Traditional folk dance

There was a group of youngsters presenting a traditional folk dance. People gather quickly from the sounds of their drums and some joined in the middle to dance with them. I just took pictures on the side under the shade of a tree. It's already so hot!

Jeonju

Thanks to the Korea Tourism Organization, I booked a free trip to Jeonju. Their program also offers buses to Busan and Gyeongju. You just have to book early online on theire website here. Although the online applications were overbooked, our bus was not even half filled. But Jeonju is less popular than Gyeongju or Busan.

I come to Jeonju every time I visit Korea. I come for the food and  enjoy walking around the tradition hanok village. The university area is also great for shopping if not better than in Seoul. It's less crowded and you can get things cheaper than in Seoul.

There's been quite some changes in the hanok village. They are renovating lots of houses, probably to turn them into shops, restaurants and guest houses. More modern coffee shops also bloomed. The feel is definitely different now compared to the first time I came here three years ago. The houses they rebuilt now has only the roof and the structure from the origins. They tear down everything inside and use new materials for the inside. It's not quite as same as a tradition house that has been maintained in good condition. I hope the city will try to save the authenticity of the place.

Now, the food. My yearly pilgrimage to this beef soup restaurant Omokdae. Food is still so good but side dishes are getting smaller each year. The owner of the guest house I'm staying at explained that these days, vegetables have become so much more expensive that restaurants are now reluctant to give refill for the kimchi and vegetables.

And I ended up the day with an iced berry tea in one of the new coffee shops on the main street in the village.

Jeonju PNG bakery

It was hard to grab some good and free conncetion after we wer back in Seoul, so the posting had been interrupted. Here come the last parts of our trip.

I've read* about the PNB bakery and their famous giant choco pie! (*Check out Paul Ajosshi's blog here.) Indeed, so giant I couldn't finish the whole thing.

Also got the chestnut like cake even I had no idea what it is. It just look pretty :) And the lady gave us some free stuffs.

The beef ribs soup

Remeber the beef soup I talked about last year? I've come back for that! And it is still SO good! Everything is perfect in this restaurant, all the way to the kimchi.

 the so sweet pumpking

Traditional tea shop

Again in hope to catch some wifi, we went to try a traditional tea house on a second floor where we can overlook on the main street. We were the only customer... Is that a bad sign?

I chose pine tree leaves tea and Anne chose a classic jasmine tea. Mine smelled somewhat weird but it was okay to drink. And we got some apple and some crackers. Then we stayed for an hour until the night falled sorting up our pictures. No internet again :(

Jeonju Hanok village

This is the Hanok village. Right now there's a bibimbap festival going on through the weekend so there're lots of events in the village.We got to see some traditional crafts demonstrations. There are stands selling various hand made items and a mini indie concert. It was funny the faces of the grandpas watching the singers yelling and rocking.

The bibimbap

Here we are for the famous Jeonju bibimbap!

We we're served some entrees first.

Japchae, jelly, a Korean cole slaw with pink mayonaise

and a sweet fried fish.

Lots of banchans again. I think the number of banchans might be proportional to the size of the table. The lady who were eating alone next to us had as many dishes as us.

Then the main thing arrived, with the rice aside in a hot pot. You get some crispy rice bits in the bottom.

The lady come to demonstrate her technical skills of bibimbap whipping. Wow! Now I know how to, will need some pratice tough to not throw everyting out of the bowl.

Too much, couldn't finish

They left us a kettle of water, we didn't know what to do with it. We watched the other people and saw that they put it in the rice pot then they eat the rst of the burnt rice and drink the water. To not die an idiot, I did the same, but beurk >< not good! It's just water with a burnt taste.

Last, we got a yellow tea? It tasted like rice.



Pause

We've reached town and it's too early for lunch so we've settle up here for a drink. Also to try to get some free wifi connection. But I wasn't successful :(
Things have changed... Last year I was here, I got wifi everywhere... Now you have to pay for it.

I got hot lemon tea

Jeonju - Bibimbap city

Bibimbap signs every 300m!

Giant bibimbap in Paris

This afternoon the Korean cultural center and Jeonju city prepared a giant bibimbap in front of the St. Eustache church. I arrived a bit late but fought through the crowd to get you these pictures, and of course a sample of the food for myself.

notice how the women are busy working, the men stands waiting

Bibimbap mixing

I wonder how much gochujang (pepper paste) has been added in there. They were about 10 women doing all the work.

 

This is the sample!

Then everyone enjoyed their bibimbap. I don't know how much impact this kind of event can produce. From what I saw, there were a lot of youngsters who came were already familiar with the asian culture. Of course there were some people who just happened to be strolling around. Maybe this will get the Korean restaurants here more clients. But this isn't good for my selfish me who wants to keep the good things to myself.

Omokdae Sarangchae

Au fait, j'ai pensé qu'à parler de la bouffe, mais le resto de la soupe était aussi trop joli!

C'est dommage, les photos de nuit, c'est pas mon fort... C'est trois salles autour d'un bassin d'eau, un peu à la japonaise.

 

Dream Diner

Le diner: j'ai jamais autant aimé le boeuf!

C'était EXCELLENT. Une soupe de côtes de boeuf. 8000W = 4,75€

C'était tellement bon que j'aurais donner le triple du prix, au moins.

C'est plutôt un bouillon. Le goût était parfait, très fin, et la viande se mange avec une petite sauce acidulé-sucré-poivré. Je dirai que j'ai jamais mangé un truc aussi bon! Et vous me connaissez, qu'il y a déjà tellement de plats que j'adore. Mais là! Un vrai rêve! Je pense que le resto est vraiment excellent. La dame très gentille m'a expliqué comment manger tout ça.

J'ai aperçu le resto hier soir en rentrant de ma promenade, il était rempli à 22h. Les gens ici mangent tôt normalement et les autres restos sur le chemin étaient vides. Donc je me suis dit qu'aujourd'hui, il fallait forcément le tester.

Dommage que je pars demain... je regrette de pas pouvoir en manger un autre bol.

 les petits plats d'accompagnement: kimchi, salade épicée, courge confite

 

le bol arrive encore bouillant et pendant encore 1 bonne minute

 la viande à découper aux ciseaux et la sauce

 

le dessert compris: une petite soupe tiède sucré au gingembre,

fond de riz souflé. la note finale parfaite.