by Ashley Heil

 (Ratings:
Taste:*****
Value:****
Location:****
Service:****
Atmosphere:****

Directions:  The easiest way to get here is to go to Sookmyung Womens University Station (숙대역), line 4, exit 1. (Or Seoul Station, exit 12).  Come out of the exit and walk maybe 5-10 minutes until 한강대로  104 길. The restaurant will be about 5 minutes down on the left side of this road, located near 후암시장.

Enjoy!

by Michael Jones

​Vertex Chicken is a great restaurant located at the top of the hill in the booming neighborhood of HBC (Haebangchon). Vertex serves some outstanding American Style Teriyaki bowls, definitely are favorite in Seoul. The main meats on the menu are chicken and shrimp. These are marinated and grilled and then served over rice. You can choose between three sauces: teriyaki, pepper, and yumyum. I always opt for the Teriyaki, but the other sauces are great too. The owner actually makes all of the sauces on site. This is a large reason why his bowls taste much better than a lot of other places. He also meticulously weighs out all of the ingredients to ensure that you always get what you pay for. The restaurant is small, there are only 2 tables, so he does a lot of take away and delivery, but don’t let this dissuade you from trying his incredible food. The owner is clearly passionate about his food, if you can’t already tell from his dedication to homemade sauces and portion control. The Chicken Teriyaki is delicious and the sauce is perfectly balanced, not overly sweet, which is the major downfall of some places. The portions are large, think American sizes, and even the regular portion (7,700) with 150 grams of meat is a great amount of food. If you crave more food, however, or are simply large eaters like us, you can order a large (9,900) which comes with 300g of meat, or split the platter size (15,400) without rice, which comes with 450g of meat. The prices for the increase will differ depending on what dish you order, chicken teriyaki being the cheapest and the combo being the most expensive. Yesterday, we ate the chicken teriyaki platter size (15,400) and added white rice (1,100). It’s an incredible deal for the price, quality, and volume of food. We both left feeling full and that is no small feat considering we usually crush large pizzas between the two of us. The meat was tender; the vegetables had the perfect crunch, somewhere in the middle of overly soft and dentist visit inducing hard. The sauce was delectable and had the ideal amount of sweetness. It was complete harmony between meat and sauce, the true mark of a great teriyaki dish. For those of you that might want to try something other than teriyaki, I highly recommend the Dak Jjim. This dish is essentially a thicker version of Korean spicy chicken soup (닭도리탕). This is also served over rice and topped with a split hardboiled egg. I really love the creaminess of the sauce, and slight spiciness. You really can’t go wrong with any of the dishes. The next time you crave food in the HBC area, or simply don’t want to leave the house, I strongly recommend calling up Vertex Chicken.

DIRECTIONS Noksapyeong Station (line 6) Exit 2
Walk down the road and turn left at the military base .
Walk up the hill until it curves (Past the Paris Baguette).
When the road begins to curve left It will be on your right side in about a minute or two.
ENJOY!

Their phone number is 02-790-9292. They are closed on Tuesdays.

​Enjoy!

by Michael Jones

My relationship with chicken has improved since moving to South Korea. I used to hate the stuff, sure I enjoyed Chick-fil-A and the occasional bucket of fried chicken, but most of the chicken I ate was of the healthy kind: grilled, flavorless, slabs of white meat with the consistency of rubber. A great part of this was due to my lack of culinary skills, but when I lived in America I never craved chicken. In Seoul, however, my appetite for chicken has skyrocketed. I crave the flaky fried batter, tender meat, and the perfect assortment of dipping sauces and cheap beer. Despite my love for Korean fried chicken, sometimes I need to try different styles. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a small Jamaican themed restaurant called Zion Boat. The restaurant is located on the second floor and the interior is decorated in Bob Marley posters and reggae memorabilia. The speakers blared Bob Marley, of course, and other lesser known reggae artists. The lighting was dark, and one man cooked in a tiny kitchen. I was excited to try some Jamaican Jerk chicken. I figured it would be good, at the very least a welcome change from fried chicken, but it was far better than that. One serving of the boneless jerk chicken cost about 19,500 and was made with one whole chicken and serves two people. While waiting, you get a small wooden bowl of Korean beer snacks, an assortment of small crunchy things that I can never remember the name of. I was hungry and counting down the seconds. I didn’t have to wait long. The chicken was served on a big plate and complemented by a large house salad. It was more food than I was expecting, and it was delicious. The chicken was incredibly flavorful. The jerk seasoning was strong, spicy, and slightly sweet with just the right amount of heat. The sauce that came on the side was thick and tasted similar to the seasoning on the chicken, but slightly stronger. In a place where most chicken is deep fried, it was nice enjoying a different variety. The chicken was cooked perfectly and it was tender and moist, the polar opposite of the dry and tasteless chicken of my childhood. The whole experience was great and I would not hesitate going back. If you are in the mood for something different, I strongly recommend trying Zion Boat in Sangsu.
DIRECTIONS
Go to Sangsu Station and take exit #1
Walk straight out of the exit
Continue walking for 5-10 minutes
Walk through the intersection @ Dokmak Ro 7 Gil
Then turn right immediately before the Hyundai store
At the first intersection take a left
Then take the first right onto Yanghwa Ro 6 Gil (Across the street from Dessert 39)
In about a minute, Zion Boat will be on your left
ENJOY