White Ajussi Fast Facts
Restaurant Name: Piyangkong-Halmani
Michelin Rating: Bib Gourmand
My Rating: 3.5/5 Poor drinks choice, questionable mandu, good value for money
Location: Google Maps Seollung Exit 1
Background: Blame Gordon Ramsay
Following Gordon Ramsay's recent Korean culinary adventures, I found myself really thinking about the quality of cooking in Korea. I had always enjoyed Korean food but I had always tried it at the local restaurant level. My mind was opened up. I decided that I should dig deeper into a part of Korean culture that is often left untouched by visitors.
Restaurant Name: Piyangkong-Halmani
Michelin Rating: Bib Gourmand
My Rating: 3.5/5 Poor drinks choice, questionable mandu, good value for money
Location: Google Maps Seollung Exit 1
Background: Blame Gordon Ramsay
Following Gordon Ramsay's recent Korean culinary adventures, I found myself really thinking about the quality of cooking in Korea. I had always enjoyed Korean food but I had always tried it at the local restaurant level. My mind was opened up. I decided that I should dig deeper into a part of Korean culture that is often left untouched by visitors.
There are endless blogs from foreigners who live as expats in Korea. Most of them tell tales of lame adventures that usually end up with them eating some kind of foreign comfort food. I have read many such blogs. After wading through paragraphs of nonsense about things that I would never really care about, I have often found them to lead to average, overpriced establishments that offer food that is acceptable to western tastes but in no way special. I have often found that the best western food is in our own kitchens. The best burgers, steaks and tacos have been in my friends' homes. Even I, a keen but distinctly average, home cook can often whip up something better than the Itaewon rip-off merchants.
This blog will seek to do something different to most others. So many of us really enjoy Korean cuisine, but how many of us actually seek out the best that Korea has to offer? How many of you are aware of the vast abundance of Michelin starred restaurants under our noses? Where should we look? What are we even looking for? This will not be one of those embarrassing blogs by a first year about their first bibimbap nor will it be a pretentious rant by somebody that you should rightfully want to punch in the face. I will simply try to introduce the best cuisine that Seoul has to an international audience.
The First Restaurant: Piyangkong-Halmani
So, let's talk about food. The first restaurant was chosen partly because of its amazingly cheap menu but mostly because of my love of Mandu. Michelin awarded Mandu was something that I was very keen to try! I feel that I should start this blog with Bib Gourmond recipient. This is Michelin's lowest award, but still very difficult for cooks and restaurateurs to obtain. Starting at the lowest price grade on the Michelin spectrum would allow for me to build up and even compare the difference between each step on the ladder.
If you don't trust my words, please check out the Michelin Guide 2018 for Seoul which includes directions and pricing: Michelin Guide 2018 Piyangkong-Halmani
What does a Michelin restaurant look like?
Anybody who has spent any time in Seoul or anywhere else in South Korea, will struggle to spot and real discernible difference between the style or appearance of this restaurant. In fact, this place sits on a very unassuming back road near Seollung station.
Inside, on first inspection, it appears to be just a regular Korean joint. Nothing initially so impressive. But then you realize something. It is very precise and clean. There is still a wonderful rustic feel about the interior but it is as clean as a dental surgery. Almost a bit too clinical. The staff are friendly, but more like office receptionists than friendly waitpersons. All the staff are reassuringly ajummas! Which just makes you feel good about the food. The rustic, handwritten hangeul menus adorning the wall, are a nice touch too.
What is it famous for?
Kong Biji. Which is intriguingly described as peasant food by the fine people at Michelin. KOng Biji, is a tofu and nut paste. Here they turn it into a wonderfully milky soup and infuse it with pork. Pig meat never hurts a recipe, right? We ordered the regular kong-biji, along with a Su Jae Bi (a kind of Korean pasta served in a creamy sauce made from Perilla seeds and the house Mundu dumplings.
Kong Biji
The Kong-biji was pretty much a new experience. A flavor that was part Korean porridge, part cream of wheat with added pork fat. The nice people who compile the Michelin Guide describe this as peasant food, but still deemed it award worthy. So I guess that it is food for white trash that have won the lottery.
It was a bit of a shock but grew on me with each passing mouthful. Its creamy taste is very comforting. Once you get through the initial shock, you start to break it down on the roof of your mouth. You start to find those wonderful nutty notes. You start to find real flavors embedded into the tofu. I found that the pork subtly complimented the paste and really started to add tot he depth of flavor. You should never expect the pork to be the star of this dish, rather it oddly seems to be a condiment or flavor enhancer. I felt it lacked a little seasoning but a little pepper did a little trick and I ended up really enjoying this soup. So if this is peasant food, then I'll gladly be a peasant!
