Korea Grand Sale offering ‘taste of Korea’
Hotels, time-honored restaurants joining annual event
hrough its past nine events, the Korea Grand Sale has established itself as the nation’s best annual tour promotion program among foreign tourists.
Marking the 10th event, the comprehensive festival of shopping, tourism and culture is set to provide foreign tourists with various opportunities to enjoy a “taste of Korea” under the theme of Korea Grand Tasting, as more than 70 hotel dining facilities across the nation are participating in the Korea Grand Sale, offering special discounts of up to 30 percent.
Plus, there is an eye-catching program for foreigners, in which a high-profile Korean chef takes them to five time-honored traditional restaurants in Seoul that non-Koreans are not familiar with, but are worth visiting.
The 2019 Korea Grand Sale, co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Visit Korea Committee, kicked off, Thursday, for a 43-day run until Feb. 28. The event was established in 2011 to encourage more foreign tourists to visit, exclusively providing them with benefits in various sectors such as flights, accommodation, shopping, entertainment and food.
Last month, the committee selected the top three restaurants that foreign nationals would want to visit through an online poll ahead of the kickoff. The three are the Millennium Seoul Hilton’s buffet restaurant Cafe 395, the InterContinental Seoul COEX’s Italian restaurant Sky Lounge and the Gyeongwonjae Ambassador Incheon’s Korean restaurant Sura, which means “royal cuisine” in Korean.
To celebrate the honorable selection, Cafe 395 offers discounts of 15 percent during weekdays and 10 percent during weekends and holidays. A respective 15 percent and 10 percent discount is available at the Sky Lounge and Sura as well.
However, the selection of the top three does not mean that other participating hotel restaurants do not offer Korean fine dining experiences: 72 more facilities are ready to offer a taste of Korea at affordable prices.
TAll three restaurants of the Grand Hilton Seoul offer a 20 percent discount and diners can take advantage of a 10 percent discount at four dining facilities of the Grand Ambassador Seoul associated with Pullman. The Le Meridien Seoul’s all-day dining restaurant Chef’s Palette presents a 10 percent discount during weekdays and a 5 percent during weekends, while the Sheraton Seoul Palace Gangnam’s Chinese restaurant Suh Goong and Japanese one Ta Bong slash 10 percent off the tab. Along with them, the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas, the Courtyard Marriott Seoul Namdaemun, the Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels and Residences, the Four Points by Sheraton Seoul, Gangnam and the Fraser Place Seoul also offer special discounts. The Korea Grand Tasting is not only the event for Seoul-based hotel restaurants as several properties in Busan and on Jeju Island are also partaking in the culinary promotion. The two areas are foreign tourists’ favorite destinations in Korea besides Seoul. All four dining facilities at the Haevichi Hotel and Resort on Jeju Island give diners 10 percent off their meal, while the Lotte Hotel Busan has its five dining facilities offer 10 percent off their bills. The Jeju Shinhwa World, operated by Landing Jeju Development, offers a discount of 30 percent at its five restaurants by turns.
In addition, tourists can receive discounts at the Westin Chosun Busan, the Haeundae Grand Hotel, the Maison Glad Jeju and the Stanford Inn Busan.
Old restaurant experience
For those who want to experience more classical-style Korean restaurants where locals visit, the committee has come up with a program in which chef Park Chan-il introduces five old-yet-hidden restaurants in central Seoul as a guide.
The five are Cheongjinok, Hadongkwan, Woolaeoak, Chosunoak and Yeolchajib, all of which have been running for generations.
Cheongjinok, which opened in 1937, is an authentic restaurant for “haejangguk,” or hangover soup; while Hadongkwan serves only two items — “gomtang,” or Korean traditional beef soup with rice, and “suyuk,” or boiled beef or pork slices.
Woolaeoak is famous for Pyongyang-style cold noodles, or “naengmyeon” in Korean, which gained recognition after being served during the inter-Korean summit last April. Chosunoak serves grilled beef ribs, and Yeolchajib is a makgeolli (rice wine) house serving bindaetteok, or Korean mung bean pancakes.
Plus, tourists who share their experience from aforementioned five old restaurants can get souvenirs from the Visit Korea Committee.
If visitors post pictures of themselves dining at two of the restaurants on their social media accounts with hash tags #KoreaGrandSale and #OldResetaurant, they will receive a special gift after presenting them to Korea Grand Sale Event Center set up at Cheonggye Square.
During the Korea Grand Sale period, cooking classes allowing tourists to make various Korean dishes such as street food, home-cooked meals, and temple food are available.
For more details about the Korea Grand Sale and the Korea Grand Tasting, visit the official website at en.koreagrandsale.co.kr.
Meanwhile, during its 43-day stretch, the Korea Grand Sale will feature 30 special benefits that will help foreign tourists save up to 85 percent on purchases, buy-one-get-one (BOGO) offers and free gifts.
As of Tuesday, more than 900 companies had signed up to participate in the event, an increase from 778 during the 2018 edition.