Korean Lunch!

Thanks to Kyoo and Young Chul for yesterday's lunch! After finding out that I love pollock roe, (know as myeongran jeot in Korean and as mentaiko in Japanese) Young Chul planned "mentiako lunch". I was in heaven!!!

This was my first opportunity to try real Korean food in Japan. There is a lot of Korean influenced food here, they sell "kimchi" in the cafeteria. However, the Japanese take on Korean food is not spicy at all, it sweeter and saltier than real Korean food. Kyoo and Young Chul's food was mailed by their families in Korea, so I am a really lucky girl because I got to try it!!!

Panchan!!!!!!!!

Panchan outside of their containers

The pollock roe I tried yesterday was so good, incredibly soft, subtle flavor and great level of spice. Young Chul added sesame oil to the roe, it was a fantastic combination so I am doing that from now on to all pollock roe that crosses my way.

Pollock roe (myeongran jeot or mentaiko) and squid

Kyoo and Young Chul are such great hosts! Of course the only one that did not know how to cook anything was me :-(. So I tried to help by washing dishes and bringing some dessert. I got some very traditional Japanese desserts based on mochi and azuki bean paste. They were very tasty, especially the one on the right!