The quest to find the ultimate potato dishes in Seoul: Hapjeong and Mangwon Edition

Their pupils were spuds. There was no cure. Potato dreams awaited them. If only we had tried one more dish, one more, just one….I tossed in my sleep as the carotenoids and anthocyanins from that night’s Potato, or GAMJA 감자 bacchanalia raced through my bloodstream.

“WOW YOU LOOOOOOVE POTATOES.”

“it’s just one spud between me and the abyss”

THE Potato was the thing that my high school vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore friends could all agree on when we went out to eat. Tasting a microwaved GAMJA in Korea renewed my interest in the food. It’s ubiquitous, accessible, and versatile in all cuisines. Except perhaps that of the Arctic regions, where there is no soil. Yes and there is the fact that GAMJAS live in the dirt with the worms, have thousands of eyes which make them sacred to Jains – that play a role in its mythology.

I saw the small struggle in the eyes of my companions as I laid out my grand plan. 20 potato dishes. Do or… It was one of my favorite activities with folks back at home, hopping from eatery to eatery sampling the dishes that featured the star ingredient.

But really, I would have been happy with one.

You probably know the classic Korean Potato Pancake or GAMJA jeon 감자전. To be honest, I was expecting to mostly find this common disc. Well, we did and we didn’t.

Iggy, Hazel and I met in Hapjeong 합정 where we exchanged notes and decided to try and compare two fusion GAMJA jeon 감자전 dishes. Enjoyed with some Makgeolli 막걸리, naturally. Both were interesting in their flavor combinations, but only one was unanimously favored.

We had also chatted about checking out bakeries for their renditions of potato dough, potato infused, potato filling, or any other varied preparation of the tuber. My fingers were busy starring every bakery within a 1km radius before I remembered my companions. This “side” quest would have to wait.

From there we went to Magwon 망원동 for the penultimate dish: GAMJA wedges at one of my favorite Pochas 포차. Pillowy cloud texture that would make a ship anchor weep. Then, Hazel and I trekked to the finale– Sweet Potato Latte GOGOMA latte 고구마 라떼. One hot and one iced. It was the perfect last stop in our GAMJA Quest: Hapjeong and Mangwon Edition.

THE VERDICT

고고마 라떼 GOGOMA LATTE (SWEET POTATO LATTE) @ Mega Coffee: A

Notes: This GOGOMA LATTE is creamy with a strong sweet potato flavor that is very satisfying to sip and sip.

감자튀김 GAMJA TWEEGIM (FRIED POTATO WEDGES) @ ****: A-

Notes: This eatery makes soft, fluffy, thick cut potato wedges for a good mouth time. It has a lightly crispy–but not hard– exterior. Rather subtle on the crunch. Just your classic, well executed, reliable trustworthy, friendly fried potato wedge that pairs well with a pint of beer.

USA GAMJA JEON @ 이목 : B

Notes: Basically a pizza using Korean potato pancake. It had an interesting texture, kind of like a thicker hash brown but with some crispy cheese crust edges, used as the crust base for the cheese and pepperoni, seasoned well, not too salty. The dish paired well with the clam stew, which was bright and clean.

감자전 GORGONZOLA and honey GAMJA JEON @ 양화주택 : C+

Notes: I was really looking forward to this one, but the gorgonzola cheese was not evenly distributed so many bites were missing the tangy stinky flavor we all know and love. The potato was cooked as a long strands so the texture was not bad, but overall the dish was rather bland.

THE ULTIMATE VERDICT:

POTATOES ARE BEST EATEN WITH SPUDDIES. We will continue our perilous journey to discover Seoul’s ultimate potato dish. If you’d like to support our efforts, please consider donating to our potato fund, which will be up and running soon, so please check back!!