[Drinkit Awards] Editor's Picks for This Year's BEST & WORST Foods?

My Stomach, Thank You for Handling So Much Food Again This Year ♥

Editors held a year-end party with a grand feast under the pretext of wrapping up 2021. They spent about two hours sharing stories and reflecting on the year. An hour into enjoying the party, as expected from Drinkit editors, the conversation naturally shifted to food, sparking a heated debate to select the Best and Worst foods they had eaten throughout the year.

Here are two foods per editor that received contrasting evaluations: “To be left behind with 2021” and “To be carried on into 2022.”

Curious about the Drinkit editors’ year-end party scene? Here♡

Jyeonditor

Photo by (left) Midtown Pizza

BEST

Midtown Pizza Margherita

As a pizza enthusiast, this menu is a cheat code for Jyeonditor, but among them, this one instantly took the top spot. This pizza, made only with tomato sauce, basil, and cheese, achieves a perfect harmony in the ratio of these three ingredients. The thick sauce granules, as if hand-crushed fresh tomatoes, offer a quality that could never be replicated with store-bought products. It has almost no sweetness, but the tomato sauce is generously applied, so the seasoning is never bland. I chose this hoping that this one and only store nationwide never disappears. Margherita?eat it twice. Eat it thrice.

WORST

Sulbing Mango Ade

Since I usually enjoy Sulbing’s mango shaved ice, I had high expectations for this product. However, the artificially created mango sweetness was unforgivable. The sweet scent that penetrated through the mask... no, no. Actually, the ice mango topping on shaved ice is attractive more for its cool, chewy texture than its taste, but this just tasted like it was melted down as is. If it had been thicker, it might have felt like drinking pure mango extract, but the watery texture was disappointing. Wouldn’t it have been better if it had the sparkling carbonation like a typical ade?

Seonditor

Photo by (left) Sinjeon Tteokbokki

BEST

Sinjeon Rose Tteokbokki

It’s no exaggeration to say that Seonditor’s veins run with tteokbokki. Even for someone who loved only the bright red gochujang-based tteokbokki, the rose tteokbokki craze that dominated 2021 swept through. Among the many franchises that launched rose tteokbokki one after another, the one that captured Seonditor’s heart was none other than Sinjeon Tteokbokki. Compared to other brands, it has a significantly larger amount of broth, allowing you to enjoy eating it with the soup, and Sinjeon Tteokbokki’s unique pepper flavor combined with the creaminess of milk creates a smooth addictive taste. Seonditor said: It was a fierce battle between Baedduk and Sinjeon.

WORST

Cheoeumcheoreom Papico

Although I’m not particularly fond of chocolate desserts, Papico, which I have been familiar with since childhood, is the only chocolate ice cream I eat. The meeting of Cheoeumcheoreom and Papico, two beloved types! But maybe because I expected too much, the moment I took a bite, I thought, ‘Huh? What is this hybrid?’ Confused, I took another sip, but the unique spiciness of Cheoeumcheoreom clashed with Papico’s sweetness... It was a moment that painfully reminded me that some curiosities should remain just curiosities.

Taeditor

Photo by (left) Yang Mingyu, Huangmenji Mipan Konkuk Main Branch

BEST

Huangmenji

If Korea has jjimdak, China has Huangmenji! Taeditor, who studied abroad in China, sometimes indulges in nostalgia by eating foods with the unique Chinese aroma. Huangmenji mainly uses chicken thigh meat, so it’s almost free of dry meat. Among chicken dishes, Huangmenji stands out for its exceptional moistness and tenderness, and I have lost my senses to it dozens of times. This addictive taste, I will spread it to more people in 2022...♥

WORST

Watermelon with Aloe

Drinking sweet beverages when thirsty usually worsens thirst rather than quenching it. The day Taeditor tried this drink was no exception. In the late summer heat, gasping for breath, I recklessly gulped down this drink next to me, and had a premonition it would be the worst item of the year. Although it was supposed to be a watermelon drink, the presence of watermelon was weak, and only a strong, unidentified sweetness lingered in the mouth. Moreover, the aloe chunks, seemingly added to compensate for the bland taste, clashed completely with the drink.

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Midtown Pizza, Sinjeon Rose Tteokbokki, Huangmenji! Let’s all get along well again next year~♥

Edited by Choi Jihyun

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.