In the course of this blog, we’ve given our readers little tidbits of Seoul, Jeju Island, Busan, Gyeongju, Deoksin….and we’ve kind of ignored the city closest to where we live – Ulsan. Why? Well, as we may have alluded to in previous blogs, Ulsan is hardly regarded as a tourism mecca. You may remember that website searches always lead to the same damning statement:
“There are twelve touristic ‘scenic sights’ to see in and around city that range from the natural to man-made. However none are world class or notable sites within Korea itself.”
However, being terminally broke for 3 out of 4 weeks of the pay month we recently decided that it was time to perhaps dig a little deeper and find some gems in Ulsan. Every city has cool bits, right? And the 90 cent bus fair certainly makes a little exploration well within our reach. So over the course of the past few weekends, we’ve given Ulsan a bit more of a ‘go’ and have come up with a few gems!
Eating, of course, is one of our favourite activities and while our choices in Deoksin are extremely limited, a city as big as Ulsan has a far wider variety of culinary delights! A hankering for sushi led us in search of adventure one Saturday afternoon and we happened upon Bar Haru.
We loved the place instantly. We sat at the bar so we could watch the chefs at work. The owner/head chef, Brian, spoke exceptional English and engaged us throughout the meal with information and just general good-guy-ness. The set menu at ₩45,000 for the two of us seemed like a good deal so we happily ordered and sat back to await the first Japanese meal we had had since leaving New Zealand! Totally worth the five month build up…
We knew we were in for a treat when Brian grated proper, FRESH wasabi onto our side dishes! While we definitely consider ourselves experienced eaters, we have only ever been presented with the gloopy, bright-green, processed in-a-tube variety of wasabi – so this was actually our first ever taste of the real deal. And it was delicious. So fruity and pungent. The fluro stuff has been left for dead.
Our drinks and salads arrived next – a crisp, refreshing Asahi for H-J, while Dan tried something new recommended to him by the chef. Named Ramune ラムネ, it tasted like bubblegum! The bottle design is pretty cool in itself, made of glass and sealed with a marble. Definitely an snazzy thing to drink at your next party!
Then the sushi and nigiri started arriving…
Actually, there was a whole lot more but we ate it quicker than we could snap. You can only imagine how good it was…hehe.
And of course, to complete the meal, a gorgeous miso soup with a perfectly flavoured dashi.
Feeling pretty chuffed, we were sitting back and reflecting on the beautiful meal we had just enjoyed when Dan said, “hmm, I really could go for a bit of tuna sashimi, just to top it all off.” We weren’t really that hungry anymore but the idea of a couple of pieces of no doubt beautifully fresh tuna really appealed. Ordering accordingly, again, we relaxed and waited….and waited…and watched in amazement as our “couple of bits of fish” were plated.
And out came this platter of pure, sashimi heaven. Four different cuts of different tuna, thick and glistening. It was the best fish we’d had in a long time. And so stunning to look at. We took our time and lovingly devoured each morsel, sighing contentedly in between bites.
It was a good thing that we enjoyed it so much. When we happily went up to pay the bill our modest ₩45,000 meal had sky-rocketed to ₩130,000! Yes, that’s right – we had tripled our bill with an $85 plate of raw fish! So much for a couple of pieces to top off the night. All we could do was laugh and over-extend our credit cards, yet again. It was so worth it.
In a similar theme, another Japanese place that had caught our interest was a little noodle bar tucked off the side of the famous downtown area. Having walked past a number of times on previous visits and seen it packed with customers, we decided finally to venture in and see what all the fuss was about.
It has a simple menu; soy sauce noodles, spicy soy sauce noodles, soy bean paste noodles, spicy soy bean paste noodles…you get the drift. Reverting back to our tried and tested point-and-order system, we pointed and ordered the soy sauce noodles.
A pot of kimchi and some tea were first delivered to our table.
Next came our noodles – large, steaming bowls of goodness. The noodles were swimming in the most flavourful broth, really savoury and moreish and topped with a slice of pork and a boiled egg. It was the sort of noodle dish that you crave and will go back for time and time again (and we have!).
We get the impression that this place is sorta famous – the walls are covered in pictures of people eating noodles, newspaper articles and former customers proudly displaying huge empty bowls. Some kind of noodle eating challenge?
In a nutshell (or a noodle bowl), this place rules. Expect to be taken here if you visit us in Korea.
It ain’t all just Japanese food round here though! Arriving in Ulsan a couple of days ago to pick up some groceries, we disembarked the 527 in Samsandong feeling like a coffee and so looked for the nearest cafe/coffee selling establishment to us that wasn’t Starbucks (we were immediately, however greeted by TWO Starbucks, within 150m of each other).
A place called B-Stove immediately caught our eye. Two things really pulled us – the sun filled balcony looking over the street, and the cafe’s wonderful tag line ‘COFFEE & DINNIN’. As you can see the work that we and many other English teachers in Korea do has really paid off.
We headed up the stairs on a fiendish search for caffeine to find a very professional cafe/restaurant filled with people. B-Stove not only had coffee but a very nice looking menu that included brunch!!!! Brunch is a word that we haven’t heard for a long while so we were promptly distracted from the coffee mission.
Having just completed two back-to-back winters, we chose to sit outside and were led to a sun drenched table overlooking not only the busy streets of Samsandong but also the Lotte Wheel. Score!
Dan was distracted from his original intention of ordering the full American breakfast when the table beside us was graced with the most amazing looking salad. He decided on that instead, while H-J couldn’t resist the Korean/Italian pull of the “boccochiny” sandwich.
Somewhat surprisingly, we were presented with a free appetiser of bread with balsamic and olive oil dip was bought to the table with our drinks – what a nice touch!
And then came the main feature.
