[In the fall of 2025 two of DFO’s many intrepid travelers took to the skies to experience life, culture and foods in foreign lands. Rikki Tikki Deadly ventured to South Korea, while yeah right headed to Barcelona in Catalan. We present a “compare and contrast” look into the various foods and cuisines of the two countries}

Battle 1: Biggest Surprise

YR: This was an easy one. These delicious bastards right here.

Anchovies! Holy hell these slapped me directly upside my head with their deliciousness. The presentation you see above was done at Compartir restaurant in Barcelona. Just spectacular presentation on all of their dishes as you’ll see a little later.

When I first started the world travel thing I told myself that I would be “food fearless” and I can’t begin to tell you how many insanely delicious foods I’ve experienced that former “food pussy” me would have ignored entirely.

I enjoyed the anchovy fillets so damn much that I had them several more times.

Here at Güell Tapas in the Gothic quarter.

Served alongside Pimientos del padrón and Patatas bravas.

They dressed the filets simply with some top-notch Spanish olive oil, a fresh tomato and rocket (the fresh greens you see.)

Simple perfection.

Quick note on the patatas bravas? I thought they fucking sucked. The potato chunks were cooked well but that’s an ass load of mayo and ketchup they glop on there. Tried them twice and same result both times.

Anchovies fucking rule!

RTD: After a day of wandering (unintentionally) through wholesale clothing markets in the Myeongdong neighborhood of Seoul, we were all pretty tired and frustrated and wanted to do something easy and headed the Lotte complex, which is large enough to command its own Metro stop and hosts a hotel and a shopping mall in the approximate city block’s worth of space it occupies. The Dr. Mrs. pitched it as being very different – and very upscale – from American malls, and it certainly was. But of course that didn’t dissuade me from making cracks about whether we were going to eat at Auntie Annie’s or Wetzel’s Pretzels.  We ended up selecting a Chinese restaurant from among several nice establishments on the 14th floor using the standard technique of looking for a place that was at least 3/4 full.  Their set menu included dumplings, squid ink dumplings, soup with MORE dumplings, crispy pork, sweet and sour chicken, and jjajangmyeon.  Nothing complex or even particularly unfamiliar, but very high quality and a very pleasant surprise for a spontaneous selection at a shopping mall.

Battle 2: Best Value

RTD: I only had two or three restaurants selected in advance in Busan, so when we arrived in town and I wasn’t in the mood for any of them I pulled out Google Maps and looked for the best-reviewed sushi restaurant nearby, figuring that a city with such a thriving fish market would have plenty of options.  And it did, but what I ended up settling on was a Korean fusion restaurant called Jeonghee which was only a short walk away, behind the nearest Metro station.  Observe the set menu:

It included “Hanwooji Dumpling Rice” (the beef tartare dish) “Fern Cream Homemade” (the bowl with an egg yolk on the left), “Strong Miso Kale Rice” (the kale-wrapped rice balls) and a pair of whiskey highballs, all for a total of about $37 in U.S. currency.  We added the “Donchimi Cevice Capellini” for another $9 or so.

That’s an entire meal, service and a pair of drinks included, in a lovely setting for less than $50.  Did I mention that every single dish was divine, and that the whiskey highball that the Dr. Mrs. Deadly selected was among the running for “Best Cocktail” and that the beef tartare dumpling rice was also a candidate for “Best Overall Dish”?  It was easily one of the best meals we ate on our entire trip.  We ended up recommending this restaurant to two other couples we met in Busan; I don’t know that I’ve ever shilled so hard for an establishment or had it matter so much to me that they actually go.

YR: If you want food at value prices the best thing to do is strap on your jet pack and head to the Iberian Peninsula. Both Spain and Portugal offer insanely low prices for excellent meals.

Let’s talk about tapas first.

Yes, the price listed is in Euros and there is an exchange rate, the overall value for quality is goddamn ridiculous. These are all under the “Tapas” section of the menu and while you are all aware that tapas are known as small plates, if you are solo dining? Baby, you gots plenty!

This is hand carved Jamon Iberico and manchego cheese, which – mother-of-God – is life changing. This was like 23 Euros with a couple of cold beers.

While this…

Pan con tomate (tomato bread) and Gambas Al Ajillo (garlic prawns) along with the glass of vino blanco was about 12 euros. The quality was exceptional.

Those (local) shrimp were cooked in Spanish olive oil with whole cloves of garlic and that crusty bread with the schmear of fresh tomato? You want this and dammit, you deserve this!

