Jeju offers one of the best and clean, fresh tasting dishes of Asia. Since their main ingredients come from the sea and/or are readily available inland, the freshness and simpleness of the fares are very refreshing, no heavy sauces, and as our hosts kept on repeating, their cuisine is very healthy.

We were served the specialties of the island, the pheasant hot pot, the grilled mackerel, seasoned raw cuttlefish, chicken ginseng soup, the abalone porridge and of course the ubiquitous kimchi which is part of every meal.

A member of the group, Ruel Manipon of Tribune, was so enamoured of kimchi, he had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The kimchi in Seoul is fantastic, the spiciness is very welcome in the below zero temperature in the City, and surprise, surprise the spicy kimchi has no bite.

We also enjoyed the chicken ginseng soup, whole spring chicken boiled with ginseng with a little bit of rice. A combination of chicken tinola cum arroz caldo, we declared.

Gerard Ramos of Business Mirror, called it the Nora Aunor of chicken soups, because its taste was so refined, underplayed, we decided to add salt and pepper and voila, the soup is declared as Vilma Santos na.

The abalone porridge is a gourmet organic dish that was once eaten only by royalty, our guides said. This porridge is again like arroz caldo but for the abalone pieces savored by everyone.