With another day in Seoul, South Korea upon me, my boy Sam and I started our day with a super healthy and tasty Korean porridge breakfast and then headed over to Changdeokgung Palace to tour this beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site! Come along with us as we continue exploring the city of Seoul!
For breakfast, I wanted to go with a porridge with shrimp and seaweed, with some kimchi fried rice on the side. The fried rice in South Korea rivals that of China in quality, so I knew it would be good! I couldn’t wait to dig in.
My breakfast feast was yet another incredible, delicious-looking spread. It included the porridge and the kimchi fried rice, as well as banchan including white radish soup, marinated beef, white radish, and a spicy-looking fish. Porridge is a big breakfast food item in South Korea. There were about 50 varieties on the menu!
The porridge reminded me of a risotto and was very moist with lots of rice, seaweed, and big pieces of shrimp. It wasn’t spicy at all but was super tasty and flavorful!
Then I dove into some of the banchan, including the cold radish soup, which was a little sweet and had a slight kick. I liked the onion and chilies in it! Then, I went for the white radish on the side, which was really moist and had a strong flavor!
The marinated beef was packed with flavor, especially soy sauce. It was super moist and so tasty. It was bathed in soy sauce and was incredible! The next item was a mixed seafood in a red paste sauce. There was fish and maybe octopus in it, and it was really amazing!
Next was the kimchi fried rice, which was full of flavor! It was my first spicy fried rice and there were also lots of vegetables in it. It was one of the best fried rice dishes on the planet! It was fantastic!
Meanwhile, Sam ordered a Korean red bean porridge that also contained rice balls, which were soft and chewy. The red bean is more savory than other red bean dishes in South Korea, which are often mixed with sugar.
Our breakfast came to 24,000 won, or about $20 U.S. The most expensive thing was the fried rice!
From there, we caught a taxi to Changdeokgung Palace, which was 10 minutes away. Changdeokgung Palace dates back to 1405 and served as the main residence of the Joseon kings. It costs 3,000 won ($2.82 U.S.) to see the palace and an extra 5,000 ($4.19 U.S.) to see the secret gardens. 8,000 won, or $6.71 U.S., was more than worth it to see a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site like this one!
Inside, the grounds were very spacious with lots of trees. There are over 26,000 species of trees there! It was the favorite palace of the royal family because of the peaceful atmosphere. There were lots of gates and bridges. The secret garden is twice the size of the palace itself!
We saw the hall where the king was coronated and his throne. It was also used for royal ceremonies. There was also a terrace with amazing views of Seoul! The architecture was really unique, and each palace in Seoul is completely different from one another.
The main staircase is reserved for royalty, so we had to go around to the side to enter. We visited a residence that had mats and paintings inside. It was pretty basic!
Then, we met three Korean girls dressed in beautiful hanboks! On a sad note, this was my final episode with Sam because he had to leave!
I hope you enjoyed coming with us for our Korean breakfast and tour of Changdeokgung Palace! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave me a comment. Also, please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any of my upcoming travel/food adventures!
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last decade, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,000 destinations in 73 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
I love it.
Mmm.
I'd say it's one of the best fried rice on the planet right here.
Just the spice, all the veg, no meat in there.
Pretty damn good.
Good morning everyone, this is David Hoffman from David's Been Here in beautiful Seoul,
South Korea.
Today I'm going to take you to eat a delicious porridge breakfast.
Here in South Korea, they love porridge.
They have so many different variations.
I think I'm going to go with one that's a little spicy with some shrimp and I'm also
going to get some kimchi fried rice, bibimbap.
Oh my god, it's so delicious.
The fried rice here really rivals China.
It's like right there with China.
Super good.
And then after this, we're going to go to another palace.
There's so many palaces here, but this one is UNESCO World Heritage.
Now let's go inside and try some Korean porridge.
Okay guys, so here we have it, our breakfast feast.
You know, here in South Korea, we've been eating so many delicious things for breakfast
and every single time it's been different.
You know, we've had bibimbap, now we're having porridge, we're having kimchi, it's called
bokkeumbap, right?
Bokkeumbap, yeah.
Kimchi fried rice.
Bokkeumbap.
Kimchi fried rice.
That looks freaking phenomenal.
It looks a little spicy, lots of vegetables, got the cabbage, and then here we have my
porridge.
What I decided to go with was shrimp with some seaweed.
It doesn't look too spicy, just looks perfect.
I actually like porridge a lot.
It's a very healthy dish.
It's easy to eat.
And yeah, here in South Korea, they love it.
Here they have like, I think like 50 variations.