This place is a food value lovers wet dream.

Battle (last): Best Overall Dish

YR: My much anticipated birthday dinner featured [deep breath] Oysters, caviar, cod fritters, the previously pictured anchovies, razor clams, draft beers, glasses of Italian wine and a main entree to be named later and it was 125 Euros! Fuck off!

I’ve spent that much at a goddam Chili’s FOR LUNCH!

Let’s get a closer look at some of the dishes served before we close with Best Overall Dish.

Fresh oyster with white garlic cream and a clove of black garlic. That is without a doubt the largest fucking oyster I’ve ever consumed. Holy fucking Moby Dick. How to eat: Peel the black garlic clove, don’t worry it’s been roasted, chew up the garlic, then shoot the oyster. Not that you can “Shoot” this bastard.

Insanely delicious. Just fucking perfect.

Next we had a small bite, almost an amuse bouche. Not your typical amuse bouche though.

This was called a “brioche.” It is also one of the featured bites at “Disfrutar” the chefs’ fine dining restaurant. They call this the “Panchino.”

It’s a deep fried dough that’s dusted with honey and sugar and filled with…

Caviar and sour cream.

I just laughed and repeatedly shook my head at how fucking delicious this thing was.

WEE! What’s next?

Bring me more seafood!

Cod or “bacalhau” fritters served with a lemon foam. While being perfectly cooked with a nice creamy center, these left me 100% “Whelmed.” Not sure why, just not a lot of nuance or flair applied. It was a crispy crunchy fish ball and it was very good. The lemon foam is basically a parlor trick that the 3 head chefs borrowed from Ferran Adrià at their time at El Bulli. The foam “disappears” when eating leaving you with just an essence of lemon to compliment the fritters. Cool stuff. More foam to follow.

MORE!

Razor clams! And dig the tableware. This place is amazing for their presentation.

Let’s get a closer look at these babies.

Yes, more foam, this one a garlic lemon foam. Look at the left end and you’ll see a toasted hazelnut then some goo, a mystery dollop of sauce and the clam on the end left side. The “Goo” on this fucker blew my damn mind. It’s a loose mignonette (which you oyster folks are more than familiar with) but it’s got risotto in there too and texturally my brain didn’t know what to do with that. These were fucking AWESOME.

Idea here is you start at the left with the hazelnut, work through the “goo” then get hold of the clam with the foam.

Oh shit yes.

My main or entree was the winner and very well might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

Simply called “Pork rib.” This boneless pork dish features the lovely fatty unctuous meat that lies between the ribs of the pig. EVERYbody loves pork ribs after all. This had a mustard gelee and a pistachio cream with some passion fruit, yes more foam and was decorated with nasturtium petals.

Look at the sear and the doneness on this fucker.

Probably not a surprise to most of you that I selected this as a main, knowing my love of all things porcine.

During this meal I also consumed a couple of cervezas and several glasses of white wine before finishing with a glass of cava.

/drops used cloth linen napkin

Your turn RTD.

RTD: We did a tasting menu of sorts as well for my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday while in Seoul.  We did a single associated “wine” pairing, which caused a bit of confusion because instead of pairing a single pour with each course, they simply brought out a few bottles at various intervals and left them at the table. I couldn’t tell whether I was supposed to just go ahead and drink my fill of them; a negative decision on that made it into one of the most disappointing pairings I’ve ever done.  The food was great, though – here’s a few snapshots of their offerings:

But the dish I ended up enjoying more than any other this trip came on our jaunt to Jeju Island.  Jeju Island is sort of like the Hawaii of South Korea – it’s a volcanic island surrounded by lush forests and is an incredibly popular tourist destination for both South Koreans as well as international travelers.  In fact, Chinese visitors don’t need a visa to visit (which they do for anywhere else in mainland South Korea) so a lot of the restaurants cater to them pretty heavily.  Jeju’s most famous cuisine, however, is their black pigs.  Our first night on the island we visited one of the most famous establishments to serve it, the Crown Pig.  One of the best parts about Korean barbecue is that you’re cooking the meat directly at your table; as such you can enjoy its sizzly goodness to the maximum possible degree.  And we did.  There wasn’t anything the least bit complex about the dish; just pork belly and shoulder with a bit of salt (or chimichurri if you really want to get wild) cooked to perfection right in front of your nose.  But it’s still the best thing I ate on my trip.

Got any questions or thoughts? Let us know.  And thanks for joining us on this little journey!