July 30, 2011
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Song of the Day
Sojourn in Seoul – Din Tai Fung - Of our two short days in Seoul, we managed to schedule DTF onto our itinerary. This Din Tai Fung is located in the Myeong-dong neighborhood, known for its trendy shops and restaurants. It is a popular tourist destination, so if you visit Seoul, this is a “must-go” spot. Once we stepped foot inside this Din Tai Fung, we noticed this restaurant is more upscale than most of their outlets we have visited elsewhere. The interior of this small but compact restaurant is done up with modern dark wood furnishings and red Chinese-style accents. The glass-walled open-style kitchen displaying the staff, huddling around the kitchen counter making the world famous xiao-long-bao/dumplings out of their magic dough. 
Once we walked through the waiting room, there is an atrium leading to the automated entry doors…..
The menu items are consistent with the other Din Tai Fung branches, except for a few “local” dishes to please the native palate…..
The spicy n’ sour cabbage is an unique aperitif…..
Spicy n’ sour cabbage is quite delicious, with complimentary refills…..
The pork and crab roe dumplings, oozing oil and soup…..
This one is not perfectly crafted, but with a sackful of delicious soupy filling…..
New menu item – Sauteed Vitamin vegetables with pepper…..
Kitchen staff hard at work…..
Din Tai Fung | 104, Myeongdong 2-ga, Seoul | (tel) 02/771-2778 | www.dintaifung.co.kr
O’Sulloc Tea House - In Korea, the tea in question is usually nokcha (녹차), green tea. Unlike black tea (홍차, “red tea”), green tea goes through less oxidization and generally maintains the color of the tea leaves. O’Sulloc specializes in green tea, with their own tea plantation in the Jeju islands where they also have a tea museum. O’Sulloc has a branch in Myeong-dong, only a few blocks from Din Tai Fung. The tea house we visited offers not only green tea but many other varieties. It is interesting to note how coffee took over as Korea’s most popular caffeinated beverage these days, which can be easily proven by the number of coffee shops compared to that of tea houses. But what’s also interesting is that most of these coffee shops offer green tea or green tea related beverages on their menu, green tea has become that much of a basic drink.
The tea is served on a wooden platter with complimentary tea cookies. Hot water is refillable so you can enjoy the tea at its various stages…..
The green tea latte is delicious…..
O’Sulloc Tea House | 1F Cheonghui Bldg., 33-1 Myeong-dong-I(2)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul | www.osulloc.com
Comments (24)
Koreans need their kimchi with every meal, hehe. Too bad I cannot eat spicy food. Great smile for the green tea latte. So beautiful, yumyum.
ahhh looks so good. how do you get around? do they speak english?
@stevew918 - That’s right, Steve, I had my fair share of kimchi during this short trip! Gosh, I guess you can try very mild flavour soonjubu (tofu soup bowl)? Not too spicy.
@ds0905 - I followed my Korean speaking friends around, and took the subway all over the city. Most of the staff understand English, so not much of a language issue. I had fun exploring the different neigborhoods in Seoul.
i keep hearing about din tai fung; i’ve got to try it soon!
@kunhuo42 - The restaurants are pretty good, with consistent quality and service levels. There are better dumpling places out there, just that I have a personal fetish for this chain of dumpling restaurants.
hahah after all these years I still prefer the crab roe XiaoLungBao prepared by the Amigos at the Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant in China Town NYC…..
true the Korean needs their Kimchi so much, pretty sure the spicy and sour cabbage at DTF still can’t replace that…..
the dumpling got me. now, i’m hungry again (i just had lunch). hahah
I’m so excited for my Seoul trip! Gonna be an epic bday week!
@agmhkg - There are other dishes with hints of kimchi flavors as well! Oh in that case, I got to try Joe’s in NYC! Any good dumplings in Vancouver?
@Renatojr3 - I’m glad the food porn got you hungry again! *nom nom*
@oxyGENE_08 - That’s a good bday trip you have lined up here! I wish I could arrange a trip for my bday too!
ah, the 8th International Abilympics are in Seoul at the end of September. I”ll add these to the list.
@AppsScraps - Oh, that means you’ll be traveling to Seoul? How exciting!
that looks funzo
@CaKaLusa - *nom nom* delicious too!
cool latte art!
@yang1815 - smiley face too!
Just a question, how come you are always travelling? Work or pleasure. Envious!
I travel for pleasure!
I would like to visit Seoul some day. This looks so interesting Gary.
@ZSA_MD - Highly recommend, Dr. Z! The food in general is very delicious, although I don’t care much about the kimchi.
The dumplings look so good. I like the green tea latte as well. The tea place looks interesting on the outside, I like those green tree pillars (tree trunks?) and the big windows. I could probably spend an hour or two just relaxing in there.
@ElusiveWords - I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy most of the tea places in Seoul, especially sipping the green varieties. So, why not schedule a trip to Seoul and Bangkok, just to get away from it all?