In the Korean capital's Myeongdong district, you're not limited to 'Seoul-food;' you can also taste distinctive dishes from Jeonju city, in the country's fertile Southwest. Go to "Go-gung" (pronounce: goh-goong) restaurant.

The restaurant's signature dish is "Jeon-ju bi-bim-bap"--in a brass bowl, steamed rice is topped with beef, radish, pumpkin, cucumber, spinach, bellflower root (huh?), bracken-fern (a.k.a. 'fiddleheads'), jujubes (Chinese dates), pine nuts, walnuts, mung-bean-'jelly,' gingko nuts, chestnuts, chili-paste, and a raw egg which gets cooked as you stir everything into the hot rice.

Along with the main course come the obligatory 'bahn-chahn' accompaniments, including soy-bean-sprout soup, mild cabbage kimchi, red napa kimchi, and 'bin-deh-tteok': mung-bean-and-vegetable 'pancake.'

To wash it down--what looks like a glass of iced latte is in fact 'moju,' a rustic country-style rice-wine; don't let the cloudy color scare you!

The restaurant even has a website (with English translation!) for more information:
http://www.gogung.co.kr/eng/store/index.htm