EXPERIENCE RUSSIAN CUISINE IN SEOUL

EXPERIENCE RUSSIAN CUISINE IN SEOUL :: TROIKA, ITAEWON

As many international expat communities living in Korea, Seoul city became a multicultural hub where you can experience various kinds of food, cultures, festivals and so on, which makes it an extremely interesting and attractive place to visit and stay. Even though there is not a big population of Russian living in Seoul (approximately 54.000 people) comparing to Chinese or Vietnamese, Russian community managed to confirm their existence and share their cuisine as well as culture to Seoullians (citizen of Seoul). The best proof for this would be the “Little Russia” town, which is located in Jung-gu’s Gwanghui-dong, near Dongdaemun cultural and history park station. “Little Russian” is a Russian neighborhood which is formed since the 1980s. When you visit this town, you will have a chance to encounter stores with Russian signs, Russian restaurants and coffeeshops as well as small grocery stores where you can buy Russian cooking ingredients and seasonings. If you want to experience a bit of Russian atmosphere, you can pay a visit to this neighborhood anytime. Aside from Russian colorful and pretty pottery, I am in love with their cuisine. Therefore, I would like to share some of my favorite Russian restaurants in this blog.

One of restaurants that I would like to revisit every month would be Troika in Itaewon, just one floor above Route 66. You might be impressed by the decoration and the atmosphere of this place with beautiful Russian dolls and costumes. The beautiful Russian staffs give their friendly and professional service in Russian colorful dresses. My recommendations would be ‘Nezhnost’ (salad with chicken, potatoes and cheese), pork of beef skewers for main dish and wash them off with some ‘Blichiki s Jemom’ (Russian crepes and berry jam) as dessert. The food is considered to be very authentic and the taste should blow your mind. The price ranks from 6.000won for desserts, 7.000won and above for salads and over 10.000won for main dishes. If you want to try alcohol, there is also Russian beer on the menu.

Address: Seoul, Yongsan-gu, Itaewon 1(il)-dong, Itaewon-ro, 164- 1

In case you want to replace fancy restaurants with a more local-like place, you can pay a visit to Baikal café in ‘Little Russian’ town. The atmosphere there is more simple, intimate than Troika. You would spot a lot of Russian people having meals here during lunch and dinner time. I tried the traditional Chebureki (which is the fried pirogi with meat filling), dumplings and lamb soup. I was impressed with the savory taste of the soup and the tenderness of the meat. There are also Russian tea and milk tea that you can try with your meal. The price of food is slightly lower than Troika, and there is less variety on the menu. Baikal would be a good place to stop by when you visit Russian town.