More kimchi please

The food in Korea is awesome. It started on the Korean Air flight. For dinner, I had bi bim bap. The best part about it was that the airline came up with a way to serve it with the usual fanfare and production of a Korean restaurant. A big part of what I love about Korean food, besides the great spicy flavors, is that it's interactive. One is involved in the preparation of one's meal. You don't just receive a plate served to you in final form, but often there's a few steps at the table before the final product is ready for your mouth. The best example of this is Korean barbecue, where you must cook your meat at the grill in the center of your table and then assemble all of the toppings into a lettuce "taco."

The otherwise typical airplane tray of food contained odd looking compartments, such as a shrink wrapped package of piping hot jasmine rice, a bowl of veggies (shitake mushrooms, cabbage and spinach) and some spicy pickles. There was also a small plastic tube filled with red pepper paste and a small packet of sesame oil. I froze at first (it's been a while since I've had Korean food and we were on an airplane), but then I figured out that you just throw it all in the bowl, mix it together and then voila, dinner is served. The amazing thing is that it tasted, to borrow Hayden's favorite phrase, "fresh." And that's no small feat for an airline.

Breakfast at my hotel has the typical five star spread of cereals, omelet stations and smoked salmon. But it also has an elaborate Korean food section, including a prominent display of kimchi. Kimchi in the morning is way too intense for me - but I did have soup with udon noodles and a very delicious clear broth.

Just now for lunch there was a buffet that had a ton of very nice looking sushi, which tragically I had to avoid. (I could tell by the cut that it was probably amazing.) But I did have other delights including the famous kimchi, some various spring rolls and beautifully put together dumplings. I couldn't convince my stomach to go for the short ribs (maybe for dinner...) But I had some sweet and sour chicken, which was tasty.

I can't quite get into the rice ball desserts, which come in a variety of flavors, but the soothing miracle of Korean green tea more than made up for it.