고추튀김: Deep fried stuffed hot peppers

 Today school lunch contained a little surprise - much better than the usual surprises (unidentified hairs). Deep fried stuffed hot peppers! And you know the food's good when every classroom has a little sign above the lunch trays saying "you can only take ONE hot pepper".

I can't wait to find this stuff in the market so I can eat it all the time!

You can see the full process to make 고추튀김 here, on the webiste I stole this picture from.

Wolfhound coming to Busan?

According to its website, Seoul's famous Wolfhound Irish Pub and Restaurant will be opening a branch in Haeundae in November.

I, for one, am looking forward to enjoying a shepard's pie with a glass of cider this winter.

Apparently the donut cheeseburger has made it to Korea.

 The burger, also known as a Luther burger, was once called "the world's unhealthiest snack" by CBS.

Of course, there's been nothing to stop Koreans make the donut burger at home, since all the ingredients are readily available. Hopefully soon lotteria will release a donut shrimp burger, and then everybody will be happy.

Don't be bringing that squid in here!

Whale... it's what's for dinner.

Today's JoonAng Daily discusses the nominally illegal trade in whale meat in Korea. The focus is on Ulsan, a traditional whaling city. Although I am Australian (and our people and government are well known for their strong anti-whaling stance), I don't really have a problem with whaling or people eating whale.

If you do want to taste the biggest creature in the ocean, there in this post by Brian in Jeollanam-do on how to find it in Ulsan. In Busan, lonely planet (and greenpeace) affirm that it is available at Jalgachi Fish Market, although I don't recall seeing it there myself. Might have to read the labels more closely.

Apparently, "It’s an open secret among restaurant owners that environmental activists from Greenpeace send undercover investigators to Ulsan every year. They come to check the origins of the pricey whale meat served in local diners. A news report last week revealed that local police had raided two unlicensed warehouses in the city’s main port, Jangsaengpo. The cops found 60 tons of minke whale meat" So it would appear there is some enforcement of the anti-whaling rules in Korea. Try dobbing in a whale-meat smuggler in Japan and you might find yourself in gaol, as two Japanese greenpeace activists recently discovered.

 

Morocco Casablanca Restaurant, Gimhae

I realise it is a bit out of Busan, but if you can get there on the local bus, then it counts in my book. And here is some great food worth travelling for!

The Morocco Casablanca Restaurant in downtown Gimhae serves an excellent variety of genuine Moroccan food, at quite agreeable prices.

The Chicken Tajine is to die for, and there are some great couscous dishes on the menu as well. Better couscouse, in fact, than I've been able to find anywhere in Busan. Of course, they serve lamb, and any of our regular readers knows we are big fans of lamb here. Furthermore, the bread, made in-house in the mornings, is incredible.

Service is friendly and fast, without becoming intrusive, and the atmosphere is, well, authentic - with verses from the Koran booming out from the cd player and soccer on the TV.

Definitely skip Gimhae's Clayarch Museum and head straight here for a culinary experience well worth the long bus ride from Busan.

Location: Downtown Gimhae ( Sasang-dong, 82-42)
Phone: 010 - 5631- 0539
Cost: Mains 7,000+

Zooza, Seomyeon

Come hungry, leave happy?

Well, in any case, that the slogan of Zooza's, a new American-themed bar/restaurant. I don't think "leave happy" is quite correct... my feeling was more "leave wishing you'd ate somewhere else". This is Seomyeon after all. Unfortunately they've chosen to put Zooza's in Judie's Taehwa, which means you don't even have to leave the building to get better fare. Let me show you what I mean....

Ho-hum. Is this supposed to be carbonara? Make an effort next time, please.

OK, now what is this supposed to be. It looks kind of like a pizza. Well, not really. There are some toppings, most of which are onion, and some rather lost looking black olives. However, the real disgrace here is the crust. It's some sort of sweet pastry crust, like what you'd use it an apple tart or something like that. Seriously, I will happily eat pizza (even Dominoes) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week but I couldn't finish more than a slice of this rubbish. What were they thinking?

Well, the pizza was not the worst pizza I've has in Korea, but it was bad enough for me to say, don't risk it. Don't eat their food. Just eat somewhere else.

Some readers might think I'm being too harsh, but obviously they have not tried this crappy pizza. If you want me to say something nice about the place, well, they had some thick-cut french fries service that did not suck. There is a nice view from the windows and they have several TVs with different stations on them. And they have done a pretty good job of making it look like an Applebees or something.

Also, the staff smile alot, but they are really dim. They aren't even familiar with what's on their own menu. And service is painfully slow. You could order, get up, leave and order some real food, eat it and come back before your order arrived here. And that's what I'd recommend you do.

I suppose you could just come here to drink beer, if you were willing to wait for it.

Location: 4th floor, Judies Taehwa Building, Seomyeon.

Phone: 051-667-7666 (That explains the pizza!)

Vegetarian Option: Yes

English menu: Yes. Some of the staff speak English.

Prices:

Pasta and Hof food from 7,000

Pizza from 13,800

Set: (2 pasta, 1 pizza and beer) 28,500

There is steak too.... um... yeah.. good luck with that.