Korea Michelin tour day 3: cooking time with Jeong Kwan

Pin It

I didn't sleep well last night.  I guess my body's not really used to being on hardwood floors for an extended period of time, and there was that snoring from a certain friend of mine a couple of meters from me.  Thankfully when my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., I had slept enough that I felt refreshed.  I quickly cleaned up and reported for duty at the Daeungjun Hall (大雄殿) promptly at 5 a.m.  Thus begins my day at Baekyangsa Temple (白羊寺).

We seat ourselves on cushions inside the hall, and the morning chant began.  Not able to speak or read Korean, I was reduced to trying to clear my mind and meditate a little... except I couldn't keep my eyes closed, as I needed to know when to repeat the rituals of standing up, bowing, kneeling prostrate for more bows, and sitting back down.  This went on for 45 minutes or so.  Then the lights went out and it was time to meditate.  The next 15 minutes felt much, much longer than it actually was.

The senior monk led us on a clockwise walk around the pagoda, and after a short talk we were dismissed.

At 6:20 a.m. we reported to the cafeteria, where we took in breakfast.  It was explained to us that originally only porridge (cooked with red jujube water) and pickles were offered, but based on popular demand they gradually added toast (with margarine and not butter, of course!), yogurt, and even coffee to the list of offerings.

Korea Michelin tour day 2: Baekyangsa Temple stay

Pin It

After a few hours' of sleep, we dragged our tired bodies out of bed for the primary purpose of this trip.  In addition to dining at a number of restaurants which have received Michelin stars, the whole impetus for coming to Korea is our overnight temple stay at Baekyangsa Temple (白羊寺), and the cooking lesson with Jeong Kwan (正寬) sunim - whose name spread far and wide recently thanks to her being featured in an episode of the Netflix series Chef's Table.

We checked out of The Shilla Seoul and grabbed a couple of taxis to Seoul Station.  We were running a little short on time, and we wasted a few minutes running around the big complex trying to find a place for a quick lunch.  Eventually we settled on Bulgogi Brothers (불고기브라더스) inside the main terminal building, since they could seat us immediately and, in any case, could provide us with lunch boxes for takeout.

I took this set of beef with egg on rice because it's one of the quickest things the kitchen could deliver.  No complaints here.