Travel Archives - Kimchimari

Jeju Island Visit 2023 – Restaurants and Places

JinJoo — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 23:33:27 +0000

I visited Jeju Island just for 2 nights in June 2023 so I don’t have a whole lot of recommendations but here’s at least what I can highly recommend. There’s also a previous post from Jeju Island Trip 2017 that you can also check – I just verified that all the restaurants in that list
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9 Best Seoul Restaurants worth visiting – March 2023

JinJoo — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 23:59:50 +0000

Here is my latest list of 9 Best Seoul restaurants that are worth visiting! Next time you go to Korea, hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as I did! So by no means, is this a complete list nor have I really spent a lot of time researching to see the best of the
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Korean Food Basics and Traveling in Korea (Podcast with Our Food Adventures)

JinJoo — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 17:53:32 +0000

A podcast with Our Food Adventures about Korean Food Basics and Traveling in Korea by me! Don't know much about Korean food or visiting Korea for the first time? Listen and I will help you.

[caption id="attachment_12548" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Kimchimari Podcast Korean Food[/caption]

Recently, I did a podcast with Our Food Adventures about Korean Food and various tips for Traveling in Korea including what to eat and what to do. I always get a little nervous when I have do interviews but Chris and Tiarra, the cute couple behind the awesome itunes podcast channel, were so sweet and friendly that it felt like I was talking to some good ol' friends who just enjoy food and travel as much as I do. Especially friends who understand and love Korean food!! Yay!!!

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Korean Royal Court Cuisine Food fit for a Queen! (at Jihwaja)

JinJoo — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 18:11:12 +0000

Korean Royal Court Cuisine food fit for a Queen's 60th Birthday Party!! Join me for another amazing 8 course Royal Degustation Course at Jihwaja restaurant in Seoul.

[caption id="attachment_11881" align="aligncenter" width="678"] Geumjungtang - Chicken abalone hotpot soup at Jihwaja restaurant[/caption]

Korean Royal Court Cuisine ( 궁중음식 Gungjung Eumsik) meal that was reconstructed from the actual banquet menu for Queen mother of King Jeongjo at her 60th birthday party which was actually in 1795. That was what I was treated to - at Jihwaja 지화자 - during my most recent visit to Seoul.

Back in 2016, I wrote a post about my visit to Jihwaja with my friend Insook. It was the first time I was treated to a full Korean royal court cuisine meal and I was so impressed that I wrote a long post about it. Well, few months ago, Mr. Hwang who is the director of the restaurant, sent me email to let me know how much they appreciated my post and how it was bringing many foreigners to their Jihwaja restaurant. YAY!!! Always so happy to hear that my posts bring guests!! And he was also so kind enough to extend an invitation for me to be their guest the next time I was in Seoul!!

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Best Jeju Island Restaurants from Family Trip 2017

JinJoo — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 15:30:12 +0000

[caption id="attachment_10105" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Hairtail Galchi Fish Oseong Shikdang, Jeju[/caption]

Jeju Island Restaurants 2017 - Best places to eat for Seafood, Black Pork and More

Jeju Island family trip 2017!!! For a while now, I have been wanting to visit Jeju Island and finally this summer we were able to do it.

During our trip to Korea this summer, we decided to squeeze in a 4 day trip to Jeju Island. Jeju Do (제주도) has changed so much in recent years and I have been wanting to visit especially with our daughter as a family. We were also hoping that we could take our in-law family with us as part of my mother-in-law's 80th Birthday celebration but both she and my sister-in-law could not

[caption id="attachment_10094" align="alignright" width="150"] Chuseok by Heyon Cho[/caption]

make it..so it was mostly just us 3 - except for the last day when our niece joined us!! My niece Heyon who is an artist and art therapist - I LOVE what she does and she is also behind my beautiful pins that I share on pinterest. Thank you Heyon!!

Visit her Astropaperboat site for more beautiful art that you can purchase!

OK, since I will write another post about 'things to do in Jeju Island', let's just get right into it.

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Mumm Napa and other Napa Wineries We Love – Family Day Trip 2

JinJoo — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 18:38:29 +0000

[caption id="attachment_9711" align="aligncenter" width="1160"] Mumm Napa champagne tasting table[/caption]

Mumm Napa and other Napa Wineries We Love - also family friendly and pet friendly.

