Where is my kimchi? Didn't know that they substituted my kimchi with pickles. So it seemed that not all meals in Korea come with kimchi. Nevertheless, free side dishes is a regular feature in a Korean meal. In Korea, at least I got to eat the pickles for free. In Singapore, I will get nothing more than the carbonara I ordered.My Korean language teacher used to lament that there are no free things in Singapore. There are no free beauty product samples to be given away together with her purchase. The are also no free side dishes served in the restaurant. Every thing you want, you need to pay. In Korea, free samples are being given away readily. The side dishes are free and you can ask for more at no extra cost.
I was told of this joke by a friend about her Korean friend. It was the first trip for her Korean friend to Singapore. One day, her Korean friend ordered a plate of rice at a food stall thinking that he would be served with side dishes. To his surprise, no other food came except his plate of rice.
Conversely, I would hesitate to ask for extra side dishes in Korea thinking that I would be charged for that. The difference is quite interesting and it takes quite a while for me to believe that there is such thing as free side dishes. Anyway, I look forward to my next free kimchi meal.
That is the beauty of different culture. Let's import the good culture? hmmm...maybe not 히히
ReplyDeleteI want my free kimchi. haha
ReplyDeleteYa, some restaurants even charge 반찬 in Singapore. Can you believe it!
ReplyDeleteWe shall only support authentic Korean restaurant in future where 반찬 are free.
ReplyDeleteI just don't quite understand why some restaurants want to charge for 반찬. I asked Hankaram staff why they charge for 반찬. She gave quite a weak reason. The reason was something like some people don't eat 반찬. By the way, how much can we eat?
Anyway, this is Singapore, I like to quote a phrase beaten to death by our government officials - "There is no free lunch."
hi, this is my 1st visit to your blog. Nice writings :) May I ask something that is not related to Korean topics. How did you manage to arrange and post the photos in such a neat order? I often find it hard to arrange in a orderly sequence. It is either left, right or centre. sigh...
ReplyDeleteHi Jos, thanks for visiting my blog. You will need a photo editing software. I am using Macromedia Fireworks to put the photos together. After I have finished arranging the photos I save them as a jpeg file. I upload this file and then expand it to its original size by changing the html file name.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are already lost there. It is not easy to explain the steps in word but I hope you get some idea.