What Your Kids Should Eat in Seoul

Blazing its own path between big powers, keeping its own food traditions

Sandwiched for centuries between rival powerhouses China and Japan; sometimes peacefully trading with them and at other times occupied and subjugated by one or the other, Korea has fiercely held onto its unique culture and its language, music, design, and food – while adopting and adapting interesting and useful concepts and recipes.

As Korea takes a more prominent role on the world’s stage, and as flight options from North America increase, more and more families are coming to visit – and eat!

While Korean dishes have clear influences from both of its neighbors – such as noodles and dumplings from northern China, and seafood preparations from Japan – its own traditions of pickling and using spices to preserve food have led to flavors and textures unique to Northeast Asia. And the competitive landscape of family restaurants and street food vendors have led to a brisk evolution of new dishes to try.

It’s a given you’ll be served Kimchi on the side at many meals, and every restaurant and food stand has its own family recipe. So let’s look at some of the other dishes your family may enjoy:

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Bulgogi

Do your kids enjoy eating meat? Do they like backyard barbecues? Then they'll be in luck in Korea! These thin strips of beef are marinated in sweet soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic and cooked quickly on the grill. Great by itself or in salads and noodle dishes, but some restaurants are even working it into burgers!

Image by Kevin via Flickr, CC 2.0 license

Galbi

Take that same marinade for bulgogi and put pork or beef ribs in it - let it get happy for several hours - and then put them on a charcoal or gas grill to get tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. Some restaurants even have little grills right at your table!

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Dakkochi

Sweet chili-basted chicken skewers! Sized just right for a snack while walking around the markets, and more nutritious than a pack of McNuggets...

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Pajeon

This eggy plate-sized griddled pancake is packed full of scallions and seafood - kind of like paella but more crunchy-chewy.

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Mandu (Korean Dumplings)

Nearly every culture has its own dumpling recipe, and they're always a sure kid-pleasing choice. As expected, you can find vegetable- and meat-filled options, but on some menus you'll see a fried dumpling that is actually stuffed with sweet-potato noodles!

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Hoeddeok (Hotteok)

Pan-fried pancakes – but filled with peanut, cinnamon, honey and brown sugar. This would be great for an evening dessert, but of course an excellent breakfast for an activity-packed day!

Image by the Republic of Korea, CC 2.0 license

Bindaetteok

These are kind of like the Okonomiyaki "pancakes" famous from Osaka, Japan, but these are a little smaller and have more structure to them. They're made from ground mung beans and filled with vegetables (and sometimes pork), onion, and kimchi, then deep fried and salted, and served with a vinegary dipping sauce. You can eat them with a knife and fork, or put a wrapper around them and have them while you walk around a night market. 

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Gyeramppang

The root of this word, "amppang", means bread (and sounds like the Japanese word meaning the same thing) - and "gyer" means egg. The bread is rich and sweet like a brioche, and before the little loaves are baked they slice a cut along the top and crack an egg into it. It's all baked together so you get something like a deconstructed French Toast when you bite into it!

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Jajangmyeon

In Beijing we recommend the zhajiang mian, a very similar dish with wheat noodles and thick sauce, and when you sound out the names the relationship makes even more sense. But the Korean version has an even thicker, meatier sauce, and some places will make it so dark the noodles disappear! This is great with grilled meat, and considered to be one of Korea's most traditional "home-cooking" meals.

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Tteokbokki

They may look like rigatoni pasta, but they're made out of rice flour instead of semolina wheat, and they're not hollow. There's also minced fish added to the dough before it gets boiled. The rice flour makes them chewy, and they're usually served in a bright red spicy sauce. (But it's Korea and everything has a little spice to it.)

Do you have other foods to suggest? Great family-friendly and accessible restaurants to recommend? Please comment below, or drop us a note on Twitter at @weninchina!

