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November 2013

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Jagalchi Market

One of the attractions in Busan is the Jagalchi Market, which is Korea’s largest seafood market. It attracts lots of locals and tourists everyday. If you’re coming here, its best to bring a friend who knows Korean if you’re buying something. It just makes it a bit easier.

You know you’re in the right area when the air smells a bit fishy.

Jagalchi Market

Outside the market building, there are tons of restaurants, and seafood shops. The most common restaurant near the main road are BBQ eel restaurants. There are so many, you can’t go wrong.

Jagalchi Market

Inside the big Jagalchi Market, the first floor is the fish market and the second floor are the restaurants.

Jagalchi Market

We came here just to look at the different produce. We didn’t have an intention to buy anything as we just had lunch before coming here. It’s pretty cool seeing all the different kinds of seafood in the baskets squirming and flopping around.

To me, it was going to an aquarium and seeing the animals up close.

Jagalchi Market

So many kinds of shrimp.

Jagalchi Market

If you wander around the coast, you can get some nice views of Busan.

Jagalchi Market

More views.

Jagalchi Market

Outside the market, there are even more vendors selling all types of seafood.

Jagalchi Market

Clams, mussels, geoduck and so many other things.

Jagalchi Market

There is dried fish too.

Jagalchi Market

The streets were very busy and crowded. It’s not a place for everyone. If you can’t stand the smell of fish and crowds, this place might not be for you.

Jagalchi-Market-fishy

We walked around for about 30 minutes looking at all the seafood, but the only fish that we bought was boonguhbbang (gold fish bread). It is a waffle stuffed with red bean and shaped like a fish. You can find it on the street corners and costs about 1,000 won. It’s especially good when it is freshly made and not sitting around.

If you have some spare time in Busan, definitely stroll through this area and perhaps stop by for lunch or dinner. Even if you plan on not buying anything here, its still a great experience seeing something different.

Address:
B37-1, Nampodong 4-ga, Jung-gu, Busan-si
부산광역시 중구 자갈치해안로 52 (남포동4가)

Website: http://www.bsjunggu.go.kr/eng/main.php

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?t=m&cid=0x47b390376ab3b06d&z=16&iwloc=A”]

Mosaic

I’m no stranger to Mosaic, I think I’ve been here more times than I have fingers. What I like most about Mosaic is that their menu is always changing from season to season to adapt to the produce in season. Mosaic is hidden away in the Hyatt Hotel near Burrard Station.

Chef Thomas Heinrich and his team put together new menus every season and also have special Chef Tasting Menu’s once in a while.

They currently have a Vaneats.ca package called Mosaic Harvest for $27, which offers diners 3 courses. It’s a nice sneak peek into their fall menu without breaking the bank.

  • Choice of appetizer:
    • Fall Salad
    • A la Minute Smoked Skuna Bay Salmon
    • Apple Lane Orchards Apples Bisque
  • Your choice of entree:
    • Seared Baja Ocean Wise Scallops
    • Sous Vide Lamb
    • Grilled Curried Cauliflower Steak
  • Your choice of dessert:
    • Pumpkin and Nutmeg Creme Brulee
    • Mosaic Chocolate Cake

It’s a pretty good deal since you do save a lot of money by getting the package. Like the average person, I know you like a good deal.

Mosaic

Mosaic

They also have a create your own dish option. Great if you have something in particular you want to eat.

Mosaic

Complimentary biscuits are cute and has a delicious smokey flavour.

mosaic

Fall Salad ($10) has baby carrots, beets, tokyo turnips, fennel, pumpkin, and a tangerine dressing. The salad was pretty good and you can really taste how fresh the ingredients. It’s like an ode to fall.

Mosaic

Ala Minute Smoked Skuna Bay Salmon ($13) has kale nori, microgreens and a wasabi cauliflower puree. When it arrives at the table, this dish is enveloped in yummy smoke. The piece of salmon was a tad tough and hard to cut through. The kale nori was pretty good an addictive.

mosaic

Roasted Chestnut Bisque ($9) has roasted chestnut, spiced brandy cream, and apple lane farm apples. The dish is a bit rich, but you have the taste of tart apples to balance it out.

mosaic

Seared Baja Ocean Wise Scallops ($20) a sweet potato puree, figs, and prosciutto. It has 4 pieces of plump scallops. I’ve never had fresh figs before and it worked well with the prosciutto and sweet potato.

mosaic

Sous Vide Peace Country Lamb ($24) comes with broccoli rabe, butternut squash, and spiced walnuts. The lamb was incredibly moist and easy to cut through. Very good!

mosaic

Grilled Curried Cauliflower Steak ($17) is an all gluten-free dish. It has baby carrots, dates, and toasted pine nuts. There is definitely no steak in this dish, but you get a large cross-section of cauliflower enrobed in the curry sauce. I found the curry sauce to be a tad on the salty side, but I loved those baby carrots.

mosaic

Pumpkin and Nutmeg Creme Brulee was like eating a pumpkin pie. It is beautifully spiced and its a big portion for dessert. You can definitely share this.

mosaic

Mosaic Chocolate Cake is their signature triple layer cake. It’s been around for a very long time.

