the last fish in Busan

wow, this is a progress!! i'm posting 2 different posts this week! =D

in this post, i will share with you another experience of mine during my stay in Busan, South Korea - still in regards to food of course!

during our stay in Busan, other than getting involved in the conference, we also wanted to explore the many diverse and unique culinary stuffs available. so, one evening, my colleague asked me and my partner (i mean working partner) to go back early to our hotel and then have dinner somewhere. after getting permission *surprisingly* from The Boss, we went back early from the conference. and then our funny journey began.

there were 5 of us meeting at the hotel foyer: Christina [a Greece-born Australian woman in her mid 40s or so], Patti [a Taiwan-born New Zealander or Australian woman in her early 30s], Ita [late twenties, Indonesian, female], Praneel [Fijian guy who said he's in his early 20s] and of course: me [the calm Indonesian lady ;). We all wanted different things, some wanted soup, the others wanted roasted stuffs. and then, because we were a very unique combination, we decided to find a restaurant who will cater all our wishes. why unique combination? because, one is a Moslem who don't eat pork and don't drink alcohol, one is a vegetarian (or semi vegetarian) who only eats fish and vegetables (aha!), and don't drink alcohol either, another is a Hindu Fijian who only consumes chicken (and fish). the other two were more flexible, they ate all kinds of foods. :D

so, we walked from our hotel to the nearest shopping area (it was surrounding our hotel by the way). nevertheless, we DID find it hard to come across the perfect place. the other thing was it was HARD to get an English speaking restaurant owner, cashier, or waitress. this made the nite even funnier. so, every time we got in a restaurant, we had to explain in a body language, as well as in a drawing to say that we needed FISH, beside other kind of meals. we came in to almost 7 different restaurant until we got a bit desperate coz it's so damn hard to say what we exactly needed.

Christina with her thumb to say we need 1. FISH, 2. Chicken, 3. non alcoholic beverages

After finding places who served no fish, we finally came across a bar&restaurant which looked a bit pricey from outside. but they had an English menu posted outside. voila!! we got in. but was served with a non-English speaking cute girl (again)! getting confused when we said what we wanted, she called a guy who spoke English (plus, he is handsome!). hahaha. my friends took a picture of him in turn, he suddenly became an idol.

the pic here is not so clear, but believe me he is cute (sort of!).

so, after reading the menu book for a while (yes, it was a bit expensive! but not like the street food stall we visited earlier), we ordered a couple of set of 10 different skewers. and here, we finally found another dissapointment, there were only two kinds of sea food, a I don't remember the name fish and grilled prawn. however, it's better than nothing! so, we ordered pork skewers, prawn, chicken, tofu, mushroom, chilli (see how Korean loves chilli?), and of course the mysterious fish.

having chilled a bit, here came the fish, and look!

Ita got a privilege of eating the mysterious fish

it was so small!! hahaha, Ita even found it difficult to eat it. ;D and this was like the only fish in Busan! the small fish! hahahaha. and it had LOTS of fish bones. lol...

well, it turned out there was a special area in Busan, near the beach, where sea food restaurants were everywhere. we finally visited this place on the last nite we were in Busan (and my last fasting day too!). :D

here are some pictures of our funny nite finding the fish,

the bar/restaurant which catered our needs!

Patti and Praneel got confused in picking the menu

cawan mushi (?): not everyone liked it so only me and Patti eating these free appetizers

alas, we had to wait for almost 20 minute just to eat the small fish!

chicken skewers with all different flavors

grilled mushrooms and chili skewers

i forgot the name, but it's a grilled beef served with delicious sauce 

i assume, this was everyone's favorite - grilled prawn

despite all that happened, i just want to say: Yummy!!! :D