Really amazing.
And then here we have the bancheese, right?
All sides?
Yeah.
So we have the white radish, like super cold soup, then we have white radish right here,
then we have, this is like marinated beef, looks really yummy, and then we have something
that looks really hot.
This could be like fish, I don't know exactly what it is, but it looks really, really hot.
It's the only thing that looks spicy out of everything.
Let's try this.
Okay, wow.
I'm so hungry.
I can't wait to eat.
This reminds me of like a risotto.
It's almost the same as like a yummy shrimp risotto.
Oh, very moist.
Lots of rice in there.
Big pieces of shrimp.
A lot of seaweed, like I'm pretty surprised that it's like this much seaweed.
Here in Korea, they love the seaweed.
No spice at all.
Oh man, this is really good.
It's pretty amazing they eat a lot of rice for breakfast.
I mean, it is a country of rice, but I was a little shocked when it was like breakfast
rice.
I don't really do that in the States, you know.
It's so good.
Can't wait to finish it, but before I finish it, let's jump into the Banshees.
Right here, I'm going to try this super cold soup.
Oh, yeah, a little sweet.
Oh, wow.
Also, a little kick right there.
I like it with a nice crunchy onion, a few chilies in there.
A little spicy.
Now, let me jump onto the white radish.
This is what I love about Korean food is that they always give you amazing sides.
Here we have some of this.
How strong is this one?
Oh, very moist.
Pretty good.
Next up, we have the marinated beef.
Oh, wow.
Packed with flavor.
Oh, wow.
Soy sauce.
Super wet.
Not wet, guys, moist.
Super moist.
Oh, I really like this one.
It's like bathed in soy sauce.
Incredible.
Next up, we have this red one.
It's like mixed seafood in here.
I can't get enough of this red paste sauce.
I feel like some octopus in there, maybe some fish, very salty.
It's actually my favorite of all these.
Wow, it's amazing.
I'm going to try some of this kimchi fried rice.
Oh, wow.
So good.
Oh, wow.
Incredible.
So much flavor.
For real, this rivals China's fried rice.
And I've actually never had a spicy fried rice.
This is my first spicy one.
You get a little bit of that tingling on your lips.
You get a lot of the veg.
I love this one, man.
I love it.
I'd say it's one of the best fried rice on the planet right here.
Just the spice, all the veg, no meat in there.
Pretty damn good.
And yeah, guys, this is basically our huge breakfast.
What we're going to do now is just dig in, relax, fill up before the palace.
And yeah, ganbei.
Alright, David, this breakfast feast has been incredible.
And we each ordered different jukes.
So you got one that had shrimp and seaweed.
I got one that had pork which is Korean red beans.
So this is really tasty.
It has got tons of rice in there.
Now the difference between yours and mine is that mine has a little bit more of rice balls.
I don't think you got the rice balls, you got the shrimp.
These are my rice balls.
So I'm going to take a bite with the rice balls.
The texture of the rice balls is so soft and chewy.
But it does take a little while to chew it enough so that you can swallow it down.
Now the red beans in Korea are typically something you add with sugar.
So it is a bit sweet.
But this porridge because it is natural and healthy doesn't have any extra sugar or sweetener added.
So you're tasting more of the natural red bean taste and it is actually not sweet.
It is more of a savory dish which I find really interesting.
Take one more bite.
And something I should mention about juk for everyone who is watching is that this is typically a very healthy Korean food.
Often people who are sick or having digestive issues will eat the juk as a way of recovering their health.
Because it is just so simple and easy to digest and also very healthy.
All healthy ingredients.
Wow dude. Filling.
Filling. Filling.
All the rice in the world for breakfast.
Bit of a carb overload.
Good thing we're going to be going for a walk for a bit.
We're going to go to Seoul Station and then we're going to the palace and we'll be doing lots of walking too.
Yeah and this restaurant is located right next to Seoul Station.
I mean we're literally a block away.
Oh just notice it is exit 4.
Exit 4?
Yeah, exit 4 across the street.
Perfect.
And the bill was what? 20?
20 something thousand. 24,000.
24,000. That is not bad.
So it was like I think the most expensive thing was actually the fried rice.
Yeah, yeah.
Which is fine.
It was the best thing.
It was good.
Everything was good, man.
Yeah, now what we're going to do, like I said, catch a taxi and go straight to the palace.
Let's go.
After a short 10 minute taxi drive, we made it here to Changdeokgung Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that dates back to 1405.
This was the main residence to many of the Jason Kings and there's two parts to the palace.
