Korea Trip 2022: Seeing and Eating in Siheung

While I was with family in Korea, I would stay at various family members’ homes for a few days at a time. While most of them live in Incheon, my aunt and her family reside in Siheung, which reminded me of Orange County’s Irvine when I lived there 10 years ago: it’s quiet, suburban (just replace beige houses with high-rise apartments), upper middle class, uneventful, and yet constantly developing with the hope (or expectation) that it will become more than it currently is. While I didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the city (it mainly served as a launching pad for day trips to Incheon, Seoul, and Gangwon Province), I did get to explore it a bit. Here, then, are the places I went to for sightseeing and seeing.

갯골생태공원 (Gaetgol Eco Park) | Naver link

My aunt’s husband was very keen on taking me to local tourist-friendly spots while I stayed with them, so early one morning, he and I went on his motorbike - a queasy experience for me, not because of his driving but a lack of confidence in other drivers - to this wetland reserve. We walked on the wooden walkways and trails through the salt farm and marshes, spotting 농게 (sand crab) - which comically have one oversized claw - and trying to see 말뚝망둥어 (mudskippers) in the mud and observing birds at the bird watching platforms. It was mostly overcast that morning, but the sun’s rays would break through occasionally, providing a beautiful backdrop for photos. There was an observation tower that we would have loved to climb up, but it was closed due to construction. Interesting sights included decorated benches as well as smart benches, at which I tried to charge my phone, but alas, it didn’t work. I thought this reserve was perfect for morning and evening runs and strolls, and sure enough, we saw our fair share of middle-aged and senior folks getting their daily exercise in.

Neighborhood Stroll

Early on during my stay, I was feeling restless from being indoors for too long, so I stepped outdoors to stroll around the neighborhood and see what was around. Naver Map revealed a park just a few blocks away, so I started heading there. It took me about 15 minutes to arrive at 오난산 전망공원 (Onansan View Park) | Naver link, which - like most medium-sized neighborhood parks in Korea - has fitness equipment, trails, and a pavilion with a good view of a nearby pond. The trails here weren’t strenuous, but there was a decent amount of incline to make sure my legs weren’t having an easy time. I walked over to the pond, and judging from the terraced steps, I could tell this was envisioned to be a hangout area. While there were also wooden walkways over the pond, these were closed - presumably due to construction. Further wandering led me to 시흥 센트럴돔 그랑트리캐슬 (Central Dome Grand Tree Castle) | Naver link, an extravagantly designed shopping complex with three floors above ground for restaurants and shops as well as two basement levels for parking, culture facilities, and additional shops. I couldn’t help but liken Korea’s multi-story buildings full of restaurants and local businesses to plazas containing the same in suburban Orange County; this reflected how much land is available for development in both countries (my family members constantly told me there wasn’t a lot of land in the nation). I wasn’t hungry since I already had lunch, and lot of the places inside this complex were closed, so there wasn’t a whole lot for me to check out here. I decided I had explored enough for one day, and thus I headed back to my aunt’s place.

뽁식당 배곧점 (Ppok Restaurant Baegot Branch) | Naver link

As I entered into my last week in the country, my younger uncle on my dad’s side and his family drove me from South Chungcheong Province (see my previously published post) back to Siheung, and as we entered the city, we decided to grab dinner at this restaurant, which - in spite of its clearly desert-inspired design - offered Asian-Italian fusion food. The menu was chock-full of interesting dishes, and after asking for recommendations, we ordered: 삼싸먹는피자 (Eat as Ssam Pizza), a cheese pizza topped with bulgogi, chopped lettuce, and a Caesar dressing-like sauce; 만조파스타 (Manjo Pasta), a cream sauce pasta made with thinly sliced and braised beef; 먹물 파스타 (Ink Pasta), a pasta cooked with cephalopod ink noodles, small octopus, and peppers; 오감베로파스타 (Ogambero Pasta), a pasta with clams, shrimp, and an Asian sauce; and 이불덮은 밥 (This Fire-Covered Rice), a bibimbap with bulgogi, onions, carrots, and lettuce, just for my one of my cousins since he wasn’t in the mood for pizza nor pasta. The pizza was nothing short of unusual; it’s clearly meant to evoke the experience of eating something as ssam, so after securing a fair portion of the (now mixed) bulgogi, lettuce, and sauce onto my slice, I folded the pizza like a taco to eat it. How was the taste? Pretty good, if you ask me. Of the three pastas, my favorite was the Ink Pasta, which had a nice kick from the peppers and good chew on the octopus. The Manjo Pasta’s sauce tasted quite rich, and the Ogambero Pasta had a good portion of well cooked seafood. I asked how cousin how he liked his bibimbap, and he said it tasted great.

바른식탁 (Bareun Table) | Naver link

After my aunt, her husband, his sister, and I returned from a day trip to Gangwon Province and Pocheon, we got dinner at this restaurant that they liked. They are best known for 코다리조림 (braised semi-dried pollack), a dish where semi-dried pollock is braised along with radishes, rice cakes, and peppers in a spicy marinade. We received cooked soybean sprouts, which we then added to the dish, as well as plates of dried seaweed. We cut apart the pollack, took some of the flesh as well as the vegetables, and placed it into pieces of seaweed with rice before wrapping them up and eating them. Needless to say, it was scrumptious and very well balanced. My aunt’s husband brought over a kettle of makgeolli, which customers could help themselves to. We were also given 미역국 (seaweed soup), which I was amazed by, as its taste rivalled that which my mother makes and is known for. I didn’t see any chunks of meat in the soup, so I asked the hostess what they used to give the soup this much flavor. She said they add ground perilla seeds, which bowled me over; never would I have imagined I’d get such incredible flavor from an ingredient that we barely use.

맘스터치 시흥은계점 (Mom’s Touch Siheung Eungye Branch) | Naver link

Mom’s Touch is a Korean transplant, and those who live in Los Angeles County may have seen and eaten at their locations in Gardena and Long Beach. As much as they intrigued me back in the U.S., I wasn’t willing to drive about thirty minutes just for a fried chicken sandwich. In Korea, on the other hand, Mom’s Touch branches are common sights, so when the opportunity arose for me to get lunch with one of my cousins, we walked over to a nearby one. Their menu selection is much wider compared to that in the U.S. (yes, I checked), and there were certainly a bunch of tempting options. In the end, I settled on a 트리플딥치즈싸이버거 세트 (Triple Deep Cheese Thigh Burger - set), which consisted of the sandwich, fries, and drink for ₩7,400 (estimated $5.21). While I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had, it certainly was juicy and delicious. The fries were quite nice, too.

카페동네 은계점 (Cafe Dongnae Eungye Branch) | Naver link

You can count on any apartment complex in Korea to have at least one cafe nearby, and having returned to Siheung from a lunch with another cousin, I walked over to this place, which had caught my eye earlier during my stay. Upon entry, I found the cafe to be homely and warm. I bought a 자몽 허니 블랙티 (grapefruit honey black tea) as well as a packaged 마들렌 얼그레이 (earl grey madeleine) for ₩7,200 ($5.14). My order came out within minutes, and the staff had given me a spoon with a winking smiling face with the tongue partly out, which I thought was cute. I stirred my tea with it and first ate the madeleine, which was perfectly crumbly and sweet. The tea was excellent, with the grapefruit’s acidic citrus notes complementing the honey’s sweetness very well. If I ever stay at my aunt’s place again and want a place to chill at, I’d definitely come here again.