Minaz has Left the Building

Wow, one week has passed since ol' Minaz got here, and it's been pretty entertaining. He saw a lot of the city, but just last night we thought of a few places that he hasn't seen (like the 63 Building right in Yeouido). Looks like we'll be busy when he gets back in 2 weeks (assuming he doesn't have too much fun in Bangkok/Phuket and want to stay there).

One place I wanted him to see was the 서피동파/seo-pi-dong-pa restaurant in 신촌/Sinchon. (Seo=West, Pi=Pizza, Dong=East, Pa=Pajun or Korean pizza/pancake...together they're a tasty fusion dish.) He also had to try 동동주/dong-dong-ju, which is a traditional liquor made from fermented rice. The 6-7% alcohol 동동주 is skimmed off the top and a thicker, more alcoholic drink (preferred by older folks) is left on the bottom. Anyways, he's not in to beer (which he said 동동주 tasted like) and there was pork on one of the dishes (which he doesn't eat on account of his religion) but he liked some of the other grub and enjoyed singing in the 노래방/noraebang/karaoke afterward (man, this guy is becoming 진짜한국사람/jinjja hangook saram-a real Korean). If you'd like to try 서피동파 there's one in 대학로/daehang-ro also, but the original owners moved to Sinchon and their mussel soup has massive amounts of the meat in it compared to Daehangro's. Anyways, it's located near Sinchon Station (Line 2) in a sidestreet behind Hyundai Department Store. Just ask around and look for the sign below (I had one of the 서피동파 place but lost it...so look for Photogenic). There is also a 삼김/sam-gim restaurant there on the same street...SamGim is a great place for 삼겹살/sam-gyup-sal and traditional 김치/gimchi.


Somehow this sign wasn't very 'good to take a picture of'.

You may have noticed that I/we eat out a lot here, well I'm not alone (article, another article). Seems Koreans now blow half of their food budget on restaurant food. I spend about 95% of mine on it...but then I don't have a wife or someone to cook for me and I find that for one person here (I can cook!) doesn't make a lot of economic sense after all is said and done. Besides, in Korea it's a good thing to have a meal together (breaking of bread and all that) and is not really seen as an expense or an indulgence. The nice thing is that Korean meals are normally very healthy and there are always copious amounts of bottomless sidedishes (mostly veggies) unlike the fries and garlic bread we might get with a Western meal.