6.018 Bok Jeongsik

katch4246

11 years ago

Cycle 6. – Item 18

Post 1,844

23 (Fri) January 2015

Bok Jeongsik

2.0

at Bokio (Geumsu Bokguk)

-Sinsa, Gangnam, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

The Prodigal Son Returns to Be a Father to His Sons, a Grandson to His Grandfather, Day 2 (see previously 6.017 Tripe + Intestine + Heart).

In town for a few days, arrived yesterday evening, flying back Monday night.

3 tasks on the agenda : (1) attend Z’s daycare pageant (his first) (maybe his last)–done; (2) ski with D–done; (3) engage in shamanistic ritual for the grandparents.

Spent the afternoon on the slopes, me and the kid (the older one). He’d been taking private lessons during the winter break and wanted to show me his skills. Money well spent, he can now snowplow his way down the run like a champ at breakneck speed. While pace doesn’t prove prowess, usually the opposite, I was impressed at how fearless he’d become, compared to the timid tike a few years ago (see 3.040 Chicken Kebab). That’s my boy.

Recent name change (and ownership?) from Geumsu Bokguk to Bokio.

Dinner at a blowfish (“bok”) restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try again for years (see most recently 1.185 Bok Jiritang).

Wanting to try the menu highlights in one go, we ordered the set meal (“jeongsik”).

Banchan (2.0): 3 of 4 were sadly mediocre…

…but the tofu with spicy soy sauce was excellent (3.5), with creamy texture and nutty flavor–the best item of the entire spread.

Scallops & Mixed Greens in Balsamic Dressing (1.0): poorly done no matter the context, but even worse as a pseudo-European concoction paired with the other Korean/Japanese dishes.

Boiled Octopus in Sesame Seasoning (2.0): meh.

Deep-Fried Blowfish with Blowfish Skin Salad (2.0): tangy/spicy salad was quite nice and could’ve held its own as a stand-alone dish; however, the deep-fried fish consisted of whole fillets, kinda like for fish & chips, which isn’t a bad thing per se but seemed rather blunt and unsophisticated for this sort of spread.

Blowfish Soup (3.0): simple, light, delicate.

Dumped the remaining sashimi strips into the hot broth to cook them through, leaving tender pieces of poached fish, just right to feed the kids.

While certain items were okay individually, the set as a whole was disappointing. The sashimi, for example – okay fish per se, nicely paired with perilla leafs + chili paste + gold flakes!! – way too much, making us sick of it after a few bites. Would’ve been better just to get the soup and a bowl of rice.

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See HANSIK)

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