My Korean Food Adventures – Ducky Pumpkin in Daegu

What better way to start my first foodie post than to write about one of the most deliciously divine meals I’ve ever eaten since my time in Korea. Duck in Pumpkin or  오리호박   in Korean. Someone posted about it on the In Daegu Facebook group about 2 months ago and since then I have been on the hunt to find a Duck in Pumpkin restaurant in Daegu. My new co-teacher Jessi was kind enough to find out all the information and I was more than happy to have her come along and help me experience this meal first hand. Duck in Pumpkin is apparently not a typical kind of Korean meal. Some call it Korean Fusion food. I just call it amazingly delicious. My co-teachers Jessi, Mrs Lee and Jessi’s friend Pico all joined me for the feast.

At first we were given pumpkin soup which was amazingly divine. I haven’t eaten pumpkin since my time in Korea so it was pure bliss. Then the banchan (Korean traditional side dishes) arrived. There was the traditional Kimchi which happened to be a little sour than usual. Jessi suggested that it had possibly been fermented for too long. Then there were marinated mushrooms (Think I ate all of them), cabbage salad, chilli peppers, onions, garlic, lettuce leaf salad,, some kind of marinated vegetables, sesame leaves, lettuce leaves and we also had a small bowl of seaweed soup – 미역국.

Pumpkin Soup on the left - Wasabi Soy Sauce mixture on the right

 We dug in straight away and I was sooo excited to see the main event I couldn’t contain myself. Then BOOM!!! There it was!! A big burst of pumpkiny goodness with a roasted ducky mountain bang in the centre. My heart start doing flickflacks!! The waitress each gave us a section of the pumpkin as we weren’t really sure how to begin. I just placed a piece of the duck with some Doenjang and some onions onto a lettuce leaf and wolfed it down! Jessi asked the lady manager how we should eat it and she just said take a piece of the duck dip it into the sauce (kinda like a mix of soy sauce and wasabi) add on a piece of pumpkin and boom into your belly. Absolute perfection. I was in pumpkin ducky heaven and could have honestly ordered another one. The pumpkin was perfectly roasted and the section of pumpkin underneath the duck had absorbed all the delicious juices and tasted even more unbelievable then my first bite. Duck in pumpkin had certainly lived up to its name.

Ducky Pumpkin Heaven

My piece of heaven

I want you in my belly!!

What was left

Mrs Lee and I

Kimchi Style Smile 🙂

We then ordered some  칼국수, which is flour noodles in a kind of a vegetable broth. I was quite surprised that we didn’t also order rice as it’s a staple meal here in Korea. I guess the noodles could be a substitute. I had a similar type of noodle meal in Gyeongju when I went on a field trip with the teachers last year November. It reminds me of the Vietnamese Pho minus the beef and coriander.