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Faunaki
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
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 Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| skim234 wrote: |
I didn't realize so many ESL teachers were accustomed to eating at Smith & Wollensky. If that was the case, why do you move to a country with horrible food?
The ignorance on this board is hilarious. Is South Korea the only foreign country you Smith & Wollensky-goers have visited?
Italian food in Italy is far different than the garbage served in America. Does that makes us Americans completely asinine when it comes to food? It's obviously Americanized which means toppings like pineapple, anchovies, etc. get piled onto pizza. Try ordering that in Italy and see what kind of response you draw.
You can pretty much say this for any country that is serving food that is from a different culture or country. You are in South Korea. If you want a great steak, move back home and be sure to RSVP at S&W. Don't forget to tip your server 25% on your $130 tab. |
What are you talking about? VIPS serves "steak" that not even a dog would eat. It tastes like donkey butt. |
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Janny
Joined: 02 Jul 2008
Location: all over the place
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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| VIPS is disgusting. Where's the Keg already? |
To experience a "Koreanized" Keg would be torture.
The Keg is the first place I go when I get back to Vancouver!! Escargots, shrimp cocktail, caesar salad and steak. Instant happiness that lasts for hours.
I used to go to Outback alot, but when they lost the Onion and that new great caesar salad they had (for two seconds), I was done. However, I don't begrudge them for catering to Korean tastes. Foreigners are only what? 2% of the population here?
VIPS? No thank you. I don't need more disappointment.
The lesson here is that you appreciate the simple things when you go home, and that's a good thing. You don't take it for granted. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Janny wrote: |
| Quote: |
| VIPS is disgusting. Where's the Keg already? |
To experience a "Koreanized" Keg would be torture.
The Keg is the first place I go when I get back to Vancouver!! Escargots, shrimp cocktail, caesar salad and steak. Instant happiness that lasts for hours.
I used to go to Outback alot, but when they lost the Onion and that new great caesar salad they had (for two seconds), I was done. However, I don't begrudge them for catering to Korean tastes. Foreigners are only what? 2% of the population here?
VIPS? No thank you. I don't need more disappointment.
The lesson here is that you appreciate the simple things when you go home, and that's a good thing. You don't take it for granted. |
Pretty much my take on restaurant eating in Korea. It's based on Korean tastes (of course). You'll just be disappointed if you go to foreign-food restaurants....even if the chef is good it's too hard to get good ingredients here so they have no chance.
Stick to Korean restaurants in Korea. There's a fair bit of variety when you look around and the value factor is so much higher than foreign restaurants. |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
Stick to Korean restaurants in Korea. There's a fair bit of variety when you look around and the value factor is so much higher than foreign restaurants. |
I'm still looking for variety of any sort. I see stews, terrible rice-cake-based dishes, and (what passes for) Chinese food for miles and miles/kilometers and kilometers.
The biggest problem I have in Korea is the horrendous food (yes, I lead a fairly care-free life). Sometimes I feel like Koreans just like the food here because they haven't had anything else. |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
Stick to Korean restaurants in Korea. There's a fair bit of variety when you look around and the value factor is so much higher than foreign restaurants. |
I'm still looking for variety of any sort. I see stews, terrible rice-cake-based dishes, and (what passes for) Chinese food for miles and miles/kilometers and kilometers.
The biggest problem I have in Korea is the horrendous food (yes, I lead a fairly care-free life). Sometimes I feel like Koreans just like the food here because they haven't had anything else. |
I know how you feel. I felt that way too my first year and a half here. But then I started trying more and more dishes and found a lot that I liked.* I actually started loving kimchi ever since I started eating it with dishes like curry and not just by itself. I did not exactly have a weight problem before but I did drop a few unwanted pounds and I feel much better too.
