Mom and I embarked on another mother-daughter vacation: this time to Busan, one of the main tourist cities located at the southern tip of Korea, for three days and two nights. We met one of Mom’s close friends for lunch, who picked us up from the bus station and took us to Hugsiru, a restaurant that I have been wanting to try since last summer but couldn’t because it was a bit out of the way from the hotel we were staying.
Hugsiru is a “well-being” restaurant, meaning it is health-conscious and serves food that has scientifically been proven to be beneficial to one’s health. Specifically, Hugsiru specializes in duck dish. However, the dish that I really wanted to try was the “Danhobak youngyangbop,” or glutinous rice with jujube, chestnut, pine seeds, and maple nuts cooked inside a whole kabocha pumpkin, my absolute favorite food ever. The dish was supposed to feed between 3~4 people and also came with 7~8 different banchans (little side dishes), so we decided to order that. We saved a little duck from dying!
The restaurant had a very “old” feel. We were put into a private room made with red mud brick.
Before we even made the order, the waiter brought us a bowl of boiled rice and glutinous rice cake. I was feeling a bit cold so I devoured two cups of warm boiled rice. I wished it had been a little warmer, though. The rice cake was not very chewy, again because it was really cold outside, and it was lathered with sesame oil on the surface, which I disliked.
After about 20 minutes of waiting, the waiter served us about 10 different banchans, including two different types of soup. I love that Korean food always look like a feast when captured in a camera!
I am a huge fan of vegetables. These are all the ingredients that would make a great bibimbop, but I also enjoy just eating them by themselves. My favorite of them all was the cabbage on the top because it had just the right texture for an otherwise mushy combination of vegetables. The squash, radish, seaweed, and that brown vegetables whose name I do not were also good, but needed a bit more salty, especially the squash.
The iceberg lettuce apparently doesn’t have much nutrients because it is just all water. The dressing was a combination of mayonnaise and some fruity sauce. For someone who likes her salad without any dressing, the sauce was too overpowering.
Japchae is one of traditional Korean food. It is made of clear noodles sautéed in garlic soy sauce with different vegetables, such as mushroom, spinach, onions, and carrots. The japchae was topped with sprinkles of sesame seeds. I personally don’t like clear noodles, so I only had a bitef of japchae. Nothing special.
There were three pan-fried fish for each person. Mom’s friend ate the entire thing, including the head! I was a bit appalled. The eyes creeped me out so I decided to pass on these little fellas.
These are kabocha squash Korean pancakes. At first I thought they were kimchi pancakes because of the color. I have never had jeon (Korean pancakes) made with squash, but I had two of these because they were delicious! I had to dab them with napkins to get rid of the grease and perhaps they were slightly too sweet, but overall a pretty interesting taste.
According to Mom’s friend, this dish is a specialty in Busan. It’s basically a sautéed bean sprouts, mushroom, carrots, and sea urchins mixed in creamy sesame sauce. I was amazed how it could taste so creamy without any added cream!
Last but not least, the highlight of the day’s meal: healthy glutinous rice cooked in kabocha squash. Each piece is one serving. I absolutely loved the chewy glutinous rice with different types of beans, huge chunks of chestnuts, pine and maple seeds, and black rice. I could also taste a hint of kabocha squash in the rice because it was cooked within. Speaking of which, the squash was cooked perfectly in the steamer. The fiber-filled inside was soft and sweet, and even the skin was soft enough for consumption. I literally ate the entire thing without any part thrown away.
This meal was what the Koreans would call “Daebak” (A HIT!).
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