The chicken salad closely resembled a small mountain and was delicious.
The boccochiny (hehe) sammy was pretty good too! Hearty bread, delicious fresh cheese and copious amounts of salad both in the sandwich as well as on the plate. In the ultimate test of willpower, H-J un-buried the salad from under the generous serving of fries, leaving them neglected and uneaten!
Another success. Ulsan’s food scene was starting to prove itself worth a bit more thorough investigation. Did that mean there might be some non-food related hidden treasures, too? Stay tuned…
I had dinner at that ramen shop Sunday night! 😀
Isn’t it great? Its so simple but delicious…savoury goodness in a big bowl 🙂
You just made me hungry reading this 🙂
Excellent! Go forth and find yummy treats – then tell us about them!!!
I went to Ulsan a few months ago, and I think it’s a great city! We also had meal and after delicious meal there–it’s definitely a foodie paradise 🙂
On first glance, it didn’t appear that way so its nice to discover these gems! And now we’re amped to find more 🙂
I remember where it is (I can find out though), but we went to an amazing duck restaurant there where you grill the duck at your table, and wrap it in washed kimchi with a jalapeno. I know it sounds strange, but it was amazing!
We love duck so if you do find out, let us know 🙂
loved this post, so reminded me of my visit to the sushi bar in Japan! http://thebaronyork.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/day-41-osaka-white-castle-and-raw-fish/
Oh wow that looks delicious!!!
Yum Yum !
Very, very delicious! And now we feel like there’s probably a whole lot more to discover…damn eh?!
I think those noodles alone make me want to visit Korea even more!
If you make it to Ulsan, go to this restaurant!!! Its the perfect umami sensation. Sooooo good.
About how far a drive is it to Ulsan from Seoul?
Hmm in a car probably around 4 or 5 hours…on the KTX (fast train) I think its 2 hours. If you don’t have heaps of time, skip Ulsan but try not to miss Busan – its great!!! Seoul to Busan on the KTX is 2.5 hours. We haven’t actually done the KTX thing yet but are planning on doing so when my parents visit later in the year. No doubt we’ll blog about it because it sounds really cool! How long do you think you’ll have in Korea?
We’re aiming for about two weeks. We spent about two weeks in NZ. It was a decent bit of time to see a lot of things; of course we wished we never had to leave there, but it gives us incentive to visit again to see all the places we missed.
We spent our first two weeks (our honeymoon) travelling around Korea to get a glimpse of the place before we settled down to work and managed to see heaps! Seoul, Jeju Island, Busan…I’d skip Jeju Island if I was to do it over but include Gyeongju instead – its just fascinating and beautiful.
As for New Zealand, I hope you get the chance to visit again in the future!!!
I love your dedication to finding the best places for “Dinnin”! Everything here looks amazing and as for that tuna…well, worth taking out a credit card extension for. Your description about the city made me smile as the Rough Guide to Andalucia says of my two nearest villages, something along the lines of “neither one would win many prizes in a beauty contest” 😉
Dedicated to Dinnin…sounds like a catchy tag-line, hahahaha. Yip, that tuna definitely rocked our world. Now we’ve heard rumour from a fellow blogger of a duck place we want to try AND a friend is taking us to a “velly famous” Vietnamese restaurant on the weekend! Exciting times.
I love tourism lures like that. It really does wonders for a place…
I don’t like fish, however seeing some of those pics has made me want to visit a sushi bar. Hoping it won’t be wasted on me.
If you do, make sure you go somewhere fabulous or it could put you off for life! Super fresh fish, cut perfectly, is just divine 🙂 Go for the best you can find and I’m sure we’ll have converted you!
I shall go on a hunt to find somewhere fabulous then!
Let us know how you go!!!
Whoa!!! I agree the Tuna did look absolutely gorgeous when you wrote $85 did you mean NZ/Aud or US that must have been seriously good though… I love those ramen, they often make them with really big meaty bones and the tendon/collagen thickens the broth. It’s one of my favourite cuts of meat at the moment too, 🙂
The tuna sashimi was 85,000 won which is approximately $75 USD or $92 NZD! $85 was my lazy conversion as I kinda think of 1,000 won being a dollar and depending on exchange rates its not too far usually off it in New Zealand terms. I kind of expected a butler to be hand-feeding it to me at that price though, haha. Nah, it was seriously worth every dollar.
We would love to replicate that ramen so that’s interesting what you say about the collagen thickener. Do you reckon just chuck in a marrow bone or similar?
whoa! That must’ve been seriously good Tuna. I think bone marrow and (beef or pork) tendon would produce the desired effect. Funny enough my next post going up is an oxtail-bone marrow braise in which I describe those same gelatinous flavours.
Plus both those cuts are budget friendly too! I actually prefer oxtail to osso bucco or shanks, so tasty too…
Yum I love oxtail…I spent many, MANY hours picking oxtail meat back in the kitchens 🙂 Agreed, its super delicious.
Shall try and replicate that yummy ramen sometime!
Looks yummy! 🙂 Finally catching up again, but will come back to comment on other/future posts. Thanks for your patience! 🙂
Its always great to have return visitors 🙂 Thanks so much for the support!
sometimes the best treasures are the hidden gems 🙂 One of our favorite restaurants is hidden on a back alley inside a run-down looking grocery store – but the restaurant inside is clean and amazing! I’ll have to post pics sometime! Keep finding those “off the beaten path” areas – I think sometimes they’re more interesting because they’re not overdone by tourists 😉
We look forward to seeing some pictures sometime! Its definitely always fun to try and find the un-tapped resources of a new place.
We were hoping to go today, but we’ll see – it’s laundry day and we have lots to catch up on! (Yes, I know, never end a sentence with…) 😉