[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

Grand Hyatt Seoul unveils Spring Breeze in Namsan Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel’s signature restaurant Teppan opens its new lunch and dinner menu event, Spring Breeze in Namsan. Starting with baekhap pot as an appetizer, a great variety of meat and fish dishes using ingredients fresh from Jeju Island are served at the table. This season’s hanwoo beef sirloin is a specialty created by the hotels‘ executive chef, Dallas Cuddy. The sour and saltiness of turnip and the seasonal Jeju

Feb. 25, 2022

[Temple to Table] Refreshing spring veggies, stringy stonecrop water kimchi

“I thought for a while what to cook, and chose things that are easy to cook but that can revive one’s appetite in springtime. In fact, we don’t have recipes that require sophisticated preparation or many supplementary ingredients in temple cuisine,” said Ven. Yeoil. Saying her cooking skill is “just knowledge she picked up from everyday observations,” Ven. Yeoil reveals her humility, but the magic in her hands is well-known among her fellow Buddhist nuns fro

Feb. 19, 2022

[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

Fairmont Ambassador Seoul launches ‘Luxury Wellness’ package Fairmont Ambassador Seoul presents a wellness package that offers moments of genuine relaxation and healing. The package includes a night’s stay in the Fairmont Deluxe room, and a choice of a 60-minute body message treatment or 70-minute facial at ESPA, a luxury spa located within the hotel. A buffet breakfast for two is provided at Spectrum, and two signature cocktails at M29, both located in the hotel. The pack

Feb. 18, 2022

Follow the scent: Hidden jeon spot in Gongdeok Market

The official campaigning period for the upcoming presidential election kicked off Tuesday, with most candidates heading to traditional markets on the first day. One of the pledges made at these stumps over the past several elections has been revitalization of traditional markets, a pledge clearly aimed at the merchants. Before the onslaught of mass retailers, traditional markets were crowded day and night, humming with vibrant energy. Today, many neighborhood taditional markets struggle to su

Feb. 17, 2022

[Holly’s Korean Kitchen] Easy Korean japchae

When I was in my early 20s studying at a college in the US, I was invited to a dinner party at a Korean professor’s home. He was treating all students from Korea and students majoring in Korean at his home. His wife was an amazing cook – she was more popular among the students than her husband who was teaching Korean at the university. She showed me how she made her japchae, the ever famous Korean glass noodle stir-fry, and I was converted. Her japchae noodles were very chewy and

Feb. 12, 2022

Sprinkling new flavors on classic deep-fried doughnut

In street corners and market alleys of 1970s and ’80s Seoul, kkwabaegi, or twisted doughnuts, were an unmissable sight. Before an ever-growing variety of pastries became available even in neighborhood bakeries, children and adults could rely on kkwabaegi as a sweet, chewy treat that was light on the pocket. The texture and taste of the twisted Korean doughnut is unique. A well-made crispy, sugary kkwabaegi is crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Kkwabaegi is traditional

Feb. 11, 2022

[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul unveils ‘Be My Valentine Afternoon Tea Set’ The Lounge at JW Marriott Hotel Seoul presents the “Be My Valentine Afternoon Tea Set,” with handcrafted desserts featuring romantic pink hues from four days starting Friday. The limited-edition tea set includes an exclusive gift of Manolo Blahnik Chocolate Shoes, dubbed the “Dream Wedding Shoes” for their appearance in “Sex and the City.” Strawberry Mont Blancs, Chocolate Mill

Feb. 11, 2022

[Temple to Table] Giving warmth to the body, wormwood lotus root pancakes

Once in the past I went to the countryside, picked a full bag of wormwood, and returned to Seoul to make ssukgaetteok (mugwort rice cake). I arrived home late at night so I left the bag in the kitchen. The next day, I opened it and found they had all turned yellow, and I had to throw them away. Because wormwood has lots of heat energy, it tends to go bad unless you blanch or dry it right away. When you buy wormwood at a market, select plump ones of a proper length that have a whitish part an

Feb. 5, 2022

[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

InterContinental Seoul COEX launches Valentine’s Day package InterContinental Seoul COEX presents the “Sparkling Love Diary“ package, which comes with a necklace gift for couples to celebrate Valentine’s Day. In collaboration with Swarovski, the package includes a one-night stay in the Classic Room, a Swarovski necklace, a bottle of rose wine, and an Instax camera rental service for visitors to document their memories. Guests can enjoy a breakfast buffet for two, prep

Feb. 4, 2022

[Holly’s Korean Kitchen] Tteokbokki, spicy Korean rice cakes

Having a dish full of spicy Korean rice cakes, or tteokbokki, recently in a busy Korean street market brought me a lot of nostalgia. The chewy rice cakes with mildly spicy gochujang sauce … mmm! It was like a taste of my childhood. I recently went to Korea to visit my family. The two weeks of mandatory quarantine upon arrival was well worth the effort. After the quarantine was over, I was thrilled to go out and hit different places for meals. Enjoying Korean street food was no exception

