Sokcho City South Korea

21.8.06

The Dinner

Yesterday was the first big dinner for all of us waygooks that Yeon-soo and Won-gi, my bosses, have taken us to since I got here.

A dinner like this is more than an opportunity for us all to get to know each other. Instead it is almost like the directors saying, “look at us, the school is doing well and we can afford to take you all out to eat.” Kind of like an example of conspicuous consumption that the Korean culture demands of those in a position of authority from time to time.

Not wanting to be late, I left my house around a quarter to six to make the hour long trek to the one of the local barbeque restaurants that litter the Korean landscape.

I walked down along the port, past the bridge to nowhere, more on that another time, and walked along the sea wall past buildings and docks crammed with all the implements to drag the bounty from the depths of the oceans.

The squid boats, of which Sokcho is justly famous for, were by far the most numerous. You can easily tell a squid boat by the huge banks of light bulbs that hang on the deck to lure the squid on to the miles of monofilament line hung with thousands upon thousands of hooks.

Along with the squid boats were a few inshore boats, small and decrepit used to haul divers to the scallop grounds and a large, gray, South Korean frigate, low and menacing in the water with its five-inch guns.

Following the bend in the sea wall I looked up and saw, to my complete and utter amazement, two regulation size American football fields, complete with goal posts, quite an oddity in a land where soccer and baseball are by far the most popular sports.

Arriving for dinner at the building I noticed again how out of place it looked. Made of cedar logs, probably imported at huge cost from the Pacific Northwest and with its large windows overlooking the street it sat alone on an empty lot across from the seawater lake that intrudes on the plain.

Inside you are required to take off your shows, just like any moderately upscale resteraunt in Korea. The main room was dominated with long low tables that seat about eight to ten with private dining rooms off to the side that you could rent for a larger party.

The tables were low, no chairs here, with a charcoal grill set into the centers to cook your meat on. Cushions were set around the table to sit on and the westerners among us assumed the uncomfortable cross-legged position Koreans use all through life but we seem to disregard after the age of thirteen.

Korean meals consist of a huge number of side dishes. The meat served, pork, was fabulous but what is really good is the staggering number of small side dishes that are constantly replenished throughout the meal.

At a meal like this the idea of everyone ordering his or her own food is almost sacrilege, in fact the idea does not exist in a restaurant like this. Everybody digs their chopsticks in, sampling the different dishes to their hearts content, scooping meat off of the flames, adding some garlic, onion and red pepper paste, wrapping it in lettuce or sesame leaves and popping the whole thing into the mouth.

The side dishes make the meal, they vary from restaurant to restaurant but they are essentially the same. Gimchi is always in evidence of course, both regular and water gimchi. We also had huge bowls of raw king crab meat, soaked in the fire engine red pepper paste. On a plate too my left was pickled radish, thinly sliced and pink, a colour that I have never seen before in a vegetable. Next to that was my favorite dish of the evening, raw sweet jellyfish, a pale, almost see through yellow. Scattered around the table was also deep fried bell pepper, light and crisp in a tempura batter, bowls of fresh pumpkin, tangy and sweet, raw squid, and huge bowls of sea urchin roe, the egg sacs a saffron yellow, slimy but tasting of the sea, delicious.

We had a good time, drinking soju and makju, (beer), along with makgoli, rice wine, served chilled in bowls. We wanted to be healthy so we drank well-being soju that had been filtered through bamboo charcoal to take out the impurities.

We left the room stuffed but happy, knowing that we had just had a great time. Mathew, Catherine, Karen, and I decided to head off to the norabang after a few more drinks, but well, even though there are some pictures, I will wait to tell that story a little later.

One last thing, this stupendous meal that all eight of us ate, including drinks, cost ten dollars apiece. In the states you would pay at least two hundred bucks for the same deal.

Take Care Everyone,
Ara