2.209

2 (Tue) August 2011

Cheolpan Ojingeo

2.5

at Hyangtogol

-Woncheon, Yeongtong, Suwon, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with Dad

Day 2 of my mother’s post-op recuperation in the hospital.  I was unwelcome to stay the night, especially not after last night’s fiasco (see 2.208 Yangjangpi).

Instead, I had dinner with my father, who had come to visit, and left with him later in the evening.

While squid (ojingeo) isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Korean food, Koreans eat a lot of it.  Dried squid as a snack, say, at movie theaters in lieu of or in tandem with popcorn.  Raw squid as an anju, say, at tent bars on the street with shots of soju.  Squid is also a common flavoring in packaged crackers/chips.  For cooked squid, the default method is to stir-fry it with onions + garlic, seasoned with gochujang + soy sauce + sesame oil.

The variation presented here came with mixed greens and slices of the restaurant’s signature hand-made tofu.  The ngredients were cooked at the table in a shallow pan over a burner; cheolpan is a steel/iron plate.  The squid and veg were so-so.  The tofu was quite good: beanier taste and richer texture than its mass-produced counterpart.  12,000 won for the main order, 5,000 won for extra tofu.

(See also FOODS.)

(See also PLACES.)