Restaurante Litoral - @@@

Quick post since they are already closed. It's a Macanese restaurant that serves what I consider a mix of Portuguese and Asian. Had the caldo verde soup to start. Good. Had minchi for main. Good, if not a little too salty and heavy with the soy sauce. Compared to Riquexo (which I thought I had posted, will have to do that some other time) it's not as good. It's heavier here, maybe the egg addition had something to do with it. Also I feel this place is a 1%er restaurant. Whereas if I recall Riquexo was <$10, this meal was $25, with a 10% service charge which is rare in my mind for overseas. Great building though - seems like a historical building with exposed wood everywhere. Polished stone floors and the entrance was like a courtyard.

Rua Almirante Sergio No 261
Macau

Fortune Cafe - @@@

Being in Korea there is always really good food to be had. The grilled meats, spicy sauces and good sides all make me really like the dining cuisine. So it only made sense to have my last meal there be Uzbekistan food. Wait....what??

I guess I can explain first how I got to this place. One of the markets that I was looking to check out was the Dongdaemun market on Sunday. Supposedly it is a bigger night market but I read they had some stuff there during the day. After a somewhat uninspiring walk around the Yongsan electronics market (I actually don't know what I was either looking for to buy or what to expect on the ground) I boarded the metro to the Dongdaemun History and Culture park stop which the concierge said is where I could find the market. Instead I see a giant reflective metal orb I guess similar to the Chicago bean with a huge line of teenage girls just screaming at something down in the metro. I asked a few shopkeepers what was going on; needless to say it was unsuccessful to communicate well. Then continuing to walk around I stumble into what I later find out is this central Asian-town similar to Chinatowns and Koreatowns in the US. Language switched to what I could decipher as Russian (I am sure there are many dialects going on) and writing definitely was not Korean. It somewhat looked like I stepped out onto a set of Taken crossed with a bunch of Gennady Golovkin-type characters. It is with this that I accepted a menu from a girl standing outside a restaurant and pointed me upstairs. It smelled good, what possibly could go wrong??

I walk up the stairs to a rather homely looking set of 3 rows of tables with about 4 4-top tables in each row. They were playing soccer - a David Beckham charity thing that may/may not have been live. Not many Koreans were here so i guess it was a good place to be?? The menu was roughly English friendly if you find "beef", "chicken" and "fish" accurate descriptions. They also had pictures which was somewhat helpful. I pointed to something and the waitress (actually the 2nd waitress as there was no English with the first one) said it was lamb. Ok I have had a fair amount of beef already so let's go. Also had fried potatoes. When I get it, I am surprised that it is topped with raw onions as well. I had one, it basically tasted like what you would expect raw onions to taste like except there was a pile of them. The potatoes were fine, fried on the outside and soft on the inside like thick cut fries. They were also soaking up the lamb grease. It was served with a side of pickled carrots I think and a red sauce that was like a mild salsa. I ordered Coke though I think I should've went with tea that was served in ornate tea pots which I would envision Marco Polo using as he traversed the continent. Next time I guess. Anyways on to the lamb. It was good, well spiced (coriander I think similar to other middle eastern places I have been at), grilled, hot and tender. Not too much fat but just enough so that it was still tasty. So why only a 3? I am really spoiled I guess by the Dearborn based middle eastern food that I just felt was a little better and comes with a better sauce in the garlic sauce. I think if I never had that then this would be higher. The portion was a much better value though - only 10k won for the food which is about $9. Certainly in Dearborn that is a $15-$20 plate.

In the aftermath of this heavy lunch, I went back to the hotel to see what's up with this place in the middle of Seoul. Long story short the countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Korea) trade frequently and the central Asian workers can make more in Korea than back home. Typical better opportunity elsewhere story. Very cool place I was glad I stumbled across and a different type of food I am used to eating. If you go to exit 5 at the metro stop and turn right you will find this area; I have no clue of the address but just start looking for the Taken-type crews on the street and the non-Korean writing. Glad I stumbled across!

Busan Galbi - @@@

Just got done having a pretty big dinner here in Seoul. For what it was, I thought it was ok. Good not great.

This place is in a pretty prominent section of Itaewon so I think it gets lots of traffic regardless. There was lots of help and they had the charcoal and sesame oil salt that I really like. The meat was good, kalbi being better than the pork belly. Don't know why but I always seem to get the bonus pork belly and not really love it. And it gets me more full. Weird. The kalbi was good, wrapped and marinated like usual. The waitress cooked it so it came out a little more done than I would've made it. The sides were good, had plenty of this green vegetable that I think was sautéed bok choy cousin with a touch of sesame oil. By far the best side. Also good was the super soft tofu in a touch of chili sauce.

A pretty good meal but here I think the meat has to be on point. The kalbi wasn't quite there to get it over the middling review and I am not even going to try and put the address. Just exit Itaewon station from exits 1 or 2 and turn left. You should see it. It's on the 2nd floor.

Ps just got the check and it was pretty reasonable for 2 dishes, 2 rice bowls and a beer was 42k won (~$40).