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By Kate Nelson
For all you foodies out there, Korea is the place to be! It is the perfect mix of traditional flavors, fusions from other countries, and the love of fresh ingredients that makes the table in Korea such an event – or even a campaign!
My husband and kids readily agreed to help me research eateries for the article – so off we went on assignment! Our first campaign took us to the I’Park Mall, in the Yongsan District of Seoul. You see, the I’Park Mall has several levels of food choices all spelled out on a picture chart entitled, “FOODIE GUIDE”. It couldn’t be simpler than that. Choose which food looks good to you, zoom up the escalator to the appropriate floor, and find the corresponding restaurant.
TASTY HINT: Go a little before or a little after mealtimes to avoid the rush. Some popular places take reservations on the machine out front of their restaurant and will contact you when the table is ready. Don’t go far! You will have ** 3 ** minutes to check in with the hostess. If you need help signing in for reservations, the hostess can assist you. All you need is a Korean cell phone number.
Don’t be afraid to try the top floor. It isn’t only filled with posh restaurants. It has a food court and choices around the corner. For dinner, we loved ABIKO CURRY. Even for those who don’t delve into the curry dish wholeheartedly, let me tell you a little secret….it is one of the few places where you can find a chicken cutlet instead of the traditional pork cutlet. Oh my is it delicious! Order a curry meal or have your husband order the curry and you just order the cutlet and sausage a la carte. You can even try the herbed chicken instead of curry. It is scrumptious! The curry comes in five levels of spicy and the middle level sizzles the tongue. The radish kimchi served is divine and there are free toppings of green onions and dried garlic if you desire.
Along the way, we saw a French salt bread advertisement shown as a campaign for a new eatery and just knew we had to try it. O’Sio is a quaint new bakery featuring the popular standard salt roll, along with choices of other delicious croissant varieties in all their flaky, buttery goodness. Their motto is, “I eat bred, bred gud” and it was! We watched the baker rolling the croissants by hand, made our choice of treats to try, and got it packaged to go. There were a few chairs for customer seating, but it is a convenient place to pop in after your dinner selection from the “FOODIE GUIDE”.
Enjoy your meal!
DIRECTIONS: I’Park Mall is at the Yongsan Station. For those living outside of Seoul, the train goes directly to Yongsan Station, (stop #135). Go into the mall and head toward the “Taste Park” part of the building. You will see signs dividing the restaurant area from the shopping sections.
[NAVER Map]
abikoiparkmall
서울 용산구 한강대로23길 55 현대아이파크몰 서관 7층