#bonjuk

In Korea, there is a famous congee specialty franchise restaurant called "Bon-juk"!

I've visited one of their locations during my trip in October 2023 - in Busan specifically. Highly recommend Busan as a travel destination. I personally like Busan more than Seoul! There's just something special about the city - it has a nice mix of calmness & vibrancy, while being less populated than Seoul, where everywhere is just SO busy all the time. & I also really like the 'flavours' of Busan. They're by the sea (birthplace of fish cakes!) & I think their banchans (kimchi, radish kimchis etc) are more savoury & have more depth than other places I've been to. So I love Busan! : )

Anyway, I went to a Bok-juk in Busan & had their yookgaejang congee. Yookgaejang is Korean spicy beef brisket soup; it's one of my personal soup favourites. Having it in congee form did not disappoint at all! Imagine the soup but there's (congee) rice in it. So flavourful, spicy, & the rice texture was also very good!

When I saw these bok-juk products at Hmart, I was like "eeeeee!" I purchased 3, & this is the 1st one that I've tried: the octopus & kimchi flavour. (I wished they had the yookgaejang one but they didn't. Maybe next time!)

Soooo excited to try this!

The important thing on this is the instructions haha you can put the whole bag into a pot of boiling water OR pour contents out of bag & reheat via microwave (I suppose you could boil in pot on stovetop too).

I did the microwave method.

There's really not much in here so I would see this product as a form of side or your carb source for a meal. 1 bag of this congee is not gonna be enough as a full meal.

Smelled great! I added a bit of hot water to clean out the bag bcos I guess. .. if it's being imported from Korea, it has been sitting for a while so some of the rice were sort of stuck to the corners of the bag. Didn't wanna waste that.

gong yoo - management soop bonjuk cooking (2019)

BonJuk specializes in Korean porridge. In fact, that’s the only thing on the menu. They don’t even have sides, appetizers or desserts on the menu. The porridges come with a few banchan and barley tea. They have 17 kinds of porridge, including abalone, pumpkin, mung bean, plain, black sesame, red bean, black bean, seafood, shrimp, beef, vegetable, tuna, salmon, octopus, etc. The menu describes the health benefits of each porridge.

The porridge takes awhile to come out and it’s served on a tray with three banchan and a cold radish water that is probably meant as a palate cleanser. The cup of hot barley tea was provided. The cold shredded beef was very salty and dry. However, the other banchan were much tastier, including the standard napa cabbage kimchi and a diced radish kimchi with plenty of red pepper.

* Samgae (chicken) porridge ($11.95): This porridge is effective for “the recovery from weariness and illness.” It was a big bowl of steaming hot porridge with bits of zucchini and carrot, lots of shredded chicken, scallion, sesame seeds, and seaweed. The short grain rice wasn’t as broken down as a Chinese jook. I could still make out the grains of rice. It was a heartier porridge but still comforting and delicious, with a strong chicken flavor.

The ambiance is very soothing and comforting, which is consistent with their soothing juk/jook. The lights are dim, the chairs are wide and comfortable and the tables aren’t too close together. It feels like a place you’d want to rest for awhile. It’s quiet inside.

The service was okay. The cup of tea was small and was not refilled. The banchan was not replenished. The server left the food on the table without making eye contact. The credit card minimum is $15.

I thought this was the only Korean porridge place in Koreatown, but there are others that I need to try.

4 out of 5 stars

Week 19.8/52: May 5th - May 11th 2025 | North York & Flying Back

last activity/meal was bonjuk with erica

we also did monography photbooth nearby

shortest trip EVER... only 36 hours in total and I kind of spent 12 hours sleeping so... 24 hours...

hotels are just so expensive + I rly don't have more time :(

there will always be a next time

ついつい飲みすぎて翌日に待っている二日酔い。

お酒の副作用といっても過言では無い深刻な悩みですが、みなさんは二日酔い対策してますか？

頭は痛いし、食欲が沸かないなど…いつまで続くのか憂鬱になってしまいますよね😯

そんな日にお勧めなのが、二日酔いに効果があるとされる韓国のカプサアオノリと牡蠣がたっぷり入ったお粥です！

カプサアオノリはきれいな海水でしか成長せず、冬の季節にしかとれない貴重な海藻です。

また、以外と知られていない食材が牡蠣…

牡蠣にはタウリンが含まれているので、アルコールを分解する肝臓の働きを活性化させるのと同時に、ミネラルやアミノ酸なども配合されているので疲労回復にもつながります。

二日酔いに良いこと尽くしのお粥、いったいどこで食べられるの？

もったいぶってないで早く教えて！と言う方ご安心ください😀

実際にわたしが二日酔いの時に食べてきたので、このブログでは、カプサアオノリ…