*The classic feel/felt/found sales method used in order not to directly contradict someone. |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I may be the only one, but I actually really like Koreanized Chinese food. Jajang is pretty tasty and goes quite well with noodles or fried rice. I also like the one actually spicy food here whose name I don't know. It's that red soup they serve in Chinese restaurants. Yang Gochi is also great. I have no idea whether or not the little restaurants that serve it are authentic, but it's one of my favorite foods here. |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Sector7G wrote: |
I know how you feel. I felt that way too my first year and a half here. But then I started trying more and more dishes and found a lot that I liked.* I actually started loving kimchi ever since I started eating it with dishes like curry and not just by itself. I did not exactly have a weight problem before but I did drop a few unwanted pounds and I feel much better too.
*The classic feel/felt/found sales method used in order not to directly contradict someone. |
Yeah, I try everything people put in front of me or any new dishes I find in restaurants; and I'll keep doing so.
Thanks for the sales method tip : ) Probably would have come in handy when I worked retail that one terrible summer in high school back home--but I was one disgruntled employee.
Hey people, at least the service at VIPS is great! That's what's always surprised me about Korea and Japan--the awesome service at restaurants. |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
Hey people, at least the service at VIPS is great! That's what's always surprised me about Korea and Japan--the awesome service at restaurants. |
Yeah, the service is not bad. I always wonder what motivates them since they are not working on tips. Do they get nightly bonuses based on sales or something? Or is it, "work hard or you're fired!"? |
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nfld_chingu
Joined: 29 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Funny, I was actually wondering the other day why there are so many crappy pasta restaurants in Daegu. It seems like there's one on every corner but almost all of them terrible. It's hard to find good pasta here. But the pasta restaurants I go to with my friends, they like the food. I don't understand it. Maybe I'm too picky.
And yes, I do cook pasta at home sometimes. Unfortunately I am not a very good cook either  |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Sector7G wrote: |
| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
Hey people, at least the service at VIPS is great! That's what's always surprised me about Korea and Japan--the awesome service at restaurants. |
Yeah, the service is not bad. I always wonder what motivates them since they are not working on tips. Do they get nightly bonuses based on sales or something? Or is it, "work hard or you're fired!"? |
I think it might be closer to the latter? There's an endless supply of employees for the picking. I think they realize they could be replaced in an instant.
Of course, it is undoubtedly partly cultural as well. When I attended university in Japan for a year or so, there was a lost and found where all lost and found items were in a display case for everyone to see. It would be quite common to see wallets, cell phones, and the occassional PMP player/iPod in there. I asked my gf at the time how this made any sense, because all you needed to do to claim the item was to go, "Excuse me, that's mine *point*". She looked puzzled, and then exclaimed, "Oh yeah! I never thought of it that way." It was such a foreign thought to her and my other friends at the school. Maybe in Confucian Korea, people actually have some sense of responsibility to their bosses, even working these sorts of jobs. |
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asylum seeker
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Location: On your computer screen.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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I like the salad bar at VIPS (I'm not a steak-eater). There's nothing super-amazing there but it's a good place to pig-out on salmon and get some much needed vegetables.
It does depend on the location though. Make sure you go to one with a high volume of customers because the salads will be a lot fresher. The best one I've been to is at Suwon station; It's always full of people. |
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is so delicious
Joined: 28 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Go to Sao Paulo, a Brazilian steak house sort of place in Gangnam. Seoul National University of Education stop, line 3 and... 2, I think. Exit 14, walk a fifty meters or so, it's on your right, second floor, between an eyeglasses store and a 'skin food' or similiar store.
The filet mignon is the best steak I've had in Korea... it's all you can eat (several different styles) and all you can drink (beer) for 30,000W. Classy (but not uptight) atmosphere, nice peeps, great service. Easily my favorite restaurant here... that I haven't seen any waygooks there completely baffles me. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Did you know the McDonald's Big Mac, sauce and all was originally first served by VIPS Big Boy? They called it the big boy double decker. McDonald's copied it. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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VIPS is the resurrection of Sizzler.
I prefer Burger King to that slop. Saves me 20,000원 |
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NilesQ
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 12:02 am Post subject: |
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| One of my "burned into my memory" Korean moments was being at VIPS, the family restaurant, and hearing DMX being played over the speakers. It was hilarious! All these families, kids running around, it was juxtaposition at its best. That is one of those memories that sums Korean suburban life up. |
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