Sushi... in Seoul

[umetaro]

I'm going to be in Seoul for two weeks and was wondering if there was any good sushi to be had there. I don't care what ethnicity the itamae is as long as he/she is damned good. Yes, I know it's not really the right time or the right city to be looking for Japanese food, but I have a serious sushi addiction (I spend more on sushi than on rent and I live in SF) and know I will be jonesing for some at least once or twice during my stay there. I speak/read a little Japanese and enough Korean to be dangerous if that helps any.

[touaregsand]

I'm going to be in Seoul for two weeks and was wondering if there was any good sushi to be had there.  I don't care what ethnicity the itamae is as long as he/she is damned good.  Yes, I know it's not really the right time or the right city to be looking for Japanese food, but I have a serious sushi addiction (I spend more on sushi than on rent and I live in SF) and know I will be jonesing for some at least once or twice during my stay there.  I speak/read a little Japanese and enough Korean to be dangerous if that helps any.

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You are on crack. I know it. You must be to look for sushi in Korea. Why not look for "hweh" (raw fish) or "cho bap" (literally vinaigered rice, sometimes topped with raw fish).

The sushi sucks in Korea. But we make some mean hwe and cho bap.

[umetaro]

You are on crack. I know it. You must be to look for sushi in Korea. Why not look for "hweh" (raw fish) or "cho bap" (literally vinaigered rice, sometimes topped with raw fish).

The sushi sucks in Korea. But we make some mean hwe and cho bap.

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hwae is not sushi (i do enjoy hwae dup bap on occasion though). i have not had the pleasure of eating cho bap yet, but although "vinegared rice, sometimes topped with raw fish" might be considered sushi by some, they'd have to possess a pretty broad definition of the term.

so, to be more specific and avoid confusion, i'm looking for good edomae style nigiri zushi in seoul. if you need a definition of "good," please use some of the pictures in this post as a referral:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=892044

thanks much.

[touaregsand]

Hweh is sashimi and cho bap is sushi.

It's been about 4 years since I've been to Korea. So off the top of my head I can't recommend specific places. I can point you to some websites that have a few reviews written by expats.

If you're looking for sushi the way it's presented in those photos it will be insanely expensive. It's not that hard to find Japanese style sushi in Korea. I think it's good, pretty much what you would get in California.

[umetaro]

Hweh is sashimi and cho bap is sushi.

It's been about 4 years since I've been to Korea. So off the top of my head I can't recommend specific places. I can point you to some websites that have a few reviews written by expats.

If you're looking for sushi the way it's presented in those photos it will be insanely expensive. It's not that hard to find Japanese style sushi in Korea. I think it's good, pretty much what you would get in California.

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Ah, my bad. I assumed that was a regional form of a similar dish instead of a foreign name for a particular dish. I guess I should have used google. Dur.

Could you point me to those sites? Even sites in hangul would be okay.

Also, what do you consider "insanely expensive?" If it's good enough I don't mind spending the money for it.

[ivan]

Traveling Japanese businessmen know where to get good sushi everywhere in the world. Follow them.

[touaregsand]

Ah, my bad. I assumed that was a regional form of a similar dish instead of a foreign name for a particular dish. I guess I should have used google. Dur.

Yes and no. You'll see when you get there.

Traveling Japanese businessmen know where to get good sushi everywhere in the world. Follow them.

The problem with that approach is that unless they are also talking they don't look any different from Korean businessmen.

Also, what do you consider "insanely expensive?" If it's good enough I don't mind spending the money for it.

In the range of Masa. I'm actually scared to eat at really high end places in Seoul. The tabs seem to swell really fast and somewhat uncontrollably. There is a strong message that if you are in one of those places you have no concern for money. And you can't argue the bill either, especially if you are a foreigner.

[umetaro]

Ah, my bad. I assumed that was a regional form of a similar dish instead of a foreign name for a particular dish. I guess I should have used google. Dur.

Yes and no. You'll see when you get there.

I'll report back.

In the range of Masa. I'm actually scared to eat at really high end places in Seoul. The tabs seem to swell really fast and somewhat uncontrollably. There is a strong message that if you are in one of those places you have no concern for money. And you can't argue the bill either, especially if you are a foreigner.

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Eh, I'll be with a gyoppo who speaks Korean pretty well. And she loves to argue. If I get her drunk enough she starts punching too. Good times.

[touaregsand]

Eh, I'll be with a gyoppo who speaks Korean pretty well. And she loves to argue. If I get her drunk enough she starts punching too. Good times.

I was a temporary gyoppo a few years and I speak Korean pretty well or extremely well depending on how much Korean I've been speaking recently. I've traveled in Korea alot. Overall it can be harder to be a gyoppo than a physically identifiable foreigner.

You're friend sounds like a character! But all kidding aside an argument over a bill will favor the house and punching automatically equals jail time.

[JasonTrue]

I am not sure I found this to be true, but I didn' t really eat at trendy fusion places.

"High end" imperial style Korean cuisine seemed to be quite predictable in pricing... and about 1/4 of the cost of an equivalent quality kaiseki meal in Japan.

I only went to a Japanese place in Korea once and it reminded me of the Korean-run Japanese places in the US: same basic ingredients, lack of concern for presentation and lack of obsession for detail, perhaps for the same reason that Italian food in the US is often so far off from reality: people got used to a less carefully prepared version with bigger portion sizes and came to expect that, rather than the real thing. Oh, I guess that's my experience with Japanese food in the US too. I guess there's something to be said for eating native food where it comes from.

