Busan, South Korea

Finally getting around to posting all the pictures from the Asia trip.  Since I've been to Korea, specifically Seoul, so many times, my family decided to take a road trip down to Busan.  For some reason when my mom told me we were driving to southern Korea, I thought, alright we're going to the country where the food is probably super fresh and amazing but I'll be peeing in some hole in the ground.  Boy was I naive.  Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, not too much different from Seoul.  The upside to the trip was Busan is right on the coast so the drive down was beautiful.

Like myself, my emobu (uncle) is a food enthusiast and wanted to take us to as many different kinds of restaurants possible.  Here are a couple of the places we went to:


1. Haeundae Rib Barbecue Restaurant
If you're looking for the best barbecue in Busan, I highly recommend Haeundae.  It's typical Korean barbecue, different kinds of raw meat cooked over a charcoal grill.  One of their specialties and one of my dad's favorite dishes is Bulgogi cooked with noodles.  After you finish cooking the meat, you add beef broth straight to the grill and then cook the noodles in the juice.  It was heavenly (sorry you couldn't be there Dad) and a must have if you ever visit this restaurant!

Typical banchan.

Soju bomb glass.

Bulgogi.

Bulgogi and noodles.

2. Seafood

I couldn't remember the name of this restaurant but I'm told that all the seafood along the harbor in Busan is equally amazing.  I'm a huge fan of seafood and this particular place was known for their crab.  Let me just say, they did NOT waste any part of the crab, which you will see in the pictures below.  Also, if anyone does decide to visit one of these restaurants, come with an appetite!  When they first brought out a few dishes, I thought to myself "aren't we having crab, what's with all the sushi and fish?"  Oh that was just the appetizers.  And the main course: endless mounds of crab meat....and crab fried rice...and crab ramen noodles.  Needless to say, I slept the rest of the car ride home.

Massive crabs!

Abalone with onions.

Baked fish with aioli sauce and cabbage salad.
This dish was my all time favorite (next to the crab).

Spicy raw squid and carrots.

Pan-fried white fish.

Baked jumbo shrimp with veggies.

All the appetizers including the salad and sushi.

First round of crab!

Crab fried rice served in the actual crab head.

Ramen noodles with tofu and crab.