Tiffany in Korea: Gobong Samgyetang 고봉삼계탕

Tiffany in Korea: Gobong Samgyetang

Amidst finals month, field work in Nigeria, job-hunting, and various reports for different stuff, I found the time (indulged) to come to Korea to attend my friend's wedding. I also started writing a more personal (random) blog with friends I met in Japan. 

It's only our second day here and already I feel right at home. After arriving at the airport, we headed for information to ask about where to get wifi. It's around 400 PHP a day to rent one and we felt that it would be very convenient (and affordable) to be connected (GOOGLE MAPS YES). 

We headed to Hotel President where I'm sharing a room with my Chinese friend, Xiao Xiao. It was perfect having her with us because apparently, so many Chinese work in Korea and everywhere we've been, she's our point person speaking to the different people (wifi person etc) in Chinese. She was also the only one who looked up good places to go to so when she suggested Gobong Samgyetang for dinner, we all just said LET'S GO! 

The restaurant is near exit 5 of Euljiro Station. Just go to the direction of Starbucks, turn left, see Fridays and it's by your right side.

Samgyetang (Php 590)

They are known for their samgyetang, a soup dish with a whole chicken stuffed with rice. It has different healthy herbs like ginseng. When we told Yuri, our Korean friend, the next day about having samgyetang, she also informed us that it's very nutritious and high in calories (good calories, yay?).

Just ordering samgyetang should be enough for you. We also ordered chijimi, which I thought wasn't good at all and sort of regretted ordering.

Gobong Samgyetang 고봉삼계탕

199-13 Euljiro 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

Tiffy in Korea: Korean Food & Milk Tea Ice Cream

Korean Food & Milk Tea Ice Cream
August 16, 2011
Tiffy in Korea


When I travel, I try to check out the selection of foodstuff at convenience stores and grocery stores because it's there that I get an idea of what kind of stuff people usually eat in that particular country. Well, that, and go to small canteen-type restaurants where they're bound to serve local food.

Back in August, I booked this particular trip because one of my good friends, Brandon (you might remember him from back when I was an exchange student in Nagoya), is now an English teacher in Korea. So it was the perfect time to book that ticket! Traveling in a country that your friends are in is the best.

My first morning in Korea, we hit a local canteen that delivers food to the offices around the area (including the school that my friend works at). It's his to-go-to place for meals and I wanted to eat authentic Korean food so...

Banchan 반찬

Dolsot Bibimbap 돌솥 비빔밥

Bibim Mandu 비빔만두 | Kimbap 김밥 

As I wasn't being as adventurous with my food as I ought to have been, I ordered a bibimbap which I always order at Korean restaurants here in the Philippines. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I also found out that bibimbap in the Philippines tastes different than that of the real thing. The one I had in Korea didn't have that strong of a flavor, as opposed to the sweet taste that the one I had before had.

The bibim mandu was amazingly good. Brandon was a guy who was a-ok with sharing (I MAKE THE MOST AWESOME FRIENDS EVER EVER) and I had some of it. Plus the kimbap (I don't really have an opinion on this one).

Korean food is pretty freaking healthy it's awesome.

But Milk Tea Ice Cream... what a disappointment!

I have always liked milk tea and I was pretty stoked at seeing it at a convenience store (I think it was a 7Eleven). But meh. It melted so fast (probably because it was summer) and it just tasted like frozen milk tea (probably because it was a popsicle? I can't read Korean) and I decided then and there never to eat milk tea ice cream ever again. Ever.