豪华海鲜面

虽然Gumi的Juno Hotel一点都不象真正的酒店(真的，那房间感觉总是很暧昧），但我一点也不在意，因为它的地点位置实在是很棒的！想找好吃的食物总是易如反掌，总是惊喜处处。

就在酒店转角处，有家简简单单的“中国”餐馆（当然，你别把它当中餐厅就行了），怎么看都是家再传统不过的朴实韩国餐馆。我们到那儿时已经略过午餐时间了，却仍然座无虚席。我很有信心这次错不了。哈哈！

由于语言不通，我们点菜是跑到广告海报前指指点点才成功要了三碗不一样的海鲜面。我们在等上菜时，看见隔桌在吃担担面，是典型我们在韩国吃的那种黑黝黝的担担面，感觉上全是薯粉的浓稠，对我而言，这卖相有点儿恐怖，我开始有点儿担心……但到我们的海鲜面捧上来时，我的信心全回来了，我只能说，他们的海鲜面实在一流！KRW10,000的海鲜汤面，里头有鲍鱼、扇贝、mussles、蛤蜊、墨鱼、虾……料多且新鲜还不是重点，最重要的是汤底非常清甜。虽然明明是典型韩国人超辣的汤，却完全掩盖不了海鲜的鲜甜，同时又很巧妙地把海鲜的腥味半分不留地除去。（人家还上过电视广播哦，应该名气相当响亮的。）

对不起，我的韩文程度惨不忍睹，我甚至连餐馆的名字也记不住。在google map和wikimapia搞了老半天就是没法子把它准确地给找出来。你要是哪一天要到Gumi去，我倒是可以给你说说。:)

苦中作乐

韩国人的牛劲儿有时实在令人不敢恭维，我们从早上九点开会至晚上八点，比国会还漫长。人家国家大事都商议好了，我们还唠唠叨叨没完没了。连午餐都是叫外卖在会议室里吃的。

所幸我苦中作乐的本事不错，这十一个小时竟也过得悠然自得。

这家公司在入口处旁建了一所全新的建筑物，十间新颖的vendor rooms就设在这儿。从此就免去了那比美国海关还要麻烦的入门手续。真是谢天谢地。最棒的是他们在这建筑物入口处开了一档小小的咖啡馆，咖啡虽然不是最香浓的，但在沉闷的会议里头，在外头冷风呼呼地吹的当儿，‘叹’着这么一杯咖啡绝对能使人心情舒畅愉悦。还有哦，那儿的自动贩卖机的饮料选择良多，爽爽没事出去走动走动，回来两手都是果汁，感觉相当过瘾。

我也不理会别人的目光，在会议室里找到机会就拍照，不知道有没有把他人给气坏。

午餐就是吃这些。虽然口味相当特别（我们不是爱以牢饼皮包芝士吗？他们是包木薯哦！而且是配以蒜头酱），然而，在韩国还得吃快餐真是xz#%@%*!!

严格说起来还真的好命的。你想想，这快餐也是在公司的范围内，证明他们的食物选择应该不少。说不定我还得感激这些在他们公司范围内的快餐馆子，否则可能连午餐都“无啖好吃”呢！

Daechi Jyeongyuk Sikdang

I rarely use foreign language as my blog title, and I think this is kind of cool :-)
Daechi is actually the name of that area, 大峙洞
Jyeongyuk means butcher shop
Sikdang is referring to dining area, and the pronunciation is very similar with 食堂

It's a cold winter night. We were supposed to have dinner with our agents but he called last minute to tell us that he couldn't make it. We were kind of disappointed. Imagine this, you were expecting for a car (with heater!!) to bring you to a fancy restaurant at a foreign city in a romantic winter night. However, you ended up have to walk in the freezing cold weather (-15 degree C with strong wind and no sunlight!!!) to find a restaurant at a city that is full with unknowns...... 

Luckily, there's a thing call i-phone, and I have downloaded a free apps call "i Tour Seoul 2" even before I came to this city. Our search criteria is very simple, it must be as near to the hotel as possible, with a minimum food quality rating of 4 stars. And this is how I found Daechi Jyeongyuk Sikdang, which is 200m away from Ibis Ambassador Hotel. (Besides, according to "i Tour Seoul 2", "this shop operates a butcher shop and they serve many cuts of beef that you can barbecue over charcoal" - this sentence alone makes Daechi Jyeongyuk Sikdang irresistible to me. Who would know their beef better than a butcher?)

Still, when you are cold and hungry, 200m seems like 200km away. We were so tempted to jump into every shops for the heater when we were struggling to walk through the icy wind. We were almost fainted, at least I was, when we're already at the supposedly exact location and there were no restaurants in sight!!! None of the shops on that street looks anything like a restaurant to me. Luckily, a friendly looking woman sensed our confusion, rushed out from the shop and pointed at the basement. I'm so glad that sign language is an universal language. I can't imagine having to walk back to the hotel and walk for another 300m to our 2nd choice restaurant when my fingers already numb and that feeling started to spread!! Phew! what a relieve! (Look at the photo below! Who would have thought that this IS actually a restaurant??)

I think this shop is quite popular among the local as the basement is full with Korean families enjoying their dinner. After we took off our shoes (and spent a few minutes standing around the heater to ensure I can feel my toes again), the waitress led us to a small table at the corner. After we took off our jackets and make ourselves comfortable on the tatami, the waitress started to serve all sorts of side dishes, just like any typical Korean BBQ restaurant. Everything is so familiar except for one problem: the menu is printed 100% in Korean Language and 0% picture!!! No waiter/waitress dare to come near us after the routine side dishes serving. After close observation for more than 10 minutes, someone finally found out that we speak something similar to Mandarin and sent a Chinese waitress to our table! Phew! The waitress is great! She recommended 3 dishes to us and later I found out from their website that those dishes are their signature!