The Mandu
Mandu, or dumplings to readers outside of Korea, can be divine edible containers of all kinds meat and vegetables made from thin dough. The flavors and juices that can be contained inside can be a pure joy! I have found that my love of Mandu has grown with each passing day that I have spent in Korea. There are a lot of distinctly average dumplings out there and for many, they may still just be a simple freezer food to boil when you can't be bothered to really cook. But once you stumble across ones made the right way, you will never forget the moment. Almost nothing compares in terms of packing such a powerful punch of flavors in one bite. You'll know when that moment comes for yourself. (My divine intervention came at a lamb restaurant in Seoul... but more of that in another blog.)
It was a bit of a shock but grew on me with each passing mouthful. Its creamy taste is very comforting. Once you get through the initial shock, you start to break it down on the roof of your mouth. You start to find those wonderful nutty notes. You start to find real flavors embedded into the tofu. I found that the pork subtly complimented the paste and really started to add tot he depth of flavor. You should never expect the pork to be the star of this dish, rather it oddly seems to be a condiment or flavor enhancer. I felt it lacked a little seasoning but a little pepper did a little trick and I ended up really enjoying this soup. So if this is peasant food, then I'll gladly be a peasant!
The Mandu
As somebody who is very passionate about dumplings, I have to say that I was a little disappointed. Far be it from me to disagree with the Michelin judges, but I am also guessing that these were not the item that won any awards. They were decent but not great.
Mandu, or dumplings to readers outside of Korea, can be divine edible containers of all kinds meat and vegetables made from thin dough. The flavors and juices that can be contained inside can be a pure joy! I have found that my love of Mandu has grown with each passing day that I have spent in Korea. There are a lot of distinctly average dumplings out there and for many, they may still just be a simple freezer food to boil when you can't be bothered to really cook. But once you stumble across ones made the right way, you will never forget the moment. Almost nothing compares in terms of packing such a powerful punch of flavors in one bite. You'll know when that moment comes for yourself. (My divine intervention came at a lamb restaurant in Seoul... but more of that in another blog.)
This sadly wasn't one those moments. If you order dumplings from Din Tai Fung, you would never cut them or even pierce them with a chopstick. You simply can not lose the juices contained inside. It defeats the point! That is why all that goodness is boiled in one sealed little package. These Mandu were simply too big for most to consume in one bite. They had to be cut and you could see so much goodness going to waste. Then, when you dip them into soy sauce, too much floods in, due to the open wound.
The dough was also way too rubbery for my taste. Too overpowering for the textures that should be discovered inside. In a good dumpling, the casing is merely a method to lock in the flavors, a means to keep stuff togetehr and contain wonderful aromas
Put simply, I have had better. I had better, the night before.
Sujebi
Sujebi was initially introduced to me as a vegetarian food. So you can imagine that it didn't go down well. I still think that in most broths that it can be a bit of a non event. Put it into a creamy perilla seed soup and it can be absolutely wonderful. In this case, it was another home run. Much closer to the level of the Kong Biji rather than the distinctly average mandu.
Until recently, I didn't know much about sujebi or perilla. Here is a place to find out more: Sujebi Intro
Drinks
I was a little disappointed by the drink choice. While all of the Korean staple brands of beer (there was Cass for Gordon Ramsay), soju and makgeolli were available, there was nothing interesting. This food lends itself out to some deeper flavored rice wines. Most places serving this kind of fare do tend to offer more of a selection. I didn't really appreciate the bog standard Seoul Makgeolli. I feel that many better options could have been provided for a very reasonable price. After dinner, I actually ended up going to another establishment to get my makgeolli fix! Don't know what Makgeolli is: What is Makgeolli???
Conclusion
The prices here are very reasonable and a lot of the food will be different to what many of you have dared to try. It is worth the visit, if nothing else, to put your culinary journey onto a new path and open your mind to elevated cooking and different styles of food. You will probably like what you try, but, for the love of god, don't touch the mandu!
Sujebi
Sujebi was initially introduced to me as a vegetarian food. So you can imagine that it didn't go down well. I still think that in most broths that it can be a bit of a non event. Put it into a creamy perilla seed soup and it can be absolutely wonderful. In this case, it was another home run. Much closer to the level of the Kong Biji rather than the distinctly average mandu.
Until recently, I didn't know much about sujebi or perilla. Here is a place to find out more: Sujebi Intro
Drinks
I was a little disappointed by the drink choice. While all of the Korean staple brands of beer (there was Cass for Gordon Ramsay), soju and makgeolli were available, there was nothing interesting. This food lends itself out to some deeper flavored rice wines. Most places serving this kind of fare do tend to offer more of a selection. I didn't really appreciate the bog standard Seoul Makgeolli. I feel that many better options could have been provided for a very reasonable price. After dinner, I actually ended up going to another establishment to get my makgeolli fix! Don't know what Makgeolli is: What is Makgeolli???
Conclusion
The prices here are very reasonable and a lot of the food will be different to what many of you have dared to try. It is worth the visit, if nothing else, to put your culinary journey onto a new path and open your mind to elevated cooking and different styles of food. You will probably like what you try, but, for the love of god, don't touch the mandu!
Thank you for reading!
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