The hunt for Korean food overseas

My hunt for Korean food never stops, even when I'm travelling. Here, I go to a Korean restaurant in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Reem Molokhia

Photos = Reem Molokhia

My passion and love for Korean food started about a decade ago, and back then I had no idea that I would greatly enjoy this authentic food to the extent that I would include some of it in my daily diet. 

Ever since I got introduced to the deliciousness of Korean cuisine by my Korean volunteer friends who used to live here in my hometown, Alexandria, I grew fond of several dishes. I've since learned to make my own tuna rice rolls (참치김밥), rice cake in a spicy sauce (떡볶이), thinly sliced sirloin (불고기) and many others.

Since Alexandria is a small metropolis located on the Mediterranean, with absolutely no Korean restaurants to be found, it was hard to find a place to eat or buy ingredients for Korean dishes. I had to go hunting for Korean food ingredients in the bigger grocery stores to find some seasoned laver (김), sesame oil or chili paste. I even had to travel from Alexandria to Cairo just to buy some ingredients and to satisfy my cravings for Korean food. 

My taste buds became accustomed to the flavor of chili powder and fermented soybean paste long before I visited Korea for the first time in 2011. When I touched down on Korean soil, I enjoyed the spicy tteokbokki and eomuk fish cake from the street stalls like a local, and for dinner I savored some dolsot bibimbap (rice mixed with veggies & beef) and left my friends in awe of how I spoke and ate like a native. 

Here I enjoy some spicy tofu stew (순두부찌개) at a Korean restaurant in Singapore. 

A friend of mine in Seoul invited me to dinner and asked if I wanted to go to a Western restaurant. I told her that I’d rather go to a Korean restaurant where I could eat some spicy seafood stew (해물탕).

As my friend found a restaurant that she had heard about, the place was called Mother's House (어머니집). As I waited for the stew to cook and watched the boiling stew on the little gas cooker in front of us, filled with cockles, crabs, mussels and shrimp, my mouth became watery. When it was done, I lifted my spoon and tasted the most delicious stew I’ve ever tasted in my life.

Even when I travel now to other countries, like the U.S., Singapore or the UAE, for example, where they have a diverse range of cuisines at the food courts there, my heart will normally only settle for one choice: the Korean food section. 

One of my favorite Korean dishes is eomuk fish cake (어묵) in a broth and grilled beef sirloin slices (불고기).  

I walk around and scan the restaurants with my eyes, whether in a huge mall or a narrow alley, and as soon as I find a sign written in Korean I go and eat there without hesitation. 

There’s this inexplicable charm about Korean cuisine. I cannot pinpoint the reason why I love it. Is it the fragrance? The diverse range of ingredients? The spiciness? The "hand taste" (손맛)?  Or is it all together? 

This leaves us to wonder: how can a simple dish containing fermented cabbage remind one of a beautiful tree lined street, a rainy day and an aroma that takes us far from our home to the Land of the Morning Calm?

wisdom117@korea.kr

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