You definitely have a great selection from the Vaneats Package. It’s available till February 28, 2014, so grab it before it’s all sold out.

Below are additional items off their regular menu.


mosaic

Crispy Brussels Sprouts ($12) has sloping hill farms heritage pork belly and a scotched 64° egg. Man, I gotta tell you, this dish blew my mind. It’s so crispy and addictive. Sinfully delicious and highly recommended.

mosaic

Earth Apple Farms Roasted Beets ($13) has toasted pumpernickel, pine nuts, salt spring island garlic goat cheese. In the past year, I’ve grown to really like beets. This dish was particularly unique. The dark purple thing on the dish was like an iced beet foam. It’s very unexpected from this dish to have an icy component.

mosaic

Butter Poached Alaskan Crab ($14) has Hui’s farm mushrooms and leeks with an aromatic butter sauce. The flesh is nice and sweet

mosaic

Long Line Caught BC Ling Cod ($18) has a butter poached lobster pomme puree and baby beets. The puree was very smooth and matched well with the delicate flesh of the cod. If you like fish, this might be a dish for you.

mosaic

Hand Cut Pasta ($15) has sake steamed mussels, tomatoes and a miso beurre blanc  sauce. Man, this dish was good! The mussels were very plump and juicy. The pasta was cooked al dente and the sauce was so good. Highly Recommended!

mosaic

Skuna Bay Craft Raised Salmon ($19) has a vialone nano truffle risotto on the bottom. This would have been an easy favourite dish, but I felt it was way too overly salted.

mosaic

Pemberton Meadows beef tenderloin ($22) has onion jam, roasted celery root, and a shallot jus.

mosaic

Pear and White Salted Chocolate Mousse comes with some salted chocolates sticks and a mini pear. Its one of the lighter desserts and it wasn’t too bad.

What I find with some of their dishes that it can be a bit salty. When you pick the right dishes that fits well with your palate, you’ll definitely enjoy your time here. For myself, I enjoyed the pasta, the brussel sprouts,  the beets, scallops, and lamb.

We Rate Mosaic

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

Mosaic Bar & Grille on Urbanspoon

Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant

Where in Busan can you find the best Seolleongtang aka Ox Bone Soup? Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant (서울깍두기) has been around since the 1950’s serving up the delicious dish. The locals say this place is the best for getting Seolleongtang. It can’t be bad because that’s basically all they sell.

Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant

With their long history and simple interior, they can accommodate up to 300 people.

Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant

Here is their menu. Very simple and it only has 4 items.

Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant

Kkakdugi (radish kimchi) and regular kimchi comes before the meal and the servers are diligent in refilling them up quickly.

Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant

Seolleongtang (9,000 won) is the ox bone soup with noodles,beef and rice. It is the most popular item on the menu and it is really good!

You just need to add your own salt to adjust the flavour. I added about a scoop and a half to get it to the right amount of tastiness.

Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant

Boiled Beef (40,000 won) is quite expensive. It’s like $40 CDN for a plate of meat. Pricey, but it was definitely interesting.The beef was delicious since it was cooked in the ox tail broth. This plate fed a table of 8, so you definitely want to share this with a large party.

The food here is pretty good. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s something yummy if you are in the Busan area. The location is also close to the Jagalchi Fish Market, so you can stroll around there after eating.

