So we have three reasons to be really excited today.
Number one, great weather after a really cold week.
Number two, we have just moved into a new apartment near Seoul station (서울역) and
we know a lot of really good restaurants here.
And number three, today we are having Gamjatang (감자탕) for lunch.
Yeah, that is really exciting.
And it is at least ten degrees warmer so let's walk on over to our restaurant and fill our
faces with Korean food.
So we are both super excited about this dish because it is one of our favorites soups.
It is so so good.
Yeah.
This Korean soup slash stew is one of the most hearty ones you can have in all of Korea.
We're so excited to be here.
So if we take a look down here I'm going to explain a bit of what is in this dish.
So it is basically the gamjatang (감자탕) is a pork spine stew.
It also has potatoes, it has parrilia leaves, it has ground sesame and it has a bunch of
other vegetable ingredients as well.
And it also has glass noodles that are already in there but we ordered.
That is not enough for Sam.
NO.
We ordered a special supplement of ramen (라면) which we're going to pour in a little bit
later.
Ah, we want to wait for it to cook a bit longer before we add that.
But yeah, it is such a nice Korean stew.
And if you can believe this if you look down here one more time this is actually the small
version of this.
The small size.
Yeah, you can get also get a medium and large and that would make the most sense if you
were with a group of maybe say three to four people.
Friends or family.
A group of people.
Friends, family.
So we're going with the smaller portion which actually isn't very small.
Okay so they have come and turned down the fire so I think it is ready.
We let it cook for about ten minutes.
It is still bubbling up a storm though.
That is some serious bubbles.
Check that out.
Some serious action.
So I'm going to dish it up.
Look at all of that steam.
My gosh.
The pork spine and let's add the ramen (라면) noodles which Sam was really craving.
Yeah, that was a must addition for me.
Oh my.
I mean when it is only two thousand Won (원) extra to add it.
Why not, right?
There you go.
Some broth.
We've already got a parrila leaf in there.
You've got yourself a nice big portion.
Oh that is for me?
That is for you.
Oh my.
Lucky me.
And you're going to serve up yours as well?
Yes.
I'm going to claim this potato for myself.
Yeah.
So what is cool about this dish is that it dates back to the Three Kingdom Period of
Korea which is a very long time ago and it is from Jeolla Province (전라도).
JeollaNamdo province (전라남도) if I'm correct.
So that is really cool and I think we're ready to eat it soon.
Yeah, enough information.
Let's dig in.
Alright, so now comes the dissection process.
So I'm going to use my chopsticks to pick off the meat off of the pork-spine.
Yep.
And the meat has been cooking for a really long time so it is like super soft and tender.
And just so you know we have a special bowl here that we put the bones eventually.
But we're not quite at that stage yet.
Yeah, we're still at the stage of eating the meat.
Yeah, so this dish like you really have to work for it to enjoy it.
It is quite a bit of work to get at the meat but it is so tender and it just falls apart.
So I really enjoy it.
I'm really excited for this.
You've gotta have some.
You've got to admire a dish where you have to do a little bit of the work yourself.
Let's see.
Let's try that.
Mmmm.
How is it?
Oh my gosh.
The meat like melts in your mouth.
It is so so tender.
So tender.
And is the broth of the soup spicy?
Yeah, it is one of the spicier broths.
It kind of looks like a bit like it has a gochujang (고추장) base.
Like a red pepper paste.
Yeah.
And we have a bit of this.
If I remember correctly this should be kind of like a mustard.
Kind of a mustard.
Like a green mustard.
Let's see.
Dip a bit with the meat.
Put it in there.
Mmmm.
Gives it a bit of a kick?
Oh my gosh.
You're going to love this.
This is so good.
I'm loving it.
Yeah.
So before I try my gamjatang (감자탕) the first thing I want to point out is that we
made a really big mistake the first time we ever had this.
So in order for me to talk about it you've got to look down here.
Okay.
So the worst thing you can do when you're having gamjatang (甘藷湯) is to just let
it sit because while it is cooking it can get really sticky at the bottom so it is really
important to keep moving it around to keep things floating.
You can see over here I've got a big potato.
Yeah, and so it is important to keep the ingredients moving around.
And we've also turned down the heat to just let it simmer.
Yes.
Very key point.
So putting the ladle down.
I'm going to try my first bite.
Alright.
I'm going to go in for the noodles since you had the meat already.
Hahaha.
I'm going to try and have.
I'm going to see if I grab a little bit of meat over here.
That is mostly bone.
Yeah.
Okay, there is a little bit of meat.
I'm getting I think a parrila leaf and I'm getting some noodles.
A little bit of everything.
Let's try that.
Well?
Oh yeah, that is really good.
Your first bite of gamjatang (감자탕) in how many years?
The last time I had this was in Yongin (용인) where you used to live.
My neighborhood.
That was like three or four years ago.
No, it was four years ago.
That is ridiculous how long it has been.
So nice to be having this again and I love like you said I love how tender the meat is.
I love how spicy it is and the noodles as a supplement were a really nice addition.
Yeah and we could actually add different suppliments like if you wanted.
Yeah.
Dumplings.
There is mandu (만두).
Rice cakes.
There was tteok (떡) which is the rice cakes.
Yeah, there was a whole bunch of different ones you can choose from.
We decided just to go for one to try to keep it more classic but you can go nuts if you
want.
So I'm having my second serving over here.
Oh la lah.
And if you take a look at my little dish you can see that I've got a bit potato this time
around.
Yeah.
And what is fascinating about this dish is gamjatang (甘藷湯) if you take it literally
'gamcha' means potato but actually that is not the main ingredient of this soup.
Potato is more of an optional thing.
What is the main ingredient is the Korean pork spine.
Yeah.
So that is really important point to point out because first time like four years ago
we made a video about this dish and we were saying oh yeah it is potato soup.
It is a potato stew.
A Korean potato stew.
And actually that is incorrect.
It is Korean pork spine stew and it often it does have potatoes but it can also not
have potatoes as well.
So now that we've made a big deal about the potatoes let's try that with some of the broth.
It is still really hot.
So I'm blowing on it.
Mmmmm.
Yeah, the potatoes are really nice addition.
And another interesting thing about this dish is that everyone has their own method to getting
off the meat.
Some people pick at it a little bit and then have a little bite here and there.
Others like to work through the bone and get it all out at once.
I have to say there is not a ton of meat on the bone.
There is a little bit so to get to scrape that meat off it does require quite a bit
of work with your spoon and chopsticks.
Well we sure took care of that.
Nothing but an empty bowl.
Empty bowl and lots of bones.
So yeah that was a super filling meal.
We're leaving stuffed and you know what.
Our noses are running a bit because we are used to Korean spices but this is especially
spicy.
Actually your lips look swollen right now.
My lips are on fire at the moment.
So anyways on to price point.
So if you take a look here you can see that the gamjatang (감자탕) it came to twenty
thousand Won (원) and then we have a supplement of rice for one thousand and a supplement
of mandu (만두) for two thousand more.
So in total twenty three thousand Won (원).
W23,000 KRW which is roughly a little bit less than twenty US dollars.
So you're looking at like less than ten dollars a person.
And when you come and have a Korean soup or stew that is this good it is definitely worth
it.
So it is one of the must try Korean foods we recommend when visiting Seoul (서울).
And what is even better this place is open 24 hours.
Yeah, exactly.
So if you've enjoyed the video please give it a thumbs up and stay tuned because we have
more Korea food videos and travel videos coming out every Monday.