Image of Seoul by Carmine.shot via Flickr, CC 2.0 license

Many people have much to say about food:

http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/best-korean-dishes/index.html

https://migrationology.com/south-korean-food-dishes/

https://www.willflyforfood.net/2018/01/02/korean-food-guide-44-things-to-eat-in-seoul-south-korea-and-where-to-try-them/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Seoul_dishes

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/south-korea/articles/14-mouth-watering-south-korean-foods-to-try/

https://sethlui.com/must-eat-food-seoul-korea/

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/nov/28/seoul-south-korea-food-guide-dishes

http://www.thisisinsider.com/foods-to-eat-in-south-korea-2016-7

https://www.tripsavvy.com/food-you-need-to-try-in-seoul-south-korea-4143247

https://lajollamom.com/seoul-food-guide/

And check these weninchina articles and resources:

Wordsearch activity page - What Your Kids Should Eat - Seoul

Airport Guide – Seoul Incheon

3 Easy Ways to Save Money on Family Meals in Asia

Our “Seoul” folder on Pinterest

Our “Asian Food Inspiration” folder on Pinterest

What Your Kids Should Eat in Taipei

Stay up late for the night markets!

The food scene in Taiwan is energetic and ever-evolving, and to North American family travelers, both welcomingly familiar and shockingly odd. What a great place to explore!

The island’s diversity of physical environments and growing climates in such a compact size gives families and cooks a nearly-unlimited range of fresh ingredients to experiment with. And the many waves of human settlement on the island each brought a unique set of food sources and cooking techniques: aboriginal people with Pacific Island influences; early Chinese imperial colonists; the Portuguese; Japanese invaders and settlers; and the mass relocation of Nationalists. And Taiwan’s location on the ocean trade lanes brought influences from Southeast Asia, Korea, the Philippines, North America, and Europe.

In this small island, families combined and shared recipes, and altered them to use what was in season or what came off the latest ship. And while Taipei eventually grew into a large city, it wasn’t so large that different schools of cuisine could operate independently of each other – everyone influenced everyone. So Taiwan’s flavors have recognizable signatures of other countries’ foods, but combined and interpreted in new ways.

As you tour the city’s food courts and night markets, keep your senses open for some of these:

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Beef Noodle Soup (Niu Rou Mian)

This was one of the first things I ate on my first trip to Asia, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. On Taiwan and in northern China, it’s the emotional equivalent of your family’s chicken-soup recipe, a comfort food that is simple but requires a lot of time and care to do well. The beef is simmered in the broth for hours, with five-spice and soy and vegetables so that the liquid is smooth and dark and rich, and the meat falls apart in your spoon. The thick wheat noodles are chewy and filling. (I use udon when I try to make it at home.) If there was one favorite dish on the island, this would be it.

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Green Onion Pancake / Scallion Pancake

Super-flaky, chewy, and savory, it can be folded and eaten on the go or as a side to soup. But it can also wrap around eggs and meat like a breakfast burrito. (I haven’t seen it served with syrup and bacon on the side, but suspect it would taste good that way too…)

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Gua Bao

The dough is the same as the fully-enclosed, pillowy Bao you get on the mainland, but the approach on Taiwan is to make them open-faced so it’s easier to add a fresh-off-the-skillet tender pork belly with sweet sauce, garnished with cilantro, mustard greens, and ground peanuts. In the mornings you can get them with eggs and beef, too!

Braised Pork Rice (Lurou Fan)

Another great comfort food, this is exactly what you want to have on a rainy or cool day. This is also a festival food, especially at New Year, and as a bonus, it brings good luck to new mothers! The long-cooked sausage and mushrooms mix so well with the sticky rice and soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil to make a chewy, sweet, satisfying bowl of nothing less than a grandmother’s love.

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Boba Tea

This is Taiwan’s most famous food export, and franchised hometown chains like Chatime have spread across North America. You can get it any way you like it in Taipei and in dozens of ways you’ve never imagined, with all sorts of flavors and toppings. Plenty of fruit- and dairy-based drinks are on tap as well, since your kids won’t need the caffeine.

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Popcorn Chicken (also called Salt & Pepper Chicken)

“Now wait. We have plenty of fried chicken back in the States.” Ah, but have you had it made with Taiwanese sweet-potato flour and chilies, twice-fried with basil leaves? Fried chicken is beloved all over East and Southeast Asia, too, and this is a preparation you’ll want to try when you get back home.

