The Two Bests of Jeonju: Bibimbap and Bingsoo (and Strawberry Daifuku)
I had the opportunity to try some authentic Korean dishes that originated from Jeonju during my one day trip with the exchange students at KAIST.
We went to Hyundai Ok Jeonju is known for its bibimbap (more detailed review) since it's the birthplace of this dish.
Hyundai Ok (현대옥 phonetically: Hyeondae Ok)
10, jeonjugaeksa2-Gil
Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea
Jeonju is famous for its 비빔밥 bibimbap, which literally translates to mixed rice, because it is the birthplace. This dish is simply rice mixed with various vegetables and protein that is combined together by gochujang (spicy red pepper paste).
From what I could see before I mixed everything, on top of the bed of warm rice there was an elaborate display of various toppings such as bean sprouts (good crunch), ground beef (well seasoned, slightly sweet), watercress/spinach (crunch), burdock root (quite soft), radish (crunchy, slightly spicy), seaweed (fragrant), raw egg yolk (creamy), zucchini, gochujang (wrapped the dish together, spicy) and topped with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.
The dish came with a side of fermented soybean paste, radish kimchi and spicy raw squid (so good).
The plating and visual of this dish is very appealing with all the various colors, fresh quality of the vegetables and the fancy brass bowls. There so much care put into this dish since each ingredient is cooked separately.
Although this bowl costed 9,000 KRW, it was super filling and I had some left overs. However, I still had room for some dessert especially when that day was extremely hot. We decided for some classic 팥빙수 patbingsoo (red beans with shaved ice) at a traditional cafe very close to where we had just eaten.
애담찹쌀떡 (Aedam Chapssalddeok)
전라북도 전주시 완산구 풍남동3가 56-3
56-3, Pungnam-dong 3ga, Pansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do
Refreshing fine shaved ice/snow made of milk covered with subtly sweet red bean paste. It is topped with a couple pieces of rice cake covered in soybean powder and sprinkled with mixed nuts. This dish is perfect to cool off the heat without being overly rich or sickening.
We also ordered strawberry rice cakes (more popularly known as ichigo daifuku from Japan). A single sweet strawberry sitting on top of red bean paste and all wrapped up in a blanket of rice cake covered in soybean powder. Once again this dessert isn't extremely sweet but light and refreshing. I aso really love the texture of chewy rice cakes. Also, make sure to consume as much fruits as possible when the opportunity comes because fruit can be quite expensive in Korea!
Until next time, happy eatings!
All photos (unless otherwise stated) are taken by Kaity Chen. Please credit if using.