So there's the main buildings and then there's a secret garden.
If you just want to see the palace, it's 3,000 won, so very affordable.
If you want to go to the secret gardens, that's an extra 5,000.
So it would be 8,000 won total which is roughly 7 dollars to see a UNESCO World Heritage Palace here in Seoul.
Wow, that is so worth it.
Let's go inside and see the palace.
Hello.
Thank you.
Alright, so we've just got inside and already noticing it is very spacious.
Lots of trees, lots of traditional Korean buildings.
Something I should mention too that I think you'd find interesting is that you can get a 10,000 won pass.
It gives you access to all of the palaces in Seoul.
Or you can put on traditional Korean hanbok which allows you to get into all of these palaces for free.
So consider those two options if you're visiting Seoul and you want to check out the palaces.
Something I haven't mentioned though is that this palace has over 26,000 species of trees.
Wow.
Did you know that?
No, I did not.
Now you know.
Now I know.
One thing I just learned in the brochure is that the royal family love this palace the most.
Reasons why?
Well, it's very relaxing as you can see.
Very spacious.
Lots of green trees.
Lots of air.
I mean, just beautiful.
I mean, this is so awesome.
And many gates.
Lots of gates.
There's a bridge right here.
And then behind obviously we have the secret garden which is like double the size of the palace.
This building is beautiful.
It's called the Cheongjeon Hall.
This is where the king was coronated.
His throne is right there in the very back.
And they would use it to throw royal ceremonies.
And in front you have this massive massive terrace.
And in the backdrop you can see Seoul Tower.
All of Seoul.
Seoul skyline.
And yeah, amazing spot.
I mean the breeze in here I feel like it is super cool.
And the coolest part about Seoul is that you have all of these palaces but they are all
completely different.
Each one has its own history and in terms of architecture very very unique here.
So to visit the main hall we had to go around to the left.
We couldn't use the main staircase because that is reserved for royalty.
In every single palace and some buildings you'll see the stickers in the middle and
that is reserved for royalty.
I mean obviously now there is no real royalty.
I mean I don't know if there is anymore.
But they always have it like separated.
You can never go up it.
Especially in some Buddhist temples as well right?
Yeah, same thing.
Same thing.
So we're visiting the next residence over here.
We noticed a smaller hall and it has like basically blue tiles.
It is very very fascinating from a distance.
As you approach it you realize it is smaller.
We're thinking maybe it is like a royal residence or a royal sleeping grounds.
Inside they have a nice painting and then there is some mats.
And yeah it is just very basic inside.
It could have been a place to sleep.
It could have been a place to eat or hang out or all of the above.
Yeah, there is no bed.
There is like a little like I guess it is like a couch right?
But it is very very low.
There is some mats there.
So I'm guessing back then the kings would sleep on the floor the same way we did it
with like in the temple right?
Yeah.
So they would put the mats down, lay on the floor.
Always very low to the ground.
Yeah, which is actually really comfortable.
Wow.
Look at you girls.
Beautiful.
Love it.
Yeah, Japanese.
Japanese.
Lie.
Love the hanbok.
Thank you.
Where are you from?
Korea.
Yeah, you're from Korea.
Nice to meet you.
Wow, what a morning.
Morning.
We started off with some delicious porridge and kimchi fried rice.
Super filling.
I highly recommend trying it once.
You don't need it twice though.
No.
Hahaha.
If you really like it you can get it every single morning because they have so many different
variations.
He had like a red bean one.
I had a shrimp and sea which was so delicious.
It was like literally eating the sea right there.
It was so good.
So good man.
And then we came here to Jongdaechuk.
Yeah, Jongdaechuk.
Jongdaechuk.
Really fun.
The palace.
I mean it is getting packed now.
Yeah.
Kids just flooding in at the moment.
Hahaha.
Yeah, so it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so I highly recommend coming to this palace.
If you have time for two or three definitely this one.
The one we did the other day and there is like a dozen man.
It is crazy how many there are.
Yeah, you could do a whole tour of it.
Yeah.
It is just amazing.
So many in Seoul.
They are all in different locations too.
Yeah.
Which makes it fascinating.
But they are usually by parks.
Yeah, by parks.
And yeah guys I hope you love this video.
This will be Sam's last episode with me.
Yeah, man.
I'm going to miss you bro.
We'll probably see him in Argentina soon.
I hope so.
You are welcome anytime.
For sure.
Well guys if you like this video give me a thumbs up.
Comment below.
Subscribe to my channel and his channel.
And we will see you in the next travel food adventure in South Korea.
Peace.
