김밥천국 - Hongdae, Seoul

I always thought and assumed that only dishes with meat taste good.  Whether it's s a lot of meat or just a tiny bit of meat, there just has to be some meat.  Koreans changed my mind.  I like their dishes but most of them have no meat in them!  Why?  What did they add into their food to make it tasty without meat?  I stayed in Hongdae while I travelled to Seoul during Christmas and this place is nearby.  We didn't have much expectation from it.  It's tiny and the furnishing wasn't great at all.  The pricing was cheap.  I kind of expected food that would just be good enough to swallow.  To my surprise it was quite tasty.  Because there was barely any meat, it was quite freshening to eat as we have been eating super greasy food the previous few days.  I also how colorful the food is with the different vegetables.

Why is kimbap tasty with barely anything inside?  Is it all because of the sesame oil they brush on the top?

Here is a warm temperature version of the rice in the first picture of the post.  We accidentally ordered 2.  One hot in a stone pot (but it wasn't stone), and one in a regular bowl.  As you can see, the only thing close to meat is the fried egg.  The rest is just veggies. Mixed the rice well with chilli paste and the flavors goes very well together.

Love this tofu hotpot.  Tasty!  Their tofu is so soft and smooth.  The soup is not too spicy.  I can't really take spicy food at all.  In another restaurant, I ordered a mildly spicy fried chicken, I ended up crying, coughing, and super runny nose from eating their so call "mildly spicy" chicken.  Koreans have a totally different definition on spiciness than me.  What I consider spicy, they consider it to be non-spicy.  This tofu hotpot's spiciness is just right though.  Mix the soup with the rice and it's just a perfect match.  I also love how chewy their rice is.  Not too soft or hard.  I hate soft mushy rice.  I never ran into this problem when eating rice in Korea though.

They have a few side dishes too!

This was a breakfast for 3 people.  Obviously, it was way too much.  Luckily, my two friends eat a lot.  They managed to cleared the table.  For everything we order, the bill was only about 19,000 won, which is less than USD$19!  I want to go again.

This place is at point A of "Places Part 2" on the map.

Chi