Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zenotype]

Hello everyone!

I am a little curious about the food in South Korea. I read that cheese, and beef are expensive there, but was wondering if they have a dish referred to as "Pho" in Vietnamese. It's supposed to be popular in most of Asia, but each country has it's variation in ingredients and flavours. Pho is normally served with Beef, but I am guessing it would be seafood in South Korea? I am referring to it as ��Pho�� because I have absolutely no clue what it would be called in Korean.

Anyone willing to share some pictures/details of their favourite food in South Korea? And perhaps a comparison to other dishes someone in a multi-cultural city could understand. I've gone to "Korean BBQ" places in Toronto, but I doubt that it would be the same...

Also, any input on what to avoid is welcomed too. I don't mind really spicy food, but I am thinking of making health conscious choices.

Cheers!!

p.s. Here are some pictures of the Pho dish I was writing about.
http://www.scottstearns.com/images/Pho.jpg
http://www.shrubbloggers.com/Pho.jpg

[RACETRAITOR]

I just had that at a Korean Vietnamese restaurant yesterday. It's not exactly widespread here.

Here's the best food picture I've taken of one of the best meals I've had here. ���� over charcoal in an outdoor firepit on Seokmo Island a couple falls ago.

[bellum99]

[seoulsucker]

There are quite a few pho restaurants in Seoul, the dish is referred to as bet nam sal guk soo.

Pho Bay, Pho Hoa, L.A. Pho, etc. Most of the trendy/university neighborhoods have them. You can get beef, chicken, seafood, or veggie varieties at most of them, and it's relatively cheap.

[ajgeddes]

Like Seoulsucker said, Pho resaurants are EVERYWHERE. Within 5 minutes of my apartment, I can get to 6 of them. The problem isn't finding them, it's the price. It Vietnam, a bowl costs like 50 cents or even less sometimes, but in Korea it is often 8, 9, 10 dollars. You can find cheaper, but it isn't easy. Also, it isn't as good, but that is to be expected like any countries food.

[RACETRAITOR]

[mindmetoo]

Compared to Korean noodles, pho is always rather expensive. Vietnamese restaurants here can be a wee pricey.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The good news is that the price of beef should be coming down soon. American beef will begin arriving in the markets again in April. That's what I read anyway.

Note for newbies: Often American beef will be segregated in a separate place from the usual meat counter. Look around. It will be as much as 50% cheaper than Korean beef.

To the OP:
Koreans have a huge variety of marinades for their meat dishes. If you like meat, you should have no trouble finding a nice selection of chicken, beef and pork dishes you like. (They eat a lot of fish, but I can't comment on that.) However, the don't do roast meat.

PS: Mr. (?) RACETRAITOR, I often find myself in agreement or at least amusement at many of your posts. However, your comment that life is too short to worry about what you eat is just dead wrong. 100%, flat-out dead wrong. I won't question your relationship to your race--that's for you to determine, but I can see that you are an out-and-out traitor to your tongue and stomach...mostly your tongue. I am so affronted by your insensitive comment that I must call into question your masculinity (if that is the correct gender) and your patriotism. I would say I am speechless at your comment, but obviously that is not the case. In a word, sir or ma'am, you are wrong, wrong, wrong.

[RACETRAITOR]

[zenotype]

Awesome! Thank you for the info everyone.

I must say, I do love my pho!

If I ask for "bet nam sal guk soo" in a Korean restaurant, I should get something similar then? With a cheaper price tag hopefully

I guess I'll get a hang of things once I get there. It will however be hard to do away with beef, and cheese. Luckily, from what I've read in the forums here, they do have good red wines.

[kangnam mafioso]

zen,
you're moving to korea from the west and your main concern is pho restaurants. maybe you should look for work in hanoi. hmmm. i can appreciate the novelty of this post, but you should be more concerned with korean food because that is what you'll be eating nearly every day. i think if you like pho, you'll like a lot of the korean stews, although some might be too spicy for you. kal-gook-soo and nangmyun are good as well as some ramyun dishes. tchigae grows on you as does myun-tang and kamja-tang, the latter being a bit more hardy than your average pho. as for beef not being available; it's everywhere at your kalbi restaurants ... a bit pricey but well worth it. anchang-sal is da bomb!!! if you're open-minded, you'll probably end up liking korean food more than vietnamese.

[zenotype]

My main concern isn't vietnamese food, but good eating does matter to me. I've posted other threads asking about martial arts, religion, etc. in South Korea, so you should not simply make this assumption; had you read what I posted at the beginning of the thread, this would not have cropped your mind.

Thank you however for the information, I do like spicy food actually, as I wrote earlier on, and I most definitely will try the Korean stews... I just need to learn how to pronounce the names Maybe I'll just point to whatever others are eating at the time, and ask for it. lol.

[kangnam mafioso]