We had a very long drive to visit a temple at Buseoksa only to find, once we’d arrived, that there was some kind of harvest festival going on and the place was inundated with cars, buses and people. So we got out to stretch our legs and to enjoy the very jolly atmosphere, even though we didn’t make it to the temple.
We were particularly delighted by the ladies from the Korean Red Cross who were really in to dancing to live music as well as the washing up:
We bought the most enormous apples – a delicacy from around here – probably a kilo between the two of them – and drove on without lunch (for the second day running) to get to our traditional hotel for the night, complete with beds on the floor:
But it was worth it! Dinner was just superb, all prepared by this gorgous chef who had been to London in 2023 for a Taste of Korea:
The menu was translated for us, which was considerate:
We drank soju (yes, that does say 21 per cent) from the area in teeny cups:
And we enjoyed every course, although we were so hungry that we forgot to take pictures until we had already started eating:
There was the teensiest dessert as well – persimmon and strawberry:
We have eaten really well in the evenings since we’ve been Korea though we don’t seem to have the hang of breakfast or lunch yet. We were particularly enchanted with technology of the grill we had last night which we wanted to share with you – we hope that even meat eaters enjoy the video:
Who needs a temple, when you have Red Cross washing up a go go? Accommodation looks tremendous, sleeping on floor though…..
Yes, the Red Cross volunteers were inspiring! And the bed on the floor was Korean style not Japanese so soft and comfortable.
Always a big fan of your food posts and this one is no exception- more please!
Will do our best! We failed to take a picture of a fabulous crab dinner – just as well, I suspect, as even the photo might have made you queasy..
I hope you joined in the dance! The food looks fab – and with no breakfast and lunch, make sure you don’t fade away!
Definitely bobbed along to the music – clearly a song that everyone knew ( hence the excitement among the Red Cross volunteers – check the website if the video didn’t appear in your email..). Not much risk of fading away but not an easy place if you don’t eat meat I suspect..
Interested to know what you did about the octopus Sue
Also many thanks for weekend FT although I think it’ll take me until next weekend to wade through it.
Ah, well. I started to explain to the man taking us through the menu that I didn’t eat octopus because they were intelligent and beautiful. I felt he was struggling with this as a notion and I remember you telling me, when I was angsting about eating cod because stocks were low, that I might as well have the cod on the menu as it was already dead. Problem sort of solved.
That is very jolly dancing indeed! And I love the teensy dab of dessert. How well are you doing getting into and out of bedding in the floor?
M is much better than me as getting up from the beds on the floor – and often offers free Feldenkreiz coaching to make my life easier…
Lovely photo of the chef. What was sleeping on floor like? I assume on a very comfortable mattress?
Spot on, Blaize – a very comfortable mattress AND excellent pillows!
The ladies (and one solitary gentleman, probably the token gay guy) look fantastic and so unself-conscious in their spontaneous dancing. Your dinner looks properly de luxe and utterly delicious. What a mimsy amount of yoghurt they give you although I suppose if it’s 15 century there probably not much left to go around.
Completely agree about the yoghurt and don’t think making it a 15th century thing is enough of an explanation – a teaspoon of yoghurt can never pass as a course in my view. The dancing was great and the female singer eventually left the stage and, still singing, led the audience in a hokey- cokey – fabulous!