Costco Pizza

Ok. I know. It's not authentic Italian pizza. But, even authentic Italian pizza back in Toronto was hard to come by, especially if all I wanted was a slice, or two. I'd have to buy the whole pizza and then have the leftovers for the next few days. And, it never tasted as good after the freshness of it had worn off the next day in the fridge anyways. But, "Canadianized/Americanized" pizza is one of the few things I do like. It's not the same as the real thing, but it's still pretty good. The "Pizza Nova" a few blocks from where I used to live back in Toronto made the best of its type anywhere.

After reading about how "authentic" (at least from an "Americanized" pizza perspective) the pizza is at Costco from another blogger (http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/costco-pizza/), I was eager to try it out. It took me over three months to get there from the time I first read about it. But, today I managed to make the trip.

My math teacher friend and I headed out to the Ilsan Costco on a rainy, dreary saturday afternoon. The drive out was uneventful and was very quick. Maybe about half an hour and we did not even get lost this time. The place was packed and we had to park almost on the roof level. The good thing is that the food court is outside the main shopping area of Costco, so that if you do not have a membership you can still go in and eat. The food court was packed. We almost did not get a place to sit down. People waited for us to get up after eating.

Anyways, the pizza was somewhat unexciting. It was a bit too undercooked for my liking. The Korean preoccupation of never overcooking anything in order to avoid having any slight burn/singe/brown/scorch spots/areas does not do pizza any good. This avoidance of "scorch marks" stems from the worry of contracting cancer from such "burnt" parts of food, any food. So, most pizza here is pretty bland and tasteless as it is these exact small "burns" that actually impart flavor and texture to certain types of food, especially pizza. The crust, needless to say, was very thick and soft/soggy because of this lack of oven time. At least the sauce and the taste was authentic "Americanized" pizza taste, if not the texture (and, pizza needs both to be good IMHO). All in all a somewhat disappointing experience. Chalk up another one for experience. The next pizza will be from an authentic Italian restaurant which I might have found already.

Wish me luck!

Costco Pizza: Not really recommended unless you are really desperate for a somewhat disappointing taste from home.

Location: Ilsan Costco

Note: Generic Costco pizza pic from the web of the deluxe pizza we ordered. It was way too crowded and crazy there for me to even think about trying to get some pix of the pizza today. The pizza in the pic looks much, much, better than the one we actually had. At least it was cheap!

Vietnamese Food

If you're here, you're on the wrong side of the street. Go back down that underpass and exit on the other side, which is exit number 2.

This is the place!

Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup. Yummy!

After eating nothing but authentic Korean food for the past 6 months, I was now in the mood for something different. As much as I love Korean food, my recent trips to Hong Kong and to Japan made me realize that I had missed all the wonderful variety of different ethnic foods I was used to eating before coming here to South Korea. As luck would have it, I read about an authentic Vietnamese restaurant not too far from where I live from another blogger. You can read the original blog post yourself here:

http://leeskoreablog.blogspot.com/2010/02/vietnamese-beef-noodlesdieu-hien-quan.html

Excellent directions on how to find the place are also there are well. Although, I would only change one thing about those directions, get out at exit number 2 instead of exit number 1. At exit number 2, you are exactly where you need to be after the bit about using the underpass. The rest follows as written.

On a saturday a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go out and actually find this particular Vietnamese restaurant. A fellow teacher friend of mine, along with his kids, were there along with me for the experience. I had successfully convinced him a few days prior to our trip out there that "real" ethnic foods were very difficult to find in South Korea and that most ethnic foods here were "Koreanized" versions of the real thing. He seemed to agree with my assessment.

The drive out there was much farther and longer than I had anticipated. It took a bit over an hour and through many toll roads later, and stopping to ask for directions a few times, we finally arrived. But, it would have taken even longer via subway. Ansan is farther than I had thought even by car. The restaurant itself was typical of authentic places; not at all fancy and very down to earth. The clientele was mostly Vietnamese as was the writing on the menus and on the walls (with Korean translations, of course). A good sign.

The food was everything I had hoped it would be; the real deal. I had beef noodle soup along with spring rolls and iced Vietnamese coffee. The cilantro was already in the soup and the bean sprouts and the lemon grass was on a separate plate as it should be for you to add to your own soup as you like. The only things missing were limes (they gave us lemons instead) and basil. A few minor details that did not detract too much at all (although limes do taste better and basil is not really missed by me). I made a slight mistake with the spring rolls, though, and forgot to mention the deep frying part. They were cold rolls. But, very, very, good none-the-less. My friend had the same and his kids had soup and fried rice. The fried rice was better than what I had had before.

