Seoul: Korea Samgyetang and Kkanbu Chicken

As the sun set on Seoul, we realized what a full day we'd had, crisscrossing Jongno, from breakfast on Supyo-ro, then off to Gyeongbokgung Palace  only to find that the palace was closed that. It was then onward to Bukchon Hanok Village, only to find that place crawling with tourists. Then deciding to walk to Changdeokgung Palace and a wonderful tour of the Secret Garden, followed by a walk through Insadong with lunch at Gogung. Whew. When evening hit, man, we were pretty hungry. The Missus had Samgyetang, ginseng chicken soup, on Her "wish list" and who am I to deny Her?

So we headed out....the Missus wanted a different route, so we headed down to the Cheonggyecheon Stream area, once an elevated freeway area and crossed over to the very busy Myeongdong area, bustling with post-work and pre-Christmas shoppers. Around this time of the year, lanterns adorn the stream.

Walking past Lotte Department Store, we headed in the direction of City Hall and soon heard some loud singing. It was this guy singing his heart out....unfortunately, it was just to an empty field of grass.

That didn't deter him from giving it his all though......

This palace is Deoksugung, which had evening hours. After getting the Missus Her Samgyetang we returned but decided one should only visit so many palaces a day and decided to pass.

A busy intersection and few blocks away was our destination; Korea Samgyetang, which claims to be the first Samgyetang Restaurant in Seoul, opening in 1960.

The place has four floors. We sat on the first floor which was pretty empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up. A mix of tourists and locals.

As the Missus loves Her Black Chicken, She ordered the Black Bone Chicken with Wild Korean Ginseng Broth and Abalone......which I think came out to something like $30!

Things started off with some panchan and some (free)ginseng wine, which I found a bit too medicinal for my taste.

I think I already mentioned how good the kkandugi was in Korea, this one was probably the best....not too salty, not bitter, slightly sweet, and with a nice crisp, but not hard texture. It must be the type of daikon used as the texture is totally different from what we have here in the states. That raw garlic...was quite potent.

Like I mentioned above; I'm not a big fan of Samgyetang and this didn't really change my opinion. Personally, kind of flat tasting, the abalone was very tough and hard.....same could be said for the black chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, dried dates, and ginseng. The Missus? She loves black chicken and really enjoyed this....

The place sure does get busy. As we were finishing up, a group of Thai arrived. When we were leaving I started cracking up as I saw a Ziploc bag of Thai Chilies being passed around from person to person.

The service was efficient, if not a bit perfunctory. I was happy for the Missus.....

Korea Samgyetang
55-3 Seosomun-dong
Jung-gu, Seoul

And while Samgyetang is traditionally "hot weather" food, the Missus seemed energized by all that rubbery chicken and ginseng floating around in Her belly, so we decided to walk around for a bit.

King Taejo, who founded the Joseon Dynasty, chose Seoul to be the Capitol in 1392. Security of the center of government was important to Taejo, so he ordered that a wall be constructed to protect his city. The wall had 8 gates, which also is the number of mountains which surrounds the city. So you'll come across many gates during a visit. This one is Souimun (Seosomun).

I was again struck by the contrast of the ancient and modern in Seoul......

We made our way back in a roundabout way, finally deciding to walk along Cheonggyecheon Stream to admire the lanterns.

We fully intended to stop when we got to the apartment, but for some reason we just kept on walking down Jongro....pass a shopping street where the Missus said, "you can't go down there....you're too old."

Somehow, we ended up back near Supyo-ro and I was feeling a bit hungry. I remembered a "KFC" (that would be "Korean Fried Chicken") place I saw the previous evening and was suddenly hungry. You can't go to Seoul without getting some KFC, right?

Which how we ended up at Kkanbu Chicken........

We ordered the Crispy Chicken, which came with a bowl of popcorn (?!?) and water kimchi. Man, this was like a whole chicken!

The chicken was super crisp, the batter very light, the chicken very moist.....but the flavor seemed bland and in need of seasoning to us. The Missus looked at me and said, "you'd kill for a bottle of Crystal hot sauce right now wouldn't you?" The chicken sure did need a bit of flavor and something to cut all of that...friedness. Some of my Roasted Ghost Pepper hot sauce would have been killer...heck, if I'm coming back to Seoul, I might invest in those tiny keychain bottles of tabasco!

On a cute note; there was a young couple who sat on the table next to us. We saw some kind of fruity soda and a mug of beer arrive at the table. To crash those stereotypes; it was the tiny young lady who had the mug of beer and the guy had the soda. I did notice that the girl only ate the kimchi and nothing else though, which I found kind of strange...the guy just whacked the whole chicken.

The service was nice, though I was really looking forward to the KFC place I had on my list scheduled for a few nights later.

Kkanbu Chicken
202 Nagwon-dong
Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea 

By this time I was kind of feeling all those miles and I was looking forward to hitting the sack. But it was not to be...at least not right away. As we got to the highrise where our apartment was located, the Missus kept on walking.....we ended back up on Sejong-ro on Gwanghwamun Square, staring at the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin.

As we got back to the apartment the Missus looked at Her smartphone and said "perfect....we just put in 20 miles of walking today!"

What?!? I needed a shower and a good night of sleep.......

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Milgwimper]

Hi Kirk! I am so happy you are having fun in Korea. Sorry about the disappointing soup and chicken. I am glad the missus enjoyed her black bones chicken. I am surprised they did not give you a chili salt to dip the chicken into, or red pepper powder if you wanted it more spicy for the Samgyetang. The chicken should have been eaten with the radish. I have to have radish with every bite of chicken or it is too rich to eat. Didn't they have any other flavoured chicken? Sorry the chicken was a disappointment. I can't wait to see what else you end up eating.

[Junichi]

20 miles?! Holy cow. That's like PCT hiking mileage. Too bad the chicken was bland.

[kat]

holy mini marathon must've been all that powerful garlic:)

[Kirk]

Hey Mills - We did eat the chicken with the daikon....it was still quite bland. They have several typical flavors; sweet and spicy, garlic, etc.... But hey, you've got to try it straight up first.

Hi Junichi - I'm glad the Missus didn't tell me the mileage we had put in....I would have quit.

Sure wasn't the Samgyetang Kat!

[milgwimper]

Kirk: too bad the chicken sucked. :( I agree the straight up should have been good as the flavoured. The one thing Ireally enjoyed about Korea the last I was there was all the walking. I ate so much and still lost weight. Yeah enjoyed is probably not the word. :)

[Kirk]

It did mean that I could eat anything I wanted Mills......and I've kinda gotten used to all the walking when on vacation. But 20 miles was a bit much.