A Slap Up Feed At Star Chef And An Ajosshi Exclusive

Tonight a few of us from our theatre headed round the corner for an evening of culinary hedonism at Star Chef. There really is no other place like this in Korea, the food is exquisite and the flavours are not to be found anywhere else in Seoul...



As always the broccoli and garlic chips made their way to the table and were consumed with abandon. I'm not a broccoli fan, but this dish makes me want to ask for seconds.



Next up was the octopus and cuttlefish salad, this isn't on the menu, but if you ask nicely they may be able to whip it up for you. The seafood is succulent and dressed beautifully, but one companion complained of too many olives and capers; a punchy addition to a beautiful salad.



To follow we procured the grilled chicken breast salad, I was skeptical, but as soon as I tasted the perfectly cooked fowl, I was hooked. Still juicy and gently smothered in rosemary, a very different salad with very different flavours.



Hot on their heels came the Prime Rib Eye Special, another salady dish with a gorgeous mustard dressing and perfectly cooked Australian waegyu beef. It's wonderful to be able to order steak and for it to come out exactly how it should be: bloody and tender.



Moving on to the crispy fried beef was also a pleasure. Delightfully light battered meat with another differently dressed salad.



Tossed together they created a fantastically messy coriander laden crispy delicacy.



Finally we were served The Amazing Fish, we went for the red snapper which arrived crispy and covered in coriander and ginger. Boned at the table and then quickly devoured; it was the star of the evening.

Star Chef is most definitely worth a visit, but to be safe be sure to book a table ahead of time to save any heartbreak. You can call them on 02 529 8248 and they are located just round the corner from Maebong station.

Onto a little bit of an exclusive, from this weekend onwards Star Chef will be serving Alley Kat Draft for 8,000 won a glass. A mighty fine tipple that quenches the thirst and satisfies those with a yearning for pale ale in Seoul.

Ajosshi and His Sticky Ribs

I have a passion for ribs at the moment, I only started cooking them earlier this year, but they have become a regular feature at the dinner table. They're boiled and baked with a recipe of my own concoction, sort of a cross between chinese and western ribs, trying to mix complimentary flavours from both worlds.

Here's the recipe, why not give them a try...

You will need:

A rack or two of pork ribs
A peeled onion
A peeled carrot
Eight cloves of garlic
A thumb of peeled ginger
A star anise
A teaspoon of schezuan pepper (whole, not ground)
Ten whole black peppercorns
A teaspoon of five spice powder
A pinch of chili powder
A good glug of honey
A good glug of soy sauce
A glug of your alcohol of choice (whiskey and rum work well)

Add all of these things to a large pot of boiling water and leave on a gentle simmer for an hour or so. If your ribs are especially meaty then give them an extra ten minutes for luck. Every once in a while skim the surface for oil and make sure the ribs remain covered with water

When your time is up gently remove the ribs from the pot and place them in a foil lined baking tray meaty side up. Add a little of the rib water to the bottom of the tray and baste the ribs with the following marinade:

A glug of oil, a dash of soy sauce, a pinch of black pepper, a squeeze of honey and a shot of your alcohol of choice.

Once your marinade is mixed together lovingly brush the ribs with some of this concoction and place them in a hot oven (225 centigrade) for about half an hour. Take the ribs out once or twice and baste them with the rest of the marinade, adding a little stock water to the bottom of the tray if things are getting to dry or burnt. Bake your ribs as crispy as you like, but do be careful unless you fancy cooking Cajun style...



Finally take the ribs out of the oven and let the rest for ten to fifteen minutes so that they can relax. Then hack at them with a pair of scissors until separate and eat with your fingers...

I love to use dark rum with these ribs, but a half decent whiskey will also do the trick. Just follow the golden rule: If it's not good enough to drink, then don't cook with it.

The ribs will happily sit with a salad, steamed veg, a simple pasta, rice and kimchi... in fact they'll go with pretty much anything you like.

Be sure to gnaw the bones clean...

