I get the feeling I’ve mentioned this before, but oh well.
After Yeoido Church, Imjingang and our visit to Lotte-mart, we went to Ueon Halmeoni Bossam for dinner. Rob and Youngjung choose that place because they knew about my obsession with sesame leaves - serve the dishes there with sesame leaves/kaenyip XD
It’s a good thing I picked up the fridge magnet for the place, otherwise I would never have remembered what the name of the place was. I’m guessing “bossam” is the name of the dish and “halmeoni” is…either “mother” or “grandmother”. But since the drawing of the lady on the magnet looks so old, maybe it means “grandmother”? -checks website- Oh, I guessed right. It does mean grandmother.
Anyway, a bit of research on google is always useful. The Ueon Halmeoni Bossam chain of stores first started in 1984 (the year I was born in~~), and as at December 2004 (hmm, site needs to be updated) it has 190+ chain stores.
This is taken from their page on bossam:
- What is Bossam?
“Bossam” is the traditional food of Korea and also special
dish representing Korea served with Bossam-kimch and
high-quality of the pork boiled with special sauce.- Origin of Bossam
Bossam was known to the public around 1945 Liberation of Korea,
and we can find the word “Bossam-kimchi” in the novel of the 1940’s.
Ancient noble family in Chosun Dynasty let the servants make and eat
a lot of kimchi in winter, and the origin can be found through the fact that
the noble family let the servants eat such Kimchi with boiled pork to appreciate
the servants’ efforts.- How to eat
1. To place proper amount of Bossam-kimch and spices on the front table dish.
2. To put a sliced pork on Bossam kimch and spices.
3. To pick a sliced pork and Bossam kimch together on your table dish and to put them in the mouth, using chopsticks
4. To enjoy Bossam with salted shrimp and red pepper as personal taste.
5. As Bossam is matched well with the liquor, many Koreans would enjoy Bossam
with soju(white distilled liquor of korea)When you order Bossam at Wonhalmoney-Bossam store, you can select kind if the pork as personal taste.
1. Lean meat only
2. Fat only
3. Mixed lean meat and fat- Efficacy
Prevention of adult disease (arteriosclerosis, hypertension, etc)
As Bossam contains lots of unsaturated fatty acid such as arachidonic acid and linoleic acid, it prevents accumulation of cholesterol and lets the blood flow excellent.Discharge of toxic substances piled in the body (hydrargyrum, lead and etc)
As melting point of the fat of Korean pork is lower than that of the body temperature, it pushes out the contaminants unexpectedly accumulated by polluted air and water and etc. from the body. Especially, it is good for prevention of pneumoconiosis in case any person breathes the dust much.Good for skin care
Pork has vitamin-B group 5-10 times more than beef and also has high quality of protein and various nutritions, which makes the skin glossy.- Nutrition
Good for growth of the children under growth period
Pork contains lots of phosphorus, potassium and etc., and also abundant mineral, which are good for children under growth period, student and examinees.Protection of liver and good for anemia
As ferrum contained much in Korean pork has high absorbing rate, it prevents the anemia occurred from lack of ferrum, and as it has methionine more than anything else, Korean pork is good for protection of liver and for recovery of fatigue.
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Comments:
- The romanization of Korean words is not very standard at all. So even though the Bossam site says its name is “Wonhalmoney-bossam”, I’m going to stick to the Lonely Planet romanization guide, which is the standard that everyone is meant to use, and continue referring to them as “Ueon halmeoni bossam”.
- They should get people who can speak English fluently to translate their site :/ The English is so clunky and rather bad…surely such a big company can afford to meander down to the student exchange department of any university and grab a gaijin (hmm, what’s gaijin in Korean?) student to look over their translations. And because students are always poor and starving, they would be able to do an excellant job for much less than what a professional translator would charge. For the record, I’m putting up my hand for any of these sorts of jobs…I can do it at a very competitive rate!
- I’m calling bullshit on what they claim are the health benefits of their Bossam. Surely you can’t eat fatty pork and and expect it to decrease your chances of arteriosclerosis?! “prevents accumulation of cholesterol and lets the blood flow excellent” ?!?! Yeah right!! Misleading and deceptive conduct…-mutter-.
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Anyway, the store we went to was in Sinchon, if I recall correctly. The entrance area is sunken in, and you have to take off your shoes before entering the raised main seating area. All the tables are low and you have to sit on the floor on little square vinyl-covered foam cushions. The store was very cute, and it felt very Korean.
We ended up ordering the Bossam Combo, and it includes boiled fatty pork hocks with assorted kimchi that we wrapped up in fresh green leaves. Unfortunately that day they didn’t have sesame leaf!! :@ :@
Oh well. It was still very nice. It’s surprising how tasty boiled pork can be o.o
Wish I took a photo of all the food >.<
When I go back to Seoul, I'll definitely eat this again >:D
Rating: 7/10 (points taken off for lack of sesame leaves)
Cost: 34,000 won for 4. Quite reasonable.
Ambience: 8/10. It certainly feels very “local”.
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And this concludes my series of blog entries on Korea! I thought it was nice to finish it off on a food entry XD
I hope to go back to Korean soon T_T
Currently aiming for some time in March 2007. Offpeak season, plus I want to experience the Spring hanabi season in Japan…Sakura trees!
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