Napa and Sonoma Wine Country has so many different wineries and we have visited them on many different occasions for over 20 years, ever since we moved to California in 1996. Well, maybe not that MANY times..hehe, I think we may have visited on the average about one to at most two times a year.

As I was thinking about writing this post about Napa wineries, I came to realize that I have been taking a lot of pictures of Napa and Sonoma Wineries over time but I never shared them with you because they were kind of unrelated to Korean food. But, I thought - 'Why let all the photos and experience go to waste??!!' It is also related to my previous post on Napa Valley Korean Fusion.

One of the things that I really LOVE about Napa and Sonoma wine country is that there are endless wineries and restaurants to discover and taste. We always discover new things every time we go. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, when my daughter was in elementary school, V. Sattui was always a must visit for us--mainly because we could picnic outside with their wine and their market had the best cheeses, breads and salami!! 😝

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Napa Valley Korean Fusion – Family Trip DAY 1

JinJoo — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 18:28:41 +0000

[caption id="attachment_9605" align="aligncenter" width="1160"] Bacon Kimchi Fried Rice at 8 Noodle Shop, Napa, CA[/caption]

Napa Valley Korean Fusion!

We have been visiting Napa and Sonoma for many years now but I never imagined that I would be saying these two words in the same sentence.

Napa + Korean Food!

Kimchi Burger, Ramen, Kimchi Fried Rice, Bibimbap have all come to Napa Valley!! YAY!!!

When we planned our weekend trip to Napa recently to celebrate my daughter's Birthday, I really did not expect that we would be having Korean foods (albeit fusion) in Napa on both days of the trip! I also have napa winery visit pics and stories to share but I will do that on my next post, DAY 2. For this post, I'll concentrate on eating.😝

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My Top 13 Best Seoul Restaurants – from Humble to Fancy!

JinJoo — Mon, 22 May 2017 23:36:29 +0000

[caption id="attachment_6389" align="aligncenter" width="599"] Tteok Kalbi (Grilled short rib patties)[/caption]

Top 13 Best Seoul Restaurants (and Seongnam)!

Or should I say JinJoo's top 13 FAVORITE Seoul restaurants?? But however you want to call it, these are just simply the Best Seoul Restaurants in my opinion. Please note, the listing is in random order as I find it almost impossible to rank these restaurants together as they are quite different.

Recently, Stay.com contacted me letting me know that they are ending their service end of this month. And they were nice enough to let me know that I could save my guide for best Seoul restaurants which I wrote for them few years ago. So then it got me thinking that my readers may also enjoy having them on my site.

I have posted a few times before of the restaurants I that I have visited but I always thought about consolidating all those in one page so that you and I (haha) have everything together here. These are my favorite restaurants that I love to visit EVERY TIME I go back to Seoul.

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Best Korean Temple Food Restaurant in Seoul – Balwoo Gongyang

JinJoo — Wed, 03 May 2017 18:04:32 +0000

Korean Temple Food restaurant Balwoo Gongyang is a Micheline star restaurant in Seoul that serves the most delightful creations. Korean Temple Food was one of those things I really wanted to experience during my visit to Seoul in March. So, I set aside a day for myself to experience Korean temple food and also
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Korean Breakfast Buffet at Pangyo, Korea

JinJoo — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 02:26:26 +0000

[caption id="attachment_8615" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Korean Rice Porridge -Juk Congee style[/caption]

How to enjoy a Korean Breakfast Buffet as a visitor in Korea!

This is a quick post on how to enjoy a Korean breakfast from a buffet. I am currently visiting Korea (a very last minute trip) and this time I am staying at Courtyard by Mariott hotel in Pangyo. I lived in Pangyo (near Bundang) while we were in Korea from 2012-2014 and now when I look back, there were so many things I could have blogged about and shared with you all but because I was going through a very tough period in my life, I just really did not feel like writing at all. As they say, life has its ups and downs and this period was definitely a down, depressing time for me.

Anyway, we can get into that later ... but for now, let's talk about breakfast buffets in Korea!

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