Look at these beautiful cakes! Can you believe that they are actually Korean rice cakes?! I was very surprised to see them because of their beauty and magnificence. Some of these rice cakes can be easily mistaken as western style cakes, like this one.
This wine rice cake looks like a type of cheese cake but it is not. It is slightly glutinous and its topping is slightly sweet and has a familiar taste which I cannot really describe (red wine I guess?). It was my favourite rice cake that I tried from the shop.
The shop that sells these rice cakes is called “Jilsiru (질시루)“. Jilsiru is a Korean rice cake cafe (Tteok Cafe, 떡카페). It’s located in the heart of Seoul. (I will give you the address near the end of the post, so you can stop by!)
You can dine in or do take away. They serve Korean rice cakes which are a bit more fancier looking than typical rice cakes, I say “fusionized rice cakes” and some traditional Korean teas.
The rice cake lunch set is a good example of their fusion rice cakes. The very last dish on the bottom right are rice cake sandwiches and on their left there are some Kimchi rolled rice cakes. I didn’t actually have this menu, so I don’t know about the taste. However I read other people’s opinion about this and the response was very different (Some people loved it and others hated it) .
Every table has a glass of water and some flowers in it. It kind of made me relaxed.
Milk porridge (Tarak Juk) is a health aid food used in the royal court (Milk was very rare in those days, so only people in a royal court ate it). The king had this porridge when he was sick or feeling weak. In modern days, people make this as a baby’s or patients’ food. I should share my recipe soon!
Korean royal court rice cakes (Gungjung Tteokbokki, 궁중떡볶이) is known as the king’s snack food. Have you tried my recipe for this yet? Well, my recipe isn’t as authentic as in those old days, but it still tastes good.
Usually rice cakes don’t taste as nice if they are more than 24 hours old. However Jilsiru made some of these rice cakes that can last for 3 months at room temperature. All you need to do is microwave it just before you eat it. Pretty clever!
My husband ordered a Pumpkin latte and some rice cakes. According to him, it was yummy and creamy, similar to a light pumpkin soup, but also a bit different. It is certainly something that would seem fairly familiar to most Westerners.
I didn’t order this Honey jujube tea (Daechu cha), but they mistakenly served it. So it gave me a good opportunity to take pictures like this. 🙂
This is what I ordered, Citrus tea (Yuja cha). Then my husband said that maybe I should have drunk the Chinese date tea instead, because it is more intriguing for you to read. Is it? Korean citrus tea has a slightly sour but pretty sweet taste at the same time. It’s quite refreshing and is one of my favourite teas.
We also bought some rice cakes on the way out.
In general, the rice cakes weren’t as sweet as I usually get. They seemed to try to accentuate the natural taste from whatever ingredients they used for each rice cake. The price seems a bit expensive, but for an occasional treat it wouldn’t be so bad.
Where is it located?
There are two shops in Seoul. The big one in Jongno and the other is in Insadong.
- Traffic info – (Subway) line 1, 3, 5 Jongno 3 ga station Exit No.7
- Nearest Tourist info – Changdeok Palace Donhwamun (Jilsiru is about 300m down the street that ends at the palace)
- Traffic info – (Subway) line 3 Anguk station Exit No.3
The whole building where the big Jilsiru is located is about Korean food. The 2nd and 3rd flour is Tteok and Kitchen Utensil Museum (떡 박물관, Tteok means “rice cake”). The Institute of Traditional Korean Food is on the floors above the museum.
I will do a post about the museum in the next post, so stay tuned!
