Delicious Pah Jeon

I will discuss many wondrous Korean foods on this blog, but I must begin by discussing my favorite: pah jeon.

Now, like any great food, it would be impossible for me to convey its full majesty with the written word. Though since many of you will never get to try pah jeon, I will do my best with the medium that I have.

Pah jeon is essentially a Korean latke. Though, like most Korean foods, it is much healthier than its western counterpart. The common pah jeon has bits of squid, grass-like shoots, onions, and a myriad of other lesser components, all held together by flour and egg.

The average pah jeon is quite thin. But of course you can find different takes at every restaurant. I was in Seoul not long ago and a friend took me to an unassuming restaurant in search of cheap eats. At first it seemed as if our food would hardly be out of the ordinary. That was until our waitress served the biggest heap of pah jeon I had ever seen. It had to have been 1 inch thick. I wanted to cry tears of joy. This was the only time that I couldn't actually finish my serving. It truly was a momentous occasion, and one that I won't soon forget.

That experience is significant not only because of the gastronomic orgasm I achieved, but because it's indicative of restaurant hunting in Korea. There are more non descript restaurants here than any small army could ever visit in 12 months. You want to tell yourself that they're all the same. They're not. In fact, some of them - like the aforementioned Seoul joint - actually have extraordinary food, but you would never know unless go in blind.

I've never been to a Korean restaurant in the states, so I have no idea what foods they do and don't have. But I'm not risking a life in the USA without pah jeon. Believe me, anyone in my proximity next year will be eating this dish until they can take it no more. In fact, I hope to be among the foremost purveyors of pah jeon on the east coast.