Tosokchon Samgyetang—土俗村蔘雞湯

Thanks to Korea Tourism Organization. I got a free but exclusive Chinese-speaking tour guide at Gyeongbokgung for 2 hours and really enjoyed it. He highly recommended Tosokchon & their Samgyetang (or chicken ginseng soup) for a lunch near by the palace. Before my first Samgyetang, as usual, I had kimchi as appetizer. It is average, and I couldn’t tell what the difference between these two daikon kimchi is.

在韓國觀光公社提供的免鋃中文導遊之帶領下，花不到一個上午，就悠閒又詳細地逛完整個「景福宮」。之後問這位專屬於A-Mao兩個小時的導遊，附近有啥好吃的餐廳？他強力推薦土俗村這間餐廳。本來想邀請他共享，謝謝他pro的解說；不過想想，人家阮囊實在羞澀……進門點了導遊特別交代的蔘雞湯（日文：サムゲタン），一碟白菜與兩碟蘿蔔泡菜、和辣椒醬及大蒜片被送上來了。嘴巴刁鑽如我，竟然分辨不出那兩碟蘿蔔泡菜的差異；不過因為這裡的泡菜並不是特別突出（也不會特別失色啦），研究了五分鐘後就宣告放棄。

I went to there at 11:30 A.M. around, and suddenly people crowded the restaurant. Most people went for Samgyetang which was served in the hot stone bowl with a small bottle of ginseng wine. I imitated the locals and then poured the wine into the soup. The broth is herb flavor & healthy, the whole chicken is young & tender, and the rice inside it is nutritious & yummy. Really fond of it but extremely full up.

A-Mao約是11點半左右進來的，才等了一下下，整個餐廳就被食客搞得沸沸揚揚，其中還不乏不少的日本觀光客喔！再不久，沸騰的蔘雞湯和一小杯人蔘酒出現了。石鍋中有一隻童子雞，用湯匙輕輕一戳就穿，想必一定熬煮過相當一段時間。雞身內塞入了糯米、紅棗、數種堅果與一支人蔘；學著坐對面的阿珠媽，把人蔘酒全倒入湯中，那一瞬間微妙的誘人氣味如火山爆發地噴香。其實一整鍋的份量很多，不過雞肉入口即化，湯飯香糯爽口，湯汁全是堅果與藥材的濃郁養身風味，卻又不會油膩。雖然撐到不行，最後還是一口一口吃到鍋底朝天。

Night view seen from Mount Namsan, Seoul—首爾南山的夜景