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Sausage-in-Sausage

The name makes it sound as if this was some kind of “turducken” creation, but it’s just cute branding: it’s really a Taiwanese hot dog! A snappy grilled Chinese pork sausage gets a variety of toppings, and goes into a “bun” of grilled sticky rice.

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Ice Cream Spring Rolls

You may have seen those Thai rolled ice cream stands, but this is another step further and off to the side… They use the chewy, translucent, rice flour wrappers you know from your Vietnamese restaurant and roll different flavors of ice cream into them, burrito-style. You can hold ice cream in your hand without a cone!

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Pineapple Cake

Unlike the Pineapple Buns from Hong Kong, these snack-sized cakes actually have real pineapple fruit filling inside. Yummy as a travel treat or as part of a sit-down dessert. (You can also find them with melon or egg-yolk fillings.)

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Mango Shaved Ice (Baobing)

Even in the winter months, fresh sunny mango is ever available for a citrus rush, and in the summer heat, the cool sweetness is so refreshing. You may have had amazing shaved ice in Hawaii, but they add condensed milk to it here for surprising creaminess.

Do you have other foods to suggest? Great family-friendly and accessible restaurants to recommend? Please comment below, or drop us a note on Twitter at @weninchina!

Header photo by Aiko99ann via Wikimedia Commons, CC 3.0 license.

Many people have much to say about food:

http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/40-taiwan-food/index.html

https://www.englishintaiwan.com/life-in-taiwan/food-drink-snacks-cuisine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_cuisine

https://m.justgola.com/blog/top-27-must-try-food-in-taipei_1-86

https://thepointsguy.com/2016/01/foods-to-try-in-taiwan/

https://www.skyscanner.com.sg/news/inspiration/what-to-eat-in-taipei-10-must-try-taiwanese-foods/

http://thesmartlocal.com/read/scoot-to-taipei

http://flavorverse.com/taiwanese-foods/

https://jetsettimes.com/2014/12/03/50-foods-in-taipei-you-need-to-eat-or-at-least-try/

http://blog.tutorming.com/expats/taiwanese-night-market-snacks-food-must-eat

And check these weninchina articles and resources:

Wordsearch activity page - What Your Kids Should Eat - Taipei

3 Easy Ways to Save Money on Family Meals in Asia

Our “Taipei” folder on Pinterest

Our “Asian Food Inspiration” folder on Pinterest

What Your Kids Should Eat in Beijing

It’s a capital idea to try local favorites

Beijing, on the edge of the cold northern deserts and grasslands, did not have easy access to the fresh tropical fruits, rice paddies, and deep varieties of seafood that typifies southern Chinese cuisine. Wheat could grow in the north, and cattle had room to graze, so Northern dishes cooked by common people often evolved to use hearty noodles, dumplings, and breads; beef and lamb; and root vegetables and pickles that could be preserved and stored over the winter.

As the capital grew in size and political power, and as transportation improved, the unique ingredients and cooking styles of China’s various regions all found expression at restaurants and catered gatherings, and it became fashionable for Beijingers to seek diverse dining experiences. And as the city expanded, there was enough patronage to keep chefs of each school of cuisine very busy. So instead of flavors blending together into a common style over the past several hundred years, Beijing may well have the most variety of “Chinese” cuisine of any city in the nation.

Some dishes and snacks to look for as you tour the city include:

Image by FuReal via Pixabay, CC 0 license (public domain)

Peking Duck

You can get good roast duck all over the world, but it’s a point of pride among chefs and diners that it’s done the best in the city that it’s named for. If you can’t get into the historic Quanjude (8 locations around the city) or Bianyifang restaurants, there are dozens of other choices, including street markets, to get a taste! Kids really appreciate the build-your-own-taco aspect of the dish.

