To easily immerse and experience a country that you are visiting, trying their food is the quickest and one of the enjoyable ways. When we went to Seoul, South Korea below are the foods we tried that are not available yet here in Cebu (that I’m aware of). As we all know Samgyeopsal is already here in the Philippines and almost every Millenials love and tried it already so we stay away from it and look for foods that are not yet in the Philippines or Cebu.
Hotteok
Hotteok or hoddeok is one of the popular street food in South Korea. It has a similarity to our own Piyaya because it has a sweet filling and good to eat when it’s still warm. Unlike Piyaya that is flat Hotteok is more of a bread-ish pancake kind and fillings may differ from vendor to vendor but based on my observation red bead is the most common filling.
Grandma’s Toast
Well, this is a toasted bread sandwich in which the fillings are eggs with cabbages and carrots that are formed as “patty”, a sprinkle of sugar, and a little spread of ketchup. The “grandma” part is some sort of branding I guess, though it could be because the cook is an old woman. Grandma’s Toast is perfect as breakfast food though this can be a whole day food actually. We tried one in Namdaemun.
Egg Bun
This one is interesting, it’s a cake-like or muffin-ish bun with an egg inside. At first, I thought the sunny-side-up egg was on top but the egg is actually a boiled one that is sitting at the center of the bun while the tip is showing on top exposing the yolk.
Taffa-TA RAE
Taffa-ta rae or Korean court cake is a desert of the royals and guests. The fillings either chocolate or candied nuts (taste like Cebu’s Masi in Liloan) are covered by a thread-like dough of up to16,000 strands. If you eat it cold or frozen the thread dough will become fragile and powdery and not sticky anymore (though it’s not really that sticky – a dough kind of stickiness).
Tom’s Farm flavored nuts
I think it’s their famous snack as of now because I see this everywhere. I think the most famous one is walnut coated with honey butter cause they have this boutique in Myeongdong that carries the Honey Butter Walnut flavor (I assume this is their flagship flavor) though they have many flavors available.
Below are other street foods while exploring Myeongdong.
