In Korea’s music history, 2019 may be remembered as the year of a global K-pop explosion. But on the home turf of BTS, Blackpink and other popular idol groups, the year’s biggest breakout star came from an unlikely music genre: trot. Since the program’s inception, episodes featuring Yoo’s transformation into a flamboyant trot singer with the stage name Yoo San-seul have gathered the highest rat...

GWANGJU -- The unmistakable smell of spicy cabbage greets visitors at Gwangju’s Kimchi Town, where everything exudes Koreans’ love for that fermented dish ubiquitous on dining tables in the country. The grandiosely named World Institute of Kimchi occupies a building next to the kimchi museum in a corner of the complex. There, scientists and experts from various disciplines of research have gath...

Korea is in the midst of the kimchi-making season. In early winter, when temperatures just start to fall below zero, Koreans go through the annual ritual of gimjang -- making large quantities of the spicy, fermented cabbage dish to last the coming year. The southern city of Gwangju has a kimchi town. There, the World Institute of Kimchi leads research on the nation’s beloved side dish. Tasked b...

Wine aficionados have wine coolers and cabinets at home. Fish-loving Japanese have fridges with special features for raw fish storage. Koreans, likewise, have a refrigerator for their beloved kimchi. Although Korea’s very first kimchi refrigerator dates back to 1984 (Gold Star, now LG Electronics, was its inventor), the market only began to take shape in the late 1990s, with the rise of apartmen...

Whenever a young Basira Yeusuff wondered how much chili there was in her soup, her grandmother would always say, “Agak agak.” Meaning “roughly” or “rough estimate” in Bahasa Malaysian, the phrase is used widely in Malaysian kitchens to explain seasoning amounts in home-cooking recipes, said Yeusuff, now a chef, using the tips of her fingers to explain how much “agak agak” could be. It sums up t...

Long overshadowed by Asia’s two gastronomical giants China and Japan, cuisines from Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian nations are tantalizing taste buds and adding new flavors to South Korea’s diverse food scene. A visit last week to the Shinsegae Department Store’s basement-level food mall, where only the hottest eateries in Korea are invited to set up, reconfirmed the geog...

To refresh oneself with Vietnamese coffee in Seoul, Cong Caphe in Yeonnam-dong, western Seoul, is the prime destination. The successful Hanoi-based cafe chain offers visitors a glimpse inside Vietnamese cafe culture, serving various Vietnamese-style coffees and coffee variation drinks, such as the famous Coconut Smoothie Coffee. The beef and egg sandwich is full of flavors, packed with pickled ...

Myeong-dong is a symbolic battlefield in Korea’s franchise world. To be considered successful, one has to have a store or two there -- ideally right at the center of the busy tourist district. New store openings and closures are watched by many for signs of changes in food trends. A visit to the area earlier this week revealed the increased presence of one particular Asian country among Myeong-d...

SEOUL/BUSAN -- From fresh seafood to street snacks, Busan is a city of many delectable delights. That’s why it was chosen as the top travel destination for foodies in a 2017 survey by the Korea Tourism Organization. Busan’s culinary heritage was shaped by the Korean War, during which the city -- serving as the country’s provincial capital -- saw a massive influx of war refugees. Some of its mos...

There are many reasons to love Busan -- the cobalt blue sea, milder weather, delectable food, ultraconvenient mega shopping malls and jaw-dropping oceanfront skyscrapers. The picturesque Gwangan Bridge and the skyline full of luxurious skyscrapers along Haeundae Beach give a stunning first impression, similar to those of other maritime cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore. But if there’s one ...

Male makeup could be the beauty world’s next big thing. And Korean men are leading that revolution as the world’s top consumers of grooming products, according to data and surveys. Men with flawless skin and colors on their eyes and lips often appear on TV here. It has even become the norm for male K-pop celebrities to apply makeup on their full face. Amorepacific, the nation’s largest cosmetic...

Lotte Department Store threw a party for some 200 of its VIP customers last month. About 10 luxury brands, including watchmaker IWC and designer clothing brand Thom Browne, set up booths, and models presented top styles for the upcoming season at a mini fashion show. Only men with annual purchases of over 100 million won ($86,485) were invited. Gone are the days when men were just an afterthough...

Kensington Hotel & Resort, which opened its 23rd branch up in the mountains of Seoraksan last week, has mostly adopted a strategy of acquiring existing brands and remodeling them instead of building from scratch. This has both pros and cons, but it does result in diversity in terms of the look and features of each hotel and resort under its umbrella. Kensington Resort Seorak Valley, the newest e...

Ultra-long down parkas were the king of winter coats here in the past few years, but a warmer winter looks set to bring new styles. According to industry insiders and fashion experts, we will be seeing a lot of fleece jackets and short puffers instead. Fleece is all the rage Fleece, shearling, sherpa or pile, whatever they are called, those warm, snuggly jackets that were once ridiculed as “dad...

Fashionable women in Korea, like their peers elsewhere, are in love with leggings -- and they don’t just wear them to the gym. Leggings’ ascent to casual wear, as described by the dictionary-defined term athleisure, has been a global phenomenon. Seoul, never too far behind a global fad, is fast catching up. Yet, in this country, where revealing, skin-tight and outlandish clothes were once almos...