King of Crabs: Ilsan, Korea 2009

Two weeks in Korea = Food Heaven!

So I will start with the seafood.........

King Crab

I had never tried King Crab before so was pretty excited about this. We stopped off in Ilsan (a city just North of Seoul) on our way back from the Imjin river and found a place that only sells crab. Its a pretty usual thing in Korea for the resturant to specialise in a particular type of food - so the question asked is often "what do you want to eat?" rather than "which restaurant do you want to go to?".

Anyway, so there is a guy at the front of the place who is the "tank man". He helps you choose one of the huge crabs swimming around in the big fish tank there. Well I say swimming. Wriggling would be a more accurate description since the poor things hardly have any space to move.

He then fishes it out and gives it to the restuarant who will cook it up for you. We sat down and were served an assortment of seafood related side dishes and within 10 minutes we had our freshly steamed crab in front of us cut up into sections. For anyone who has seen the Lost Boys, I was reminded of Michael's Texas Chainsaw Massacre comment when he opens the door to his grandfather's taxidermny workshop. Just check out the picture and you'll see what I mean!



Ok so it doesn't look pretty. But it was delicious. They give you a pair of scissors to cut open the shell and the meat comes out in big soft, white, tender chunks rather than the flakey meat of smaller species. You can dip in the hot sauce of course, although I prefer mine pure. Eaten with plum wine is great as it compliments the flavour.

I will try anything once, so I when the waitress took the crab away and brought it back with the brains mixed up with fried rice, I gave it a go. Not for me. Too bitter and worse is the knowledge of what it is. I think a few more attempts and I might get over the psychological barrier (as an ex-vegetarian of 11 years I now eat pigs trotters (Chokbal)without too much trouble which is an achievement!)

Yum, just thinking about it is making me hungry. hmm what do I have in the cupboard? Ah. baked beans. oh well.

Choices choices

Apologies to my small gathering of readers for my long absence. The big issues in life, and also moving house to a tiny kitchen sharing with 5 other people had somewhat put pay to my cooking whims.

Two weeks ago I returned from my third trip to Korea. The first trip was in 2005-6 teaching english, the second in 2007 for a holiday. But this one was pretty special for a few reasons. Firstly I visited Jeju Island off the South Coast which, contrary to some reports I had heard was stunning. Lush, green with volcanic rock formations and a beautiful coast I really couldn't fault it. Added to which I went on my own and found friends there at the guesthouse, and since one of these people was born on the island and knew the place like the back of his hand we all toured the island together.

Also this trip was special because I had to decide something really major. Can I live here again? Can I give up a life in the UK and make one here? This isn't an easy decision to make once you have embarked on a career and not one to be taken lightly. There are plus point and negative points in all places, it's just a question of balancing these with what your fundamental needs and ambitions are. Months of mental wrangling eventually led me to one conclusion. I had to go and visit again first.

I think the answer came to me in the first week of being in Korea. It was about 11pm and I was sat in the office of my Hapkido master's dojang chatting with his wife and playing with their baby daughter. My master had finished training for the night and he was using chiropractic technique to straighten out Ha Kyung's bad back while we sat and drank tea. I realised that I couldn't remember the last time I felt so at peace. It was like going back in time, like the last three years never happened. Some connections are never broken. After that, we went to a restaurant where we stayed, talking about hapkido, the world, everything until 6.30am. At the end of the day all anyone wants is to feel that they belong somewhere, and in Korea I am never alone.

Silly perhaps but there it is. And damn it I'll finally learn to speak Korean and cook Korean properly with any luck.

ok so back to the food.... my foody review of my trip is coming up in the next day.