Hi, I’m code&chord.
Welcome to The Korean Weekender — a blog about Korean food, weekend trips, and the small details of everyday life in Korea, written in English by someone who actually lives here.
A bit about me
I grew up playing classical piano, somehow ended up studying computer science, and now I write about Korean food on the weekends. The name *code&chord* comes from those two halves — coding for work, chords for the rest of me. The Korean Weekender is where they meet over good food. I’m in my late 20s, born and raised in Korea, and based in Seoul. On weekdays I work in tech. On weekends I drive out to eat fish in coastal towns no one’s heard of, take questionable photos of my food, and try to write down what made the meal worth the trip.
What this blog is about
Most “Korea blogs” written in English are by foreign expats or tourists passing through. There’s nothing wrong with that — but there’s a whole side of Korea those blogs tend to miss. The hamo (sea eel) place in Jangheung that locals drive three hours for. The way chimaek tastes different at 9pm versus 11pm. The reason every Korean café has a little buzzer on the table. So I’m writing as a Korean local, in English, for readers who want to go a little deeper than the K-drama tour list — and for the curious traveler planning more than just a Myeongdong shopping trip. You’ll find three kinds of posts here: Korean Food — Restaurant reviews from Seoul and beyond. I’m especially drawn to regional specialties: the kind of dish people from one province will lecture you about for twenty minutes. Travel — Weekend trips around Korea. What to eat, where to stay, and (most importantly for visitors) how to actually get there from Seoul. Daily Life — The small stuff. Convenience store rituals, café culture, why Koreans take their shoes off, what the seasons taste like here. The texture of living in this country.
A few honest things
I’m not a professional food critic, and I’m definitely not a professional photographer — most of my food shots are taken with one hand while the other is holding chopsticks. I write about places and meals I genuinely loved, in the most honest way I can in my second language. Sometimes the English will sound a little Korean, and I think that’s okay. It’s part of how I see things. A new post goes up most weekends, usually about whatever I ate or where I drove that Saturday. If something I write helps you find a great meal, plan a better trip, or just understand Korea a little more — that’s the whole point. I keep this blog as a quiet corner of the internet. There’s no newsletter, no inbox, no comments to keep up with — just the writing. If a post resonates with you, that’s enough. Thanks for being here. — code&chord