The Internet Wedding of the Year

Well folks, today was a very special day for the k-blogosphere as the one and only Zenkimchi and his bride tied the knot in a very traditional fashion. Down in the depths of the Namsan Hanok Village, a select few were witness to the wedding of Joseph Daniel McPherson the Third and 이은정.



It was great to see a traditional wedding in all its glory and the bride and groom looked glorious in their hanboks.

I wish them the happiest of lives together and hope that their marital bliss may last forever...


More photos to come once I have some time to sort through them...

Bathroom Secrets

There's a whole lot of shaking going on in my neighbourhood at the moment, with various buildings disappearing each week. This morning on my way to work I passed this partially demolished homestead and noticed that the previous occupants had decided not to save their beloved bathroom poster. She's still up there tonight, but soon her reign as bathroom queen will end and like us all she'll crumble to dust when her time comes.

Goodbye sweet poster lady... may you rest in pieces...

Delightful Rice Cakes

Popped round to a friend's house for tea and a chat about Neil Gaiman. As I left she proffered these little gems and begged me to take them with me. These are some of the cutest little rice cakes I've seen in a while...



A tiny persimmon.



A Canadian rice cake?



Peachy...

Holiday Hummingbird Hawk-Moths

I have a confession to make. I may spend most of my time on this blog talking about food or film, but I have a third passion and that is taking pictures of animals and insects. Seoul isn't the easiest city to do it in, but at certain times of the year nature reveals itself.



Exactly one year ago I walked up the hill from Itaewon to the Hyatt hotel and crossed over the bridge into the gardens of Namsan. As I strolled along the path I saw the most incredible thing: what looked like hummingbirds suckling on flowers. Upon closer inspection these tricky little creatures turned out to be Hummingbird Hawk-moths (꼬리박각시 나방) and I found myself entranced by their fairy like flittering amongst the plants.



I retraced my steps today and I was delighted to find that they were back at their old haunt, as beautiful and strange as ever. If you're interested you can see the full set of photos over on flickr. They'll probably be around for a little while longer and then disappear till the next brood hatches. If you enjoy curious insects and happen to be in the area then they're well worth a look.

Curry for Chuseok...

Happy Chuseok to you all, I hope that your pancakes are crispy and that your kimchi is firm. Here in the Ajosshi household things are a little different, due to work commitments we're staying in Seoul and not able to go down to Chungju to see the relatives. So today before my beloved set out to for work (catch her performing as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet at the National Theatre for the next week or so), I decided to whip up a spicy little Chuseok treat.



Smothered lamb adapted from a recipe by Madhur Jaffrey.

You will need:
A few handfuls of lamb chopped into bite size chunks
Three peeled and finely chopped tomatoes
Two handfuls of finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro to our Italian and North American friends)
A finely chopped onion
A large thumb's worth of finely chopped ginger
Two finely sliced hot green chillies (only if you like it spicy)
Two chopped green peppers
One chopped aubergine (eggplant)
Two teaspoons of garam masala
One teaspoon of cumin
One half teaspoon of turmeric
As much salt as you feel necessary (I use about half a teaspoons worth)
Four small pots of plain yoghurt (strawberry flavour is not an option)

Mix all these together and then crush and chop up six cloves of garlic.

Heat a large saucepan and add a few glugs of oil, gently fry the garlic and then add in all the other ingredients. Add a glass of water, bring to the boil and then let it simmer slowly for two hours (be sure to stir every so often so that nothing sticks and burns).

Go watch a film, preferably with zombies in - at 126 minutes Romero's Dawn of the Dead will probably be a good option. If reanimated corpses aren't your thing then Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain runs 122 minutes and contains practically no traces of the undead.

After your cinematic interlude. Thoroughly wash and then gently chop two handfuls of spinach. Add these to the curry and allow them to wilt into submission.

Finally turn the heat up high to get rid of any excess moisture (or don't if you like a sloppier curry) and grind in as much black pepper as you feel appropriate.



Serve with rice and suitable breads. We settled on whole wheat chapattis.

Eat with your fingers...