seoul food for people who love to eat

Japanese* donut chain Mister Donut has been opening up chains across Seoul, giving some competition to the mostly American-founded chains like Dunkin’ Donuts*and Krispy Kreme, along with the offerings of local bakeries and chains like Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours. They pride themselves on having donuts that suit local Asian tastes, including their new offerings of tofu and sweet potato donuts.

The sweet potato donuts are all old-fashioneds, including sesame-dipped, sugar-dusted, green tea and chocolate enhanced versions. With a very dense crumb and a definite sweet potato taste, they provide a new urban take on the old sweet potato street snacking. These are some heavy eats, with a stick to the ribs quality you won’t find in the typical donut, right down to chunks of real sweet potato in the batter. One of these is practically a meal in and of itself, so don’t snack on this one just before dinner unless you have an appetite of prodigious proportions . . .(and Fatman is looking at you, Zen “I could totally have eaten two of those burgers” Kimchi!)
On the extreme other end of the spectrum you have their tofu donuts:

This is so light and fluffy, it’s like eating atmosphere. Fluff, and candy floss all come to mind eating this nearly-nothing bit of puff. Devotees of Dunkin’s Chewisty donut who always longed for something lighter will at last be satisfied. Despite the barely-there texture, the taste of tofu is very assertive, even through toppings like bean sugar, sesame seeds, and traditional sugar glazes. The result is almost savory despite being made mostly of air.
The beans are advertised as all being local products from Gangwon Province, and are aimed fully at the female dieting portion of the population. Its a shame, because this donut is so distinctive it practically begs for a place on the Korean 100 (한식 100).

*in a long, complicated bit of history Mister Donut began as a US chain that was sold to Allied-Lyons which then turned them into Dunkin’ Donuts - except for the ones that didn’t, some of which became independent and some of which became Donut Connections - and in the meantime Japanese company Duskin aquired the rights in Asia. Got that? Hope so, it’ll be on the test . . .
우리 FatManSeoul는 이러한 이유로 한국의 최고의 음식에 대한 최고의 리뷰와 비평을 공유하고 싶습니다. FatManSeoul는 평범한 음식에서부터 고급음식까지, 강남지역 최고급 레스토랑에서부터 시골 할머니의 집에서 맛볼 수 있는 정이 깃든 찌게까지 모든 음식을 리뷰 대상으로 삼고 있습니다. 우리는 특별한 음식을 찾아 블로그를 통해 전세계에 소개할 것입니다. 또한 음식에 대한 가장 정확한 정보를 리뷰, 레시피, 인터뷰, 팟캐스트, 교재 등을 통해 제공할 것입니다. 이 모든 컨텐츠는 한국어와 영어로 제공될 것입니다. FatManSeoul is Korea's first bilingual online magazine about food. We’re committed to searching high and lo, from the poshest cuisine of Kangnam to the most humble, jeong-laden jjigae of the halmoni-jip in the countryside for the best food in the country. Come here for reviews, recipes, interviews, podcasts, tutorials, and the best, most accurate information on ingredients and methods, in Korean and in English. 같이 먹자!
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October 24th, 2008 at 3:34 am
ooo mister donut. they should open up branches here in ny. dunkin donuts is getting too old and sweet.
oh and also i recently created a blog out of boredom but now its become my newest interest. i basically write about stuff i like and since i like korean food a lot, i wanted my readers (2 to be precise) to see what korean foods really like and i’m a big fan of your blog and thought it would a great idea to put up your link on my blog. let me know if thats ok. thank you
fatmanseoul
October 24th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Fatman is always happy to have people link! Link away! The more the merrier