Oh. Yeah?

The other day, before experiencing the wondrous musical extravaganza that was the "Pimas-gul Love Song," my cousin and I spent some time wandering around the Insa-dong street, a place with lots of shops selling traditional Korean handicrafts and clothing, contemporary-but-with-a-traditional-spin clothing stores, and little galleries and shops full of contemporary arts and goods. It looks kind of like this:


There are also many little stands and carts selling delightful snacks: whole potatoes sliced, fried, and spiced, served on sticks, spun sugar candies, spicy stir-fried rice cakes, sweet little cakes made kind of like ebelskivers with red bean filling, and about as many kinds of meat on a stick a carnivore could hope for. I neglected to try most of them, sadly, but I will surely go back. Many people are of the opinion that South Korea is where it's at for fast, delicious, and innovative food, and I have to agree that it's not a bad place to be.

Just before the show, we hit up a little restaurant for some don-kas, the Korean version of Japanese katsu (I don't know which came first but it's probably obvious where my loyalty lies). There didn't seem to be much difference to me; there's not so much you need to do differently when it comes to panko-coated, deep-fried pork cutlet. It was crispy and just greasy enough. We got a combo, which came with fish-kas, essentially fish sticks for grown-ups, and jumok-bap, which translates to fist-rice and is, as you might guess, a fist sized ball of rice, in this case interspersed with roasted sesame seeds and rolled in little strips of salted nori. There was also some really refreshing clear soup and a salad.


Hmm. . . I thought to myself. That's a colorful salad. Are those tomatoes? Maybe I should take a closer look.

I don't know how soon American salad bars will be featuring fruit loops and frosted flakes alongside the usual tomatoes and baby corn, but I have to say after having this I wouldn't turn up my nose. They'd probably also have to learn this place's dressing recipe. It was creamy, sweet and citrusy, with a lit bit of a vinegar kick, and the corn added some salty, savory heft. It made for a surprisingly tasty dish, the cereal complementing the dressing and adding an unusual crunch to the shredded lettuce.

Fast? Yes. Delicious? Yes. Innovative? Yes. Thank the stars for the Koreans, who also came up with the famed Col-pop and pizza cones. I don't know if their ideas always come to fruition as delectably as this salad, but I certainly hope they keep them coming.