the best meal in korea

i know i always blog about food, but i like the stuff too much.  ryan and i have found our favorite restaurant, and the great thing is that it is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment.  we have become regulars at this place; so much so that when we walk in the door, they begin preparing our "usual", and by the time we sit down, our table is full of food.  at this restaurant, eating is an event.  it usually takes us about 1.5 hours to finish our meal, and we don't even have to wait for the food to arrive.  sometimes it can be difficult to sit that long, since we are sitting on the floor.

most korean meals have several dishes to them.  this meal, specifically, has a giant plate of vegetables, a plate of raw meat, a bowl of wet noodles, a bowl of dry noodles, kimchi, some other salad-y thing, some cabbage with an awesome dressing, a bowl of rice, and most importantly, the sauce.  there is a bowl on a burner in the center of the table filled with broth.  with this meal, you cut up the vegetables and meat and cook them in the broth, then grab out what you want to eat with your chop-sticks.

ryan and i grab the vegetables and soak every piece in the sauce.  it is possibly the most amazing sauce i have ever had, and i am a lover of condiments.  the sauce is very spicy and very delicious.  we are usually blowing our noses every 30 minutes or so, because it is so spicy, but we can't get enough; we ask for a sauce refill 3-4 times during our meal.  one night they even left the refill sauce on our table for us.

the dry noodles on the right is probably my favorite part.  they are covered in flour, so when they cook they get really full and the broth becomes thicker.  they pair so well with the sauce.

in the dish above is the rice combination.  after you finish all the other items that cook in the broth, they bring over a bowl of rice filled with seasoning, and one egg.  they pour the rice in and cook it, then dump the egg in and mix it.  and just when you think the meal is finished, they bring over oranges.  and usually the owner offers us a cup of coffee or plum juice.  

i'm getting hungry just typing about it.

the owner of the restaurant usually visits our table every 20 minutes to practice a little english with us.  we have become besties with him.  he even invited us to his house, and he bought us a lunar new years gift... some fancy dress socks.

.....and that's why it's our favorite meal in korea!