October 18, 2010

comfort food, korean style

I'm back! Sorry for my lack of posts - I spent all last week in bed watching reruns of Who's The Boss and 90210. And trying to get over a terrible cold. I finally no longer have to blow my nose every ten seconds or smell like vapor rub! Yay! And after a week of not being able to really enjoy food, the first thing I wanted was soon du bu. Soon du bu is a delicous Korean hot and spicy soft tofu soup that you eat with rice. Its the perfect thing to eat on a cool fall day.

My favorite Korean restaurant in the city is Jong Ka Jib Soft Tofu Restaurant in North Philly. I just wish it was closer! You can't get there by subway - so we drove which took us about 30 minutes. There are a few Korean restaurants downtown (my favorites are Giwa and Pastoral) but it's definitely worth the drive to go to Soft Tofu Restaurant. YUM YUM YUM.

It isn't a proper Korean meal without the banchan (side dishes). They gave us five different kinds - spicy cucumbers, soybeans (they were sweet but also savory), spicy radish, bean sprouts, and of course kimchi (the eggs were for the soon du bu). I think I would've been pretty satisfied with the banchan and some rice - everything was so good.

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We also got the Korean pancake. Nothing like the pancakes you eat for breakfast - these pancakes are savory and often have scallions and other vegetables and seafood. Ours had scallions and squid:

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And of course the soon du bu!! I got the seafood one - it had shrimp, clams and mussels and Eric got the mushroom one. MMM, I think I could eat this at least once a week.

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I was also in the mood for kabli, but Eric doesn't eat beef - hard to imagine that a meat lover like myself could date someone who doesn't like beef right? It was tough at first, but after five years, I'm starting to get over it. So instead of getting kalbi which is the Korean version of bbq ribs, I ordered the bbq pork ribs. I have to say, the beef ribs are MUCH better.

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Seems like a lot of food for two people? Well, you're right. But I love leftovers, so I'm not complaining!!

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