Our New Intern From Korea

I'm pleased and delighted to introduce you to our new intern here at Plethora Press, Gwanghyung "David" Lee. David has been working with us since mid-June and though he is only here until early August, we've really enjoyed having him in the office.

David has a great sense of humour and it has been fascinating to see "Canadian food" from a new perspective.

So it seemed time to do a more formal introduction in the form of an interview.

Who are you and where are you from?

My name is Gwanghyung Lee. But I use the English name "David" here. I'm still a student in Korea. So, you already know that I'm from Korea. Perhaps, you may be curious about why I am here. I am here to learn English and it is going well so far with Alexa's help.

What do you do at Plethora Press?

Work hard. Obey Alexa. Frankly, I help Alexa with book orders, blog posts and so on.

Where is your home town and what is it's signature dish?

Hmm... My home town is Jochiwon in Korea. This town is very small. I think around 30 thousand people live there. Although, my home town is small, we have a nice signature dish. That is Pa-Dak which is made of chicken and green onions. Basically, Pa-Dak means green onions and chicken in Korean. Perhaps, you are wondering how we make it or how we eat it. Let me explain this.

We usually use 3 basic ingredients: chicken, green onions and secret sauce which is different at each restaurant. First, we fry the chicken. But, these days, we just don't fry it. Before frying it, we get rid of all the bones and slice the chicken into many pieces. If the chunk of meat is small, then it will be fried tasty. After frying, we put sliced green onions on the chicken. And here is the thing, we don't cut green onions into thick pieces. We slice it along the stalk. So, these are very thin and many slices. Now, the last part is pour the sauce on the chicken if you want. If you don't like to pour it, then you can just dip the small piece of chicken in the sauce. That's your choice. Just a few years ago, this cuisine was not that famous in Korea. Only locals knew this. Nowadays, many people know this because of the interesting taste. I'd like to find this dish here in Toronto. So far, I haven't heard there is a restaurant which sells Pa-Dak. I guess that I need to start a restaurant for Torontorians to give them a chance to taste it. I almost forgot saying this. You can make Pa-Dak by yourself. But most of Koreans just order this because delivery is quite fast and it's not expensive.

What is your favourite comfort food?

There are lots of comfort foods for me. But, if I only need to choose one food, then I would say Samgyeopsal. Technically, Samgyeopsal is not the name of the food, it is a cut of pork (Pork belly) and this is the most consumed pork in Korea. Anyway, this is really really easy to cook. Just put Samgyeopsal on the grill. And when it is cooked well, wrap it with lettuce or perilla leaves like a taco. Before you wrap it, you should put some things like samjang(consisting of Korean chili paste, Korean soybean paste, sesame oil and other ingredients), sliced green onions, garlic, kimchi, grilled onions on it. But, if you don't like garlic or other things then you don't need to put it in. It's according to your preference.

What is your favourite food discovery?

Well... Everything was really interesting. So, I just can't pick one of them. But, grilled meat was a surprising and delighting food I have seen in Toronto. In my country, we don't use grills as much as here in Canada. Moreover, even when we use a grill, we cook meat on frying pans. So, fire can't directly cook meat. This is the reason grilled meat surprised me and I like it very much because I can savour the taste of the meat.

What cuisine are you looking forward to trying next?

Ethiopian food. I heard that it's spicy and hot similar to Korean cuisine. I always like to eat hot and spicy food if my stomach can handle it. I will ask to Alexa to find a nice place to try Ethiopian cuisine.

If you were looking for an "authentic" Korean restaurant in Canada, what clues would you look for to identify it?

It's simple. Can the servers speak Korean? Do the side dishes look like real Korean food? Are Korean words on the menu? These questions are protocol. However, maybe some people will ask me that how speaking Korean can guarantee the "authentic" Korean restaurant. They are right. It can't. Honestly, it's hard to figure out whether it's an authentic Korean restaurant or not. Even for me.

Can you recommend a CheapEat restaurant in Seoul?

This is the most difficult question I have had so far. Ok, my answer is: everywhere. Actually, I don't remember the names, I memorize restaurants with location not with name. Oh... Let me get back to the point. I know a good restaurant in Jeonju which is a city in Korea. Maybe, most of Canadians have heard about "Bibimbap" (I hope you have heard about it). This restaurant is famous for Bibimbap and the restaurant's name is Go-Gung. If you go there, then you are going to taste "authentic" Korean food because Bibimbap is the signature food in Jeonju. Also, you will definitely be surprised by the amount of food. Most of restaurants in Jeonju or near Jeonju serve more than 5 side dishes whatever you order and the size of main dish is also big. There's more exciting stuff. You can try some Korean traditional soups at Go-Gung. I dare say it has jaw-dropping soups. Lastly, you can try an awesome drink which is called "Leegangju". This drink is one of the best alcoholic beverages created in Joseon dynasty (July 1392-1897). It is made by a special recipe and we use yeast, polished rice, pear, ginger, curcuma longa, cinnamon and honey. I know it sounds great. Whether you are gourmet or not, you should try these foods when you visit Korea. Go to Korea and enjoy together.