We Rate Seoul Kakdugi Restaurant:

Address:
10, Gudeok-ro 34beon-gil, Jung-gu, Busan
부산광역시 중구 구덕로34번길 10 (남포동2가)

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=10,+Gudeok-ro+34beon-gil,+Jung-gu,+Busan&t=m&hnear=10+Gudeok-ro+34beon-gil,+Jung-gu,+Busan,+South+Korea+(11-1+Nampodong+2(i)-ga)&z=14 “]

Busan Eel

Busan is known for their eel and most tourists come here to enjoy the fresh taste of grilled eel. M really wanted to go, so he asked his aunt to take us to the best eel restaurant in Busan. The locals like to come here and it was pretty packed on a weekend.

unyang charchoal eel bbq

The eels are alive in the tanks outside and you can watch them wriggle before your meal.

unyang charchoal eel bbq

The menu is on the wall.

unyang charchoal eel bbq

All the seating is on the floor, so if you aren’ used to it, you might get a little uncomfortable. My legs went numb a few times due to my poor circulation, so I was moving around adjusting my legs.

unyang charchoal eel bbq

The grill has a bunch of super hot coals. It’s so hot, its glowing.

unyang charchoal eel bbq

The eel is skinned and chopped up into pieces on a plate. As the eel is fresh, the flesh is still moving slightly. It’s a little bit scary, but it’s ok because you will be sticking it on the grill.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-grilling

Looks beautiful.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-cooked

We really had no idea when each piece would be done, so we just guessed. As long as it has a nice golden char to the edges, it will be ready to eat.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-sides

The meal comes with a few banchan and a few other items to wrap your eel in.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-wrap

My favorite leaf to use is the sesame leaf with some spicy sauce, a piece of eel and garlic chive kimchi. Just wrap it all up and stick it in your mouth. The eel tastes just like fish.

Grilled eel was a unique experience because the eel I am used to is covered in a sweet BBQ sauce compared to the fresh eel in Busan. It’s something I can’t get fresh in Vancouver because we don’t have eel.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-pumpkin

Once you are done the BBQ portion of the meal, you are given more banchan.

This is roasted pumpkin. It’s soft and quite flavourful.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-radish

More kimchi.

Busan-BBQ-Eel-soup-rice

The last part of the meal is soup and rice. I can’t remember what type of soup it was but it had some meat and vegetables. It was a very good soup but a tad spicy.

By the end of the meal you’ll get quite full. I was happy with the meal and I would definitely go again because I love being involved with my food and cooking it.

We Rate Unyang Charcoal Eel BBQ

Phone:
+82 51-247-2150 ‎

Address:
Seodaesindong 2(i)-ga, Seo-gu, Busan, South Korea ‎

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?t=m&cid=0x20c3dc0e68c0deb5&z=16&iwloc=A “]

In Busan, they say you can’t leave without trying Ssiat Hotteok (seed-stuffed pancake). Apparently it’s their specialty and all the locals say you gotta try it.

Ssiat (seed) Hotteok in Busan

M’s aunt took us to The Street of Film near Jagalchi Market. It has a plethora of street food vendors.

Jagalchi Market in Busan

Jagalchi Market in Busan

Jagalchi Market in Busan

You can probably find a lot of different korean food. Your taste buds will be salivating after walking through this area.

Busan-Ssiat-Hotteok

There is one cart that has a very crazy unusual lineup. It zigzags and there is a lady making sure people are lining up correctly and not in a mod fashion.

Busan-Ssiat-Hotteok

Ssiat hotteok (1,000 WON = $1 CDN) is filled with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The seeds are stuffed after the dough is cooked in the hot oil so it has more flavour and tastes less greasy.

The seeds and sugar are mixed together between the dough to give it an amazing crunch sound when you bite into it. It was so good! I could eat a few of these! It’s not too sweet and just so addictive.

If you are even in Busan, go to center area of The Street of Film and find this cart. You won’t be able to miss it as its right in the intersection.

 

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

My coworkers and I have been keeping an eye on the Craft Beer Market opening up in the Olympic Village near Science World. What I love about this area is it’s amazing views and how this neighbourhood is transforming. It was supposed to be open during the Summer of 2013, but due to some delays, it is going to officially open on November 7th, 2013.

Word has spread around the office that they are currently having a soft opening and are open for business. We were bidding a coworker goodbye, so it seemed like the perfect place to have an office lunch.

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

This place is HUGE! There are even 2 elevated private seating areas. Also, the beautiful bar in the centre with so many different types of Craft Beer.

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

Wall of beer kegs.

Craft-Beer-Market-Vancouver

More beer!

Below are images of their food and drink menus.

Menu

Fast Food Sushi?! Red Racer IPA Infused Taquitos?!

Their menus are labeled with healthy, vegetarian, ocean-wise and  gluten-free options. It really help taking the guess work if you have dietary restrictions. Nice touch!

P1070402

Dark beer braised beef brisket?! Phillips Beer Can Chicken?!

P1070404

20 Napkin Burger?! Earnest Ice Cream!!

Looks like there are some amazing sounding items on the menu.

