Menu Update

How have I been missing this for all these months! More than three months in Korea now and I have never seen this food! (You think you're really getting to know a place, especially getting to know the menu, but still you find surprises that you've overlooked somehow or were unexpected. I anticipate this sort of mini-shock to occur for the next several months as I discover all the little pieces that I missed while overwhelmed with everything else.)



It looks like watermelon Kool-Ade, but I can assure you it's not. I knew from the start it would not be Kool-Ade, but the mind is a difficult thing to convince. Even though there was a piece of radish floating in it, I still could not get out of my head that anything bright pink must also be sweet and fruity. Of course it was not fruity, and my inane expectations of it made that even harder to swallow. When I spooned it into my mouth I was shocked and not shocked at the same time (weird feeling, trust me) to find the flavor a sort of vinegar sour but not pucker your face strong. Will someone find a word for that? Sour like vinegar but not strong enough to cause facial reaction. If you can't find one, coin one. I am as I was at the time at a loss for words. How can I expect a flavor of something that is both deceivingly colored and indescribable in my own language. Since my first encounter with the pink vinegar I have seen it twice. The Koreans describe this "Ade" as a side dish, as though it were solid and had health benefits. I'm glad I photographed it when I saw it first, because sometimes it's not so violently pink and that would have ruined the image for you, loyal reader.