 

200g of Yukhoe for KW20,000 - It's good but how I wish they could scale down their minimum serving so that we can try something else)



Yukhoe rice ball (sorry, forgot the Korean name of this dish liao~)
It's a "service", means free lah~
Strangely, it seems that only Korean and Japanese love to serve "service"





This can never fail to make me drool :)
Top set - KW25,000
Bottom - KW35,000

The Chinese lady's shift ended at the middle of our meal, another shy Korean young man took over. I am very sure he is the son of the tauke. He demonstrated high passion in his job! To ensure we don't ruin his nicely-cut-high-quality-beef, instead of letting us do the barbecue job, he did the barbecue and constantly check our pace. He barbecued the beef slowly, 3 pieces at a time so that none of them overcooked, and he will point at different side dishes after every round to show us how to enjoy the beef. I even saw him using i-phone to communicate with the Japanese couple in the next table to teach them how to eat. :) This is the reason why you should go to a butcher-shop-cum-restaurant at least once to learn to appreciate the beef.

By the way, they served very good seaweed soup too! I had 2 big bowls of them! (Nothing beats a good bowl of hot soup in winter!!)

If you'd love to try some authentic Korean barbecue in Seoul, this shop is highly recommended.

Map of the restaurant

韩国烧烤

冬天到韩国公干其实是件苦差，最大的慰劳，就是美食！而韩国烧烤正是我无法抗拒的罪恶！

Juno Hotel对面的韩国烧烤

我们到韩国的第一顿晚餐，正是韩国烧烤。我们住的酒店位于Gumi市中心，酒店四周全是餐馆，韩国agent带我们去的餐馆就在酒店对面，我们就这样子成群步行过去，寒风还来不及刺骨就到了，方便得很。

这餐馆以猪肉为主（韩国的猪肉也是超好吃的哦！）。韩国人点了两碟的蒜头口味和两碟的排骨， 还向我们展现他的高超烧烤手艺（多好，我们就坐着等吃的），吃得我万分满足。就这样子，我就忘了究竟是为了什么而到韩国一游了……










隔天，从早上九点开会至晚上八点（是的，韩国人就是这么工作狂！） ，好不容易终可告一段落，我们仍然是到烧烤店寻求慰籍……这一家的蒜茸牛肉很棒哦！

Juno Hotel附近的韩国烧烤

改天再给你们介绍一家在首尔的烧烤店。（我们的新发现哦！）

我对东亚冬天的爱与恨

冬季，我只曾拜访过东亚，所以，对冬季的所有爱恨情仇，也只是针对东亚而已……

我爱异国风情的冰天雪地

对于像我这样长期呆在热带国家的人而言， 其实没有什么比冰天雪地来的更浪漫了。
那些冰封的山川湖泊，荒凉却壮丽着。萧萧的。大地显得特别寂静纯洁。
而当窗外白雪轻飘，躲在温暖的被窝里，捧着杯热腾腾的咖啡读书、发呆，该是一件多么逍遥的事儿。

我恨室内户外的极度温差

在东亚，冬季里在摄氏零下十多度的户外吹寒风固然恐怖，但一踏入室内，那热死人不赔命的暖气一样叫人无所适从。
我踏出首尔机场时，全身裹得非常臃肿（如右图），但双手仍然冷得发疼。然而，一上了机场快巴，我就热得开始一件一件地脱。全程近四个小时，我在巴士上始终只穿着背心，同车的韩国人一定以为我疯了！
那儿的人们超级怕冷，他们在户外无可奈何，进到室内走入自己控制范围就拼老命地把暖气开大。（还糟糕的是他们自以为全世界人和他们一样怕冷，中央暖气调到热死人就算了，酒店房内连冷气都disable了，高楼的窗口又打不开，我差一点就在冬天中暑了！）我实在不明白，把室内户外的温差搞得三十多度的差距真的比较舒服吗？

我爱刺骨寒风后简简单单一碗热腾腾的汤

在寒冷的冬天，即使你被刺骨冷风吹得沮丧万分，但只要你坐在热腾腾的一碗汤面前，就会觉得幸福万分。
简简单单的一碗面，多了一个被欣赏的角度，总是显得特别美味......

我恨天寒地冻令人怯步

天寒地冻的地方，总是令人怯步的。风呼啸而过，吹得手指、耳朵、鼻子都仿佛要掉下来似的。非必要时刻，谁都不想外走。于是，冬季的business trip，总是哪儿都不去的……

屁股被撞了一下

今午我们忙着做最后一分钟的shopping，回途中在交叉路口被个讲着电话的小伙子撞了一下屁股。

这小伙子一幅吊儿郎当的模样， 一直忙着讲电话，我们看了有点儿不爽。我拍了案发现场的照片（一副CSI的模样），就劝他回家吃团圆饭了，反正这个时候已经什么都不能做了。然而，他既不想claim insurance，又不想赔我整个bumper，一直优柔寡断的。然而，他生命中有两个贵人，一个是他的老板，一个是我老豆！

他的老板当真伟大，新年“流流”他电话一到老板二话不说就到现场助阵来了。我老豆更伟大，当我不耐烦了，想要撇下他离开现场了（改天再拿照片去报警），我老豆说：“在路上驾车，发生交通意外谁也不想，却又是免不了的事儿。我们不可以得理不饶人，应该给人一个机会，否则我们去报警后这小伙子就损失惨重了，再给他时间想想吧！”（老实说，我真不知道三十年后我是不是有本事练就老爸这一善心和耐心）

最终，在他老板和我老爸的极力谈判下，我们就在完全没有惊动“官气”的情况下和平解决了。

虎年，就这样子无惊无险平平安安结束啦！