over-ate in Korea. The set came with a mix of seasoned and crinkle-fries, and what I thought was dessert. It looked like a pack of cut-up apples or pears, but it turned out to be pickled radish, I think. I tried to translate the package, but all Google Translate could do for me was explain that it was "pickled food".

In the coming days and weeks, I'll continue to use food to explore Busan and experience Korea. I hope this gets easier as I learn more Korean and more about Korean food.