Image by Jmps2016 via Wikimedia Commons, CC 4.0 license

Jianbing

It’s not just that it tastes so satisfyingly good; or that it playfully mixes the contrasting textures of smooth scrambled egg with crisp pancake and crunchy wantons; or that you get so much breakfast for so little money. It’s the theater of watching it be made for you right there on the street – they sell so quickly that there’s no way to make them ahead of time to sit under a heating lamp.

Image by 三島堂 via Wikimedia Commons, CC 4.0 license

Stir-fried tomato & scrambled eggs

This is a favorite comfort food, and one of the first dishes kids learn how to cook for themselves in China, or have every night in college. Most any broad-menu restaurant in the city will be serving it.

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Jiaozi

We’ve given this food its own page to describe its history and variety – northern China loves its dumplings and you can find them pan-fried and steamed at street markets, specialty shops, and nearly any sit-down restaurant.

Image by C C via Wikimedia Commons, CC 2.0 license

Shaobing

It’s like a baked layered bagel: sometimes with fillings like red bean paste, eggs, or roasted meat; sometimes with no filling – sometimes coated with sugar, othertimes sprinkled with salt – but always served warm. Look for them at your hotel’s breakfast buffet, at bakeries, or from street food carts.

Image by Ynotswim via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Zhajiang mian

You can tell a Northern dish by its use of wheat-based noodles, and sauces that take time to ferment. Add minced pork and fresh vegetables in a stir-fry and you get a rich, savory, chewy and crunchy bowl of home-cooking goodness. This is everyone’s meal they remember their grandma making. And as such, it’s available everywhere.

Image by Jen Leung via Flickr, CC 2.0 license

Chuan’r kebobs

Here’s street food at its most basic: grilled meat (lamb is the favorite, but you can get pork, chicken, beef, or fish, too) and vegetables, served hot and fresh on skewers. It’s seasoned with onion, cumin, and sometimes chili powder – so Americans will find the flavor familiar like Tex-Mex (but this style came from China’s Far West of Xinjiang).

Image by Joni Cong via Flickr, CC 2.0 license

Bingtanghulu

Another food-on-a-stick from the street food stalls, but this is a syrupy sticky dessert made with Chinese Haw fruit, which grows only in the north and in Korea. The fruit itself is often dried and flattened, and tastes just like an artificial “Fruit Roll-Up” – but for a snack, they take a handful of them and coat them in sugar. Like it needs the extra sweetness (eyeroll). This is a fall-and-winter snack just after harvest time.

Image by Nate Gray (cphotoj) via Flickr, CC 2.0 license

Roasted chestnuts

Another winter favorite at the street markets is something North Americans haven’t seen for generations: hot roasted chestnuts. The tree and nut have been sacred in China for millennia and considered to bring good fortune; they’re added to many fancy recipes and even used in some traditional medicines. On the street, they’re quickly baked in hot woks with small pebbles or sand to transfer heat evenly and keep the nut from popping open!

Do you have other foods to suggest? Great family-friendly and accessible restaurants to recommend? Please comment below, or drop us a note on Twitter at @weninchina!

Many people have much to say about food:

https://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/food-restaurant.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_cuisine

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/beijing/travel-tips-and-articles/what-to-eat-in-beijing/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2767bf1

http://www.intochinatravel.com/the-10-foods-you-must-try-when-visiting-beijing/

https://www.forbes.com/2008/07/08/food-beijing-delicacies-olympics08-forbeslife-cx_co_0708food.html#34436a947e1c

http://www.spoonhunt.com/blog/top-10-must-eat-foods-while-visiting-beijing

https://www.gpsmycity.com/articles/7-top-10-foods-to-try-in-beijing.html

https://eatyourworld.com/destinations/asia/china/beijing

https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2015/02/22/25-great-things-eat-beijing-you-die-or-choke-death

https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/54651/10-beijing-dishes/

And check these weninchina articles and resources:

Impressions of… Forbidden City

Impressions of… Hutong School

3 Easy Ways to Save Money on Family Meals in Asia

Wordfind - What Your Kids Should Eat in Beijing

Our “Beijing” folder on Pinterest

Our “Asian Food Inspiration” folder on Pinterest