I can say I had a pretty darned nice, though extravagantly priced by Korean standards, Korean meal this march in a Korean-operated restaurant/grocery store a couple of stops away from Shinjuku during my March Japan trip.

In the range of Masa. I'm actually scared to eat at really high end places in Seoul. The tabs seem to swell really fast and somewhat uncontrollably. There is a strong message that if you are in one of those places you have no concern for money. And you can't argue the bill either, especially if you are a foreigner.

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[touaregsand]

I've eaten sushi in Korea more than once. Just to give a sense of scale I'll repeat what I said in a different thread in this thread. I've visited Korea over 100 times since the late 70's and I lived there for about three years in the 90's, I've also been on several culinary tours of South Korea. I'm a sushi freak. There are sushi restaurants with Korean and Japanese chefs who spent years training in Japan. They won't be found in the run of the mill places. In the run of the mill places you will find sometimes decent to good run of the mill sushi that you would find in Los Angeles sushi restaurants that are owned by Japanese or Koreans. Yeah, I've also eaten alot of sushi in LA too. I've also read a few posts on egullet regarding how Koreans can't seem to get the rice in sushi "just so". I've also read the posts regarding the Japanese pride for their own rice and blind tastes tests that resulted in pretty much equal portions of hit and miss identification.

I'm still looking for some websites. I knew alot of them when I was living in Korea, but I jut can't seem to find any now. I'll keep looking though.

Finding good sushi in Korea is not on par with finding good French crepes in Japan.

[umetaro]

I've eaten sushi in Korea more than once. Just to give a sense of scale I'll repeat what I said in a different thread in this thread. I've visited Korea over 100 times since the late 70's and I lived there for about three years in the 90's, I've also been on several culinary tours of South Korea. I'm a sushi freak. There are sushi restaurants with Korean and Japanese chefs who spent years training in Japan. They won't be found in the run of the mill places. In the run of the mill places you will find sometimes decent to good run of the mill sushi that you would find in Los Angeles sushi restaurants that are owned by Japanese or Koreans. Yeah, I've also eaten alot of sushi in LA too. I've also read a few posts on egullet regarding how Koreans can't seem to get the rice in sushi "just so". I've also read the posts regarding the Japanese pride for their own rice and blind tastes tests that resulted in pretty much equal portions of hit and miss identification.

I'm still looking for some websites. I knew alot of them when I was living in Korea, but I jut can't seem to find any now. I'll keep looking though.

Finding good sushi in Korea is not on par with finding good French crepes in Japan.

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thank you very much for looking. much appreciated.

[jschyun]

No chance of side trip to Tokyo?

[touaregsand]

No chance of side trip to Tokyo?

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I think you can add it for less than $100 to your ticket or even get it for free, depending on the deal you can get.

[umetaro]

No chance of side trip to Tokyo?

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Got a loooooong ass layover there coming and going. I think I just might need a break from all the Korean food I'll be eating.

[chefzadi]

No chance of side trip to Tokyo?

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Got a loooooong ass layover there coming and going. I think I just might need a break from all the Korean food I'll be eating.

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You think you'll need a break just after 2 weeks?

[Soup]

Hwe or Shashimi,

Its all pretty darn good. I love the stuff when I can see a part of the animal moving. In korea you can get small octopus still wiggling as you chew. Yum.

Main difference i've notice is the dip. Koreans use a Pepper based dip (KoChuJang based sauce) and Japanese use the standards wasabi. I'm more partial to the korean version.

BTW, I've hear that it was really the koreans that thougth the japanese the art of eating raw seafood and meat but I think this is just part of the on going feud. Any one know how Hwe or Shashimi/sushi really came about (based in fact, please).

Soup

[touaregsand]

BTW, I've hear that it was really the koreans that thougth the japanese the art of eating raw seafood and meat but I think this is just part of the on going feud. Any one know how Hwe or Shashimi/sushi really came about (based in fact, please).

Facts? Let's just keep feuding. Seriously though it can be so bad that I once saw a Japanese and Korean man on a flight to Seoul get into a fist fight over who did what first. We were in business class too.

I think my generation of Japanese and Koreans have different attitudes than our parents did.

History of Japanese cuisine from the Yamasa student network.

Japanese cuisine has developed over the past 2,000 years with strong influences from both China and Korea. But it is only in the last 300-400 years that all the influences have come together to form what nowadays can be described as Japanese cuisine.

Korea's rice growing techniques were passed on to the Japanese during the Yayoi period, as migrating tribes settled in Japan.

Preserving fish also became popular and sushi originated as a means of preserving fish by fermenting it in boiled rice. Fish that are salted and placed in rice are preserved by lactic acid fermentation, which prevents proliferation of the bacteria that bring about putrefaction. This older type of sushi is still produced in the areas surrounding Lake Biwa in western Japan, and similar types are also known in Korea, southwestern China, and Southeast Asia. In fact, the technique first originated in a preservation process developed for freshwater fish caught in the Mekong River and is thought to have diffused to Japan along with the rice cultivation.

What I've read points to the Chinese or Koreans introducing the "old type" sushi to Japan. I suspect that the Chinese influence might be clearer in Osaka.

The sushi as we know it today in America is a Japanese modification/creation. Sushi history in Japan.

In Korea as I mentioend upthread there are traditional Korean hweh and chobap restaurants and newer Japanese style sushi restaurants.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. The origins of sushi point to Southeast Asia. It's thought that it got to Japan via China or Korea or both.

Edited April 16, 2005 by touaregsand (log)

[Pan]

Ji-Young, the passage you bolded seems to indicate Vietnam as a likely originator of sushi. The Mekong River flows from mountains in southern China through Laos and Cambodia to Vietnam.