South Korea: Day 11 - Jeonju, Kongnamul Gukbap & Makgeolli!

We woke late today with our backs screaming from the hard floor. Ive slept on a hundred futons during my time in Japan, and they have never been this uncomfortable. It took several minutes for my back muscles to forgive me.

With food on everyone's mind, we headed out for the quintessential Jeonju breakfast - Kongnamul Gukbap (bean sprout soup). Many sources had recommended Hyundaiok as one of the best places to get this dish in the village, and the line up outside attested to this reputation. We joined the line and a not insignificant time later we were inside and ordering. The soup was certainly worth the wait!

Kongnamul Gukbap at Hyundaiok.

With our hunger sated, we wandered the village a little more, checking out Gyeonggijeon Hall and more of the picturesque village streets. Given we hadn't caffeinated yet that morning, we stopped for a coffee at one of the thousand cafes in town.

More village wandering.

Having not eaten for 10 minutes, we stopped by at PnB bakery and picked up one of their famous Chokko Pies to snack on. Not half bad, although I would have preferred without the jam inside.

Chokko Pie from PnB.

Suitably energised with caffeine and sugary goodness, we climbed a nearby hill up to a popular spot to view the hanok village's tiled roofs. It wasn't a bad view, but it wasn't easy to get a good photo of. I tried my best.

The roofs of the hanok village.

Warn out by walking, we retired to our room for a quick rest before thinking about dinner around 5pm. We had long planned to make this night a makgeolli night; makgeolli being a type of rice wine brewed here in Korea and sold by the kettle at certain makgeolli "pubs". Excited by the prospect, we ordered a taxi out to the much lauded "Yetchon Makgeolli" in the oldest makgeolli area in the city - Jeonju's Samchundong district.

The taxi driver got us out there without issue, but the wiley cunt stopped outside a different makgeolli pub and tried to convince us it was Yetchon. In the days before the internet this just might have worked, but not this time. We waited for him to drive off and then walked back down the street to Yelchon - all of 5 or 6 establishments back.

Yetchon Makgeolli - an amazing night was had by all!

We ordered a first kettle of clear-style makgeolli with set menu for 3 people. The food just kept coming and was yummy. And so much variety! As for the makgeolli, it was also delicious - having a faint banana flavour not dissimilar to the taste produced by some german hefeweizen yeasts. Very dangerous stuff! The alcohol percentage isn't that high and it's slightly carbonated, so it goes down really, really easily. 

It wasn't long before we were ordering a new kettle and more food dishes were arriving. Eben and I got very silly by the end of the night, but we did manage to hop a taxi back to the village. What a top night! One of our most enjoyable in Korea so far.