Sanskriti Saxena, New Delhi and Anushree Taparia, New Delhi

KTO India hosted the offline extension of online event ‘KXperience.’ The event took place last year, on 29th October, 2021 at Gung-The Palace. Ms. Anushree Taparia and Ms. Sanskriti Saxena from Hallyuism attended the event. Here’s an excerpt of details and experiences from the event:

KTO India’s K Xperience

Korea Tourism Organisation- India hosted an interesting competition these days called K-Challenge. The interested participants can visit www.kxperience.bookmyshow.com and watch the virtual experience videos on K-Food, K-Pop, K-Dramas and K-Beauty. Then they have to recreate their own favorite experience and post on social media handle. For more details, visit the site mentioned above. Exciting prizes are up for grab.

About Gung- The Palace restaurant

Venue for the event was the Korean restaurant called Gung-The Palace. Located in Gurugram and having branches at Delhi and Noida, Gung- The Palace is the place to feel the authentic Korean vibes. The interior of the restaurant are designed in such a way that it is felt as if sitting in some traditional house. The seating is also on the floor to give the guests traditional experience. The lip smacking food takes the experience to another level. The courteous owner Mr. Kim Jinbum was our guide to Korean Food and Drinking experience. KTO India’s Director Mr. Choi Young-geul was himself present to accompany us to dive into K-Xperience.

Hanbok Experience

What can be better than living the experience of wearing the Hanbok, the traditional dress of Korea, in India! As the event started, we were assisted into wearing the Hanbok. We are then participating in the further activities wearing the Hanbok. A long flowing skirt with a shrug type top, tying the knot is also an art. It didn’t seem like a normal knot but tied in a different way.

The beautiful, graceful attire made us feel like living a scene out of time travel themed K-drama. Roaming around the restaurant and even eating the lunch wearing it, made us feel regal. Until we get to roam around the Seoul wearing Hanbok, this gave a good practice.

Korean drinking culture

We all have enjoyed watching how Koreans enjoy drinking alcohol and it is an integral part of their daily lives, be it for fun with friends or at after work dinner get together with colleagues. The owner of Gung Mr. Kim himself enlightened us with Korean drinking culture and various games that they usually play. He made us the solution of the popular Korean drink Soju and Beer that makes it Somak (So-Soju and Mak-Makju as in Beer in Korean). Some interesting tricks were demonstrated by him.

We were also told about certain drinking etiquettes. Some of them are:

Korean people always pour the drink for others first and that too holding the bottle with both hands. The receiver also holds the glass with both hands. This is done to show respect. If the other person is elder than you, always turn away and drink. Never drink facing them.

Koreans say ‘Gonbae’ in place of ‘cheers. We were taught an interesting game. Once Soju is poured into Beer, cover the glass with tissue paper. Give it a shake and the tissue should get wet enough. Then the tissue is thrown at the wall and it should just stick to it. Yes, the wetness of the tissue is the key here!

Korean Gourmet

Gung Palace served us various types of dishes to experience and owner ate with us. We also experienced the cooking of Ramen and Tteok-bokki from scratch. In addition, there were Pajeon, Bibimbap, Japchae, One Chicken Dish and other types of side dishes. The overall food was very delicious combined with Somaek and it was easily digestible. The owner and the director of KTO (who were Koreans) taught us about food and drinks culture. They explained about every dish which helped us in savoring the unique tastes of Korea. It was an unforgettable memory and I would like to experience again.

Dalgona Event

BTS Coffee India organized dalgona event inspired by Squid Game. There were two parts – one where we had to cook a dalgona candy and other to carve out the inscribed shape without breaking it. The instructor was very good with instructions and I did not know it was so easy to make dalgona candy, just melt the sugar and add the baking soda (don’t let it burn though). In the carving event, my first attempt to carve out star was failure but I could carve out bird perfectly in my next attempt. We were given skincare products of Sulwhasoo for carving out perfectly.

What do you think about this experience? Tell us in the comments!

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