전 (Jeon) is a popular type of dish served in Korea. It is a pancake like dish and has many varieties that people cook and enjoy. Some varieties include seafood, tofu, veggies like onions, ham, egg, and my personal favorite, a sesame leaf wrapped around meat.
However…for some reason, the sesame leaf jeon is REALLY hard to find.
Earlier last week I told Hyo I wanted to eat it this past weekend. I searched on Naver and Daum maps, and found a few places and blogs which said that these restaurants serve the type of Jeon I was looking for. So on Saturday, we set out to Insadong to find the restaurant that a blogger had raved about and showed many pictures of 깻잎전.
However, when we arrived, we asked the owner if they served it, and he said no.
I was really disappointed.
So we headed to another place that we usually go to for seafood jeon and makkoli.
They didn’t have it either 🙁
Thus began a one hour search for a place that serve sesame leaf jeon. We were determined to find it, and it became an adventure. Hyo searched on her phone. I searched on mine. She found a place in Jongro on the recommendation of another blog. They didn’t have it.
She found a site that said there was an actual “Jeon Street” but we could never find it. I found a restaurant on my phone, and tried to call and see if they had it. They didn’t answer the phone. Gah! So frustrating!
Hyo finally found another place and called them. After talking and seeing that they had 깻잎전 on their pictures online, she called them, but they said they didn’t have it either!…BUT…they asked why we wanted to eat it. Hyo told them that her foreign companion wanted to eat it as it was one of his favorites. They ended up telling her that they had the ingredients and could make it especially for me.
What?! Are you kidding me? I was too happy. I guess being a foreigner in Korea has certain perks at times haha.
We found the restaurant, ordered our meal, and we enjoyed our sesame leaf jeon along with 5 other kinds of Jeon including tofu, zucchini, fish, ham, and egg. We also ordered makkoli with tons of side dishes. We were too full afterward and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in Korea. I finished it off with a Mc Donald’s sundae on the way back home haha.
I told the restaurant to please remember me as i’m sure I will want to eat one of my favorite Korean foods again.
