Wooldolmok - Seoul, Korea (Seocho Station)

Wooldolmok is another han jung shik (Korean traditional course meal course) restaurant that specializes in fresh seafood such as abalone, fish, baby octopus and various types of seaweed. Can you tell I love han jung shik places? I can't get enough of it when I'm in Seoul. You will see the sign on your left, but no restaurant. It's because the restaurant is actually in the basement of the building.

There is a second entrance on the side of the building. There's a sign that reads that in 2006 the city of Seoul featured it as its preferred restaurants for visitors. I don't know if they are still featured or not, but it's still worth visiting in my opinion.

They specialize in using fresh seafood and local foods. At every table, you will see a platter of six different kinds of seaweed. I know the term seaweed sounds unappetizing, but it's actually a sea vegetable, which has tons of nutrients like iodine, folate, iron, vitamin K and calcium. So eat your (sea) vegetables!

A close up of one of the more intriguing-looking sea vegetables.

This is how you're supposed to eat it. You basically take a piece of nori, pile on the various types of sea vegetables, put some doengjang paste, roll it up and eat. The various textures just pop in your mouth.

This is one of their special house dish, burdock japchae. You will notice that the color is a bit darker than japchae you're accustomed to. It had a great earthy flavor to it.

Another plate of bossam. Whoever thought to put pork, oysters and shrimp together deserves a prize.

Here's an assembled bossam on a napa cabbage leaf for your viewing pleasure.

This is sliced, raw burdock that they dressed in a mild, creamy sauce with some slice almonds. Jung said that it tasted like something he'd eat at a Western fusion restaurant. I was kind of surprised to see it served like this at a traditional Korean restaurant too. The creamy sauce brought out the natural sweetness of the burdock, it was crunchy and delicious.

I think this was lightly battered and fried fish that they put a spicy marinade over. I've seen this a lot, but have no clue what kind of fish it is. I just eat it without any questioning.

The rice here rocked. It had assorted beans, pieces of sweet potato, garlic cloves, seaweed and abalone in it. I think liking beans in your rice is a true gauge of whether you're getting old or not. I remember as a kid whenever my grandma would make rice with beans or peas or any non-rice substance, I'd fish out each piece and put it off to the side or sneak it over to my dad's plate before I ate my rice. They would yell at me, but I'd still do it anyway. haha. Now, I think beans in rice tastes really yummy. I'm getting old folks, that's just the truth of the matter.

Here's a close up of the abalone. I thought abalone cooked like this would be tough and chewy, but this was sooo soft and tender, like cutting through a filet.

I just realized that I completely forgot to take pictures of all the side dishes and stews. Sorry folks, I guess I got distracted by the food and forgot to take pictures. Jung and I really liked this place. They had really fresh seafood and it was a bit different from the other han jung shik places we tried. We highly recommend it, if you're in the area.

Here's how to get here. Get off at Exit 2 of Seocho Station. Walk up a block and make a left at the first street you see. You will see the restaurant sign to your right.

We got the abalone rice course, which was 17,000 won or about $15 per person.

They also have a website, although it's in Korean. Apparently they have another restaurant in Samsung station.

www.wooldolmok.co.kr

(02) 521-6032