Finally: good sushi in Korea

After two botched attempts to go back to my sushi-guzzling ways, I was finally satisfied last Friday. The first time I tried what appeared to be sushi here, it cost about $4 for a whole plate (that should have tipped me off right away), and when it arrived it was in the form of unidentifiable fish in frozen ice-cube blocks. Needless to say, it took some soju to wash that down. The second time was at a Japanese fast-food place (again, shouldn't that have warned me?) and the rice was chewy, the fish seemed to be made of plastic, although with a more suspicious odor, and the entire experience made me wonder once again how Seattle sushi could be so much better than sushi here, in the country next door to Japan. Then Chris asked Robin, our friend and assistant principal, where to go -- Manami, Robin's wife, is Japanese. Sure enough, they sent us to a restaurant that was both delicious and inexpensive, in the Yatap area right off our Bundang line of the subway. This is one of those conveyor belt places, which I generally distrust. We didn't realize that there was a regular menu, so we ate off the belt and I was delighted. The fatty tuna was cheap (about $3.50 - it costs at least $6 at home) and incredibly good. Chris was not quite as thrilled, as he tends to forage for cooked items on the sushi menu, so he was forced to entertain himself with miso soup and the huge mug of sake that we accidentally double-ordered. Anyway, the availability of good sushi is an element of me feeling comfortable anywhere, so this was an important night. The trick is to go Japanese and avoid fast-food - unfortunately, we've seen no evidence thus far that Korean sushi can serve up the types or grades of fish that we want.
By: Jess

* Expect a post soon from Chris, if we can figure out how to get Blogger.com to come up in English instead of Korean on his computer!