For coffee lovers, Vietnamese coffee is the best in my opinion. But, only if you like strong coffee and/or sweet coffee. They use these small individual cup-sized filters that drip into your cup at the table and fill your small cup in less than 10 minutes. The milk is sweetened condensed milk and when mixed with the coffee is simply awesome. You can have it either hot or cold. I like it cold. Cold is simply poured over ice. I had given up coffee many years ago as a daily thing, but I do have it once in a while. It was a nice treat.

Cost wise, the food was very reasonable. Four of us ate and were stuffed for less than KRW 50,000 (that's less than CDN$45, or US$40). Everything was authentic in taste and simply awesome. Definitely a place to go back to again.

Highly Recommended.

Name and Location: Dieu Hien Quan, Ansan Subway Station, Exit Number 2. Telephone Number: 493-3756.

Note: All pix courtesy of Lee's Korea Blog (http://www.leeskoreablog.blogspot.com/) and used with permission. I was too engrossed in the company and in my food to think of taking pix this day. Next time. Duh!

I Love Food!

Well, let me rephrase that; I love authentic foods. What do I mean by that? Simple. I like the original, or real versions of food and not the "Americanized", or "Canadianized", or "North Americanized", or "Koreanized" , or "whatever-ized" versions of the foods in question.

Take Chinese for example. Most of the the Chinese food that you might be familiar with, if you live in North America, etc., is not the real/original thing unless you eat in a restaurant in a "Chinatown" that is frequented by the Chinese people living in that city.

Historically, when the first Chinese arrived, the ingredients to make the original versions did not exist in that part of the world. So, substitutions had to be made. That was 50-60 years ago. And, in addition, since the food had to be sold to non-Chinese people in order to make a living as a restaurant owner, it also had to be tailored to more North American tastes. Thus, North American versions of the food evolved which basically have not too much in common with the original versions. Most do not even have original versions. Things like "Chicken Balls", "Moo Goo Guy Pan", "Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs", "Chop Suey", etc. What the hell are these things? They are not real Chinese food! But, for the majority of non-Chinese people in North America, they are Chinese food. Sorry. But, this is not Chinese food.

With globalization in the past 20-30 years, and the widespread availability of original fresh ingredients, spices, sauces, etc. practically anywhere in the industrialized world, there really is no excuse not to be able to make and serve the real/original versions of ethnic foods. And, this does happen now. What a relief! Unfortunately, the changed foods are still being made and served because this is what most people are accustomed to now. Serve them the real thing and they do not like it. They are not used to it. And, unless they are open to new experiences, they won't like it either because it's not Chinese food! What a shame.

I use Chinese food as an example but this has happened with all ethnic foods in North America and beyond from Italian, Indian, Greek, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Ethiopian, etc. And, what makes me such an "expert" in this? Simply because I have had both the original foods and the "whatever-ized" versions. There simply is no comparison. The originals are so much better tasting. Unfortunately, most people are only used to three distinct "flavors" in their food; too sweet, too sour and too salty. That's about it. Go to any North American chain restaurant and those are the predominant flavors in everything. Gross!

If you want to find the real thing, go to the ethnic areas of your city and look in the restaurant windows. If you find that the majority of the people sitting in them is of that ethnic area, then you can be assured the food is real. They are not stupid. They will only eat the real deal. Plus, the restaurant will not look very nice, not up to North American standards at all. If it's a fancy place, go somewhere else because it is catering to non-native tastes; read North American tastes. Plus, you will pay through your nose for food that is usually served for much less than what you have to pay in North American chain restaurants. Don't believe me? Well, you can have a decent meal at a real ethnic restaurant for less than one third of what you would pay for a complete steak dinner at a big name chain.

So, what is the point of my rant? Simple. Trying to find the real/original versions of ethnic foods in South Korea is very, very, difficult. Almost impossible depending on what part of South Korea you happen to live in. As Seoul is the most international and biggest city in South Korea, the chances of finding real ethnic foods is a bit, only a bit, higher. As there are quite a number food blogs here by people who love food as much as I do, researching their writings is easier than trying to do all my own research. To that end, I have ventured out and tried some of their recommendations. It's a slow process. But, I have tried some of them. I'll write about those experiences when they arise.

For the record, there are no, none, zero, zilch, nada, real/authentic Chinese food restaurants here! Only Koreanized versions and I do not like the food they serve. Period. Most Italian restaurants here fall into the same category so far. Yuck! Some of the other food bloggers have found the real deal, but they are difficult for me to get to easily. But, I will explore them eventually. For now, it'll be a slow go of it.