Beer Menu

SO much beer!

P1070407

Too many to choose from.

CRAFT Beer Market Poke

 Hawaiian Ahi Poke ($14) has chopped sashimi-grade tuna, cucumber, fresh ginger, garlic, and a sesame soy vinaigrette with crispy wonton skins. Magz said it tasted alright, but is lacking a few ingredients. Perhaps avocados.

CRAFT Beer Market soup

Craft House Soup (Bowl – $8) has cheddar, jalapeno, and their Village House Ale.

CRAFT Beer Market Wings Canadian

 Wings ($13) 1lb of crispy Rossdown Farms chicken wings tossed in Canadian sauce (bacon and maple syrup). The Canadian flavour was surprisingly good. It was subtle, but it just worked so well. For some reason we imagined it to be a thick sauce, but we were glad it wasn’t like that.

CRAFT Beer Market Fast Food Sushi

Fast Food Sushi ($12) cheeseburger and fries wrapped in bacon. It is dressed with jalapeño cream cheese and BBQ sauce. This was a very interesting item on the menu that JP just had to order. It was sinfully delicious and would be a great combination with some beer.

CRAFT Beer Market Thai Wraps

 Thai Lettuce Wraps ($12 + Chicken $5) has crispy noodles and veggies sautéed with sweet ginger and lemongrass served with julienne vegetables, rice and a trio of house made sauces. It’s a great interactive dish where you can build your lettuce wraps yourself. One thing my coworkers said was that they wished the lettuce would be larger so it could hold more of the filling.

CRAFT Beer Market waldorf salad

Waldorf chicken salad ($16) has parmesan and walnut crusted Rossdown Farms chicken, sun-dried cranberries, mixed greens, grapes, blue cheese, celery, and honey mustard vinaigrette. It was a big salad with a lot of ingredients.

CRAFT Beer Market Brewmaster Chicken Sandwich

Brewmaster’s Chicken Sandwich ($15) has Rossdown Farms chicken breast, avocado, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato lettuce, and red onion in a ciabatta bun. You have your choice of either Kennebec fries, mixed greens, caesar salad, spinach salad or soup. My coworker went with the spinach salad.

CRAFT Beer Market mac and cheese

Craft Mac & Cheese ($16) has a blend of cheddar, gouda, mozzarella and fontina cheese tossed with bacon and poblano peppers topped with parsley and garlic breadcrumbs. It is also served with grilled garlic bread. The portion was huge, but I really wish the mac and cheese was a bit more gooier.

Overall, the food was pretty good, but there are a few kinks to work out. Prices are a tad high, but its ok considering the area that it’s located in. Their menu is large and you can always find something to eat and plus, their beverage menu is massive. I can see it as a great place to come after work to chill with coworkers or friends. It’s a great addition to the Olympic Village area and definitely adds some competition in the area.

We Rate Craft Beer Market

Address:
85 West 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.craftbeermarket.ca/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CRAFT-Beer-Market-Vancouver/306941952714764

CRAFT Beer Market on Urbanspoon

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=85+West+1st+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=85+W+1st+Ave,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5Y+3K8&z=16″]

Busan Korea

We took a weekend trip to Busan with M’s family to see some relatives. Busan is South Korea’s second largest city after Seoul and is located on the southeastern area of Korea.

Gukje Market busan

We were taken to Gukje Market in Downtown Busan. It is the largest outdoor market in Busan and you can find anything from fabrics, to household goods. The prices are pretty good and tons of shops to see. It is also next to a large underground shopping center and the Jagalchi Fish Market.

Woojindogi Busan Odeng

As we were walking through the market, we stopped at Woojindogi as we heard that had some of the best oden in Busan. Odeng or oden originated from Japan, but Koreans have made their own unique versions.

Korean fish-cakes are called Eomuk and they are pretty darn good.

Woojindogi Busan Odeng

Woojindogi only serves oden and there was a huge line around lunch time. There were no seats inside, but there were a few counter seats outside.

Woojindogi Busan Odeng

On the left is the fish cake and tofu skin stuffed with noodles. It smells amazing when you’re waiting to get your order.

Woojindogi Busan Odeng

Busan Odeng has the tofu skin with noodles on the bottom and the fish cake on top. The broth is delicious and we ate it all so fast.

If you get a chance to go to Korea, definitely get some oden that looks like this. It’s SO good! I don’t exactly know the address since the market is a bit confusing, but you can ask around.

Gukje Market busan

While you’re at Gukje Market, go find some Korean socks. They’re really cheap and have lots of cute styles.