Russian Dinner

I've lived in California for 22 years and in Korea for 3 years, but I can definitely say that I've gotten a more worldly food experience while living in Korea. In California, I ate a lot of Korean, American, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food (this is only authentic food). But in Korea, I've eaten Indian, Turkish/Nepalese, Spanish, Brazilian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, and now Russian food. Korea is such a global country- more global than people realize.

On Saturday, my good friend Jay organized a Russian dinner at a Russian restaurant. Actually, Jay is the one who introduced me to authentic Turkish/ Nepalese food (and I'm not referring to the kebab stands all over Hongdae). We went around 8:10 and it was packed. There were a few foreigners but most of the customers were Russians. Apparently, the area we were in is Little Russia and out of the restaurants in Little Russia, Jay chose a restaurant called Fortune. It's a medium-sized place (seats maybe 40 people). We went family style and had Jay order for all of us since none of us knew anything about Russian food. He did a perfect job of ordering a good variety of meats, meat pastries, and vegetarian dishes for the 2 vegetarians in our group. This is what we ate!

Russian meat pastry: flaky croissant on the outside, meaty goodness on the inside

lamb ribs, pickled carrots, beet salad, chicken skewers, lamb skewers

We had another appetizer, along with the pickled carrots and the pastry, but I didn't get a picture of it. We called it a Russian burrito or crepe. It was seasoned ground beef wrapped in a crepe. Everything was and is delicious! I'd definitely go back again.

There was, of course, drinking involved, too. We drank Russian beer called Baltika, but I didn't like it. It was watery and tasted like Cass. The Russian vodka was strong (60% alcohol), so the girls mixed it with mango juice. The restaurant had concentrated juice, so the vodka and juice cocktails were delicious.

Restaurant: Fortune
Location: Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station, exit 5
Speaks: Russian, Korean, English