Jan. 29, 2022

[Weekender] Tteokguk with jidan, beef topping

Basic ingredients - 400 grams rice cake slices (tteokguk tteok) - 130 grams minced beef - 2 green onion stalks - 2-3 eggs For beef seasoning - 1 tablespoon soy sauce - 1 tablespoon sesame oil - 1 teaspoon minced garlic - 1 teaspoon sugar - pepper to taste - a little cooking oil to coat frying pan For soup - 5 cups of dried kelp (dashima) broth - 1/2 big spoon soup soy sauce - 1 small spoon minced garlic - salt and pepper to taste Directions - If rice cake slices

Jan. 29, 2022

[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

Andaz Seoul Gangnam launches ‘Romance at Andaz’ package Andaz Seoul Gangnam, a lifestyle hotel under Hyatt Hotels & Resorts located in Apgujeong, is offering a special package for couples’ staycation. The “Romance at Andaz” consists of a night’s stay at a room of your choice, and breakfast for two at the hotel’s luxury restaurant Jogakbo. A bottle of sparkling wine, cake, and a La Cuvee Maison bath bomb set is also included in the package. Access

Jan. 28, 2022

Korean ramen craze continues

Packaged instant noodle products of different flavors, from spicy beef broth to stir-fried black bean sauce and kimchi soup, are stacked on a shelf covering about two-thirds of the store’s wall on the right. On the left, a row of automatic machines to pour hot water into paper cups and boil it at the touch of a button are ready to cook the noodles. After buying a packet of ramen through a self-ordering kiosk, all you need to do is open the bag and put the dried noodles in the paper contai

Jan. 27, 2022

[Temple to Table] Food of compassion, seoritae biji-jjigae

The secular world uses meat flavored stocks to add savory taste to food, but at temples, vegetable stock is an indispensable ingredient. To make vegetable stock, most temples boil white radish, shiitake mushrooms and kelp, but Jinkwansa does not use kelp. Ven. Gyeho prefers not to add the fishy smell of kelp to the plain taste of veggie stock. Instead she prefers adding dried chilies to give dishes a mild heat. Ginger is also a common ingredient in Jinkwansa’s winter temple food. In addit

Jan. 22, 2022

[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul launches ‘Yut-Nori With Black Tiger’ promotion JW Marriott Hotel Seoul marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year with a package promotion curated for families celebrating the new year together. The stay package features yut sticks, a yut board and yut tokens handcrafted by the hotel’s pastry team for a joyful family game experience. Two glasses of Black Tiger Guinness will be provided by master mixologists at the seventh-floor MOBO Bar. The packag

Jan. 21, 2022

Online Kimchi exhibit opens in Canada

An online website that explores kimchi making recipes and Korea’s unique kimjang culture, will be open to global viewers until the end of March, the Korean Cultural Center Canada announced Sunday. Titled as “Kimjang: The Aesthetics of Sharing,” the website explains in detail the history of how kimjang culture has been treasured by Koreans for generations, and thus came to be acknowledged in 2013 on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Alongside its

Jan. 17, 2022

Destination bakeries beckon

Over the past two decades, large-scale franchise bakeries have swept across the country, growing in numbers to a point where it seems there is at least one franchise around the corner offering the standard cakes and baked goods. In recent years, however, independent bakeries serving items fresh out of the oven alongside warm drinks have been on the rise, not just in big cities but more often on city outskirts. These “destination bakeries” attract customers with unique interiors and

Jan. 15, 2022

[Holly’s Korean Kitchen] Easy kimchi recipe for beginners

It is a wonderful phenomenon that more and more people around the world are developing a taste for kimchi. That pleasantly pungent, sour, spicy, and perfectly salty taste — with the crisp texture of cabbage — indicates that you have yourself some good kimchi. Koreans make their cabbage kimchi in different ways depending on the season and the purpose. Cabbage kimchi is perhaps the best known and common kimchi eaten in Korea. The next common kimchi would be the cubed radish kimchi. W

Jan. 15, 2022

[Around the Hotels] Promotions and packages

Four Seasons Hotel collaborates with Nespresso Four Seasons Hotel Seoul has teamed up with premium coffee brand Nespresso to promote limited-edition coffee capsules from Nespresso’s Forest Collection, under the theme of sustainable environment. The “Gifts of the Forest” promotion presents a special staycation with various desserts and cocktails provided by the hotel inspired by Nespresso’s coffee. A portion of the profit will go to Naver’s Happybean Foundation t

Jan. 14, 2022

A beginner’s guide to naengmyeon, Korean cold noodles

The four seasons of Korea are distinct, which led to the development of seasonal dishes depending on which ingredients that were fresh and available at the time. Naengmyeon, cold noodles served in broth usually made of beef stock, is an exception. The popular Korean cold noodle dish sharpens the appetites of noodle lovers not only in the summer, but also during the height of the winter season. In fact, some naengmyeon lovers will swear by slurping icy cold noodles while seated on a warm ondol

Jan. 8, 2022