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| [Gourmet Restaurants Series 1] Myeongdong: A Favorite Street of Gourmet Restaurants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date 10/08/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gogung is renowned for its Jeonju bibimbap (Rice Mixed with Vegetables and
Beef).
The food was thus named because the city of Jeonju is famous for its tasty and nutritious bibimbap.
Gogung opened in Jeonju in 1971, bringing another restaurant to Myeongdong in 1999. The Myeongdong
chain provides genuine taste of Jeonju bibimbap, for it uses main ingredients, such as bean sprouts and
red pepper paste, delivered directly from Jeonju. A bowl of Jeonju bibimbap contains various
ingredients, including minced beef; slices of radish, pumpkin, and cucumber; steamed spinach,
bellflower roots, bracken, and radish; jujubes, pine nuts, walnuts, gingko nuts, and chestnuts. What is
more, you can enjoy seven side dishes such as kimchi pancakes and pickled squid. Foreign customers love
the restaurant’s interior, which is decorated with the traditional, hand-made paper for which Jeonju
is famous, and the personnel wear Korean traditional clothing.
Opened in 1960, Yeongyang Center is the oldest restaurant in Myeongdong, and has maintained the
same simple menu for more than 40 years: tongdak (roasted chicken) and samgyetang (ginseng chicken
soup). Because Yeongyang Center’s tongdak is roasted on an electric rotisserie, the skin is crispy
and not at all greasy. In fact you can watch the chickens roasting at the restaurant’s entrance.
Samgyetang is the most popular fare, not only during the sultry months of July and August, but also
during the frosty winter. Whichever type of chicken you choose, the meat is always tender because the
restaurant uses only Korean-bred chickens only about one month old.
Opened in 1983, this restaurant serves delicious tonkatsu (Japanese pork cutlet). The secret is
in aging thick slices of seasoned pork fillet (150kg total) for three to four days making the meat more
tender. The slices are then coated with egg batter and breadcrumbs, and fried in hot oil (160°C) for
about seven minutes. Voila! A tasty tonkatsu, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Also
mouthwatering are the miso soup and fresh vegetables served with it. The first floor layout is a bar
and the second and third floors are like spacious halls. During lunch, crowds of loyal customers mean a
waiting line. The restaurant is a favorite for all ages, from youngsters to elderly regulars.
Opened in 1969, this restaurant serves one of the tastiest bowls of guksu (chopped-noodle soup)
in Korea. Both the tender noodles and rich broth are prepared right in the restaurant. The chopped
noodles are made of dough that “rests” for three hours before being cooked, and chicken bones are
boiled for at least six hours in water to make the rich broth. A bowl of kalguksu is served with four
pork-and-scallion mandu (dumplings) and topped with minced chicken. This restaurant’s kimchi, served
as a side dish, is so delicious that customers come to the restaurant just for a taste of it. Popular
with foreigners as well as Koreans, Myeongdong Gyoja is known for its excellent service: personnel
never forget to refill the kimchi and soup bowls on each table. There are two Myeongdong Gyoja
restaurants (Main Branch and Branch No. 1) in Myeongdong, and whichever you choose, you won’t be
disappointed.
Opened in 1969, this restaurant has been serving sogogi-gukpap (boiled rice served with beef
soup) for 36 years. The restaurant’s name, ttaro-jip, literally means “separate house,” for unlike
other restaurants that serve boiled rice already in the bowl of beef soup, this restaurant serves the
boiled rice and beef soup in separate bowls. As time has passed and Korea’s fortunes have risen, the
price of gukpap has also gone up: from W100 when the restaurant opened, to the current W6,000. The main
fare is of course sogogi-gukpap, a Korean favorite. And no wonder the soup is so rich and hearty: the
beef bones are boiled in water for over 48 hours. Red pepper seasoning makes the food both pungent and
sweet, and bean sprouts, beef brisket and seonji (boiled beef-blood lumps) are added. The recommended
side dish for gukpap is modeumjeon (Korean pancake) which contains various ingredients, including egg,
fish, pumpkin, pepper, and fried meatballs. A refill of gukpap is free.
Opened in 1981, this diminutive restaurant has been attracting customers with its mouthwatering
ramyeon noodles for more than 20 years. The restaurant’s unique ramyeon recipe includes an ultra-spicy
broth with lots of red pepper seasoning, chewy noodles, egg, and bean sprouts. Even Koreans, who are
used to eating spicy kimchi, sometimes shed tears while eating this fare. Besides the food, the
ambience is lots of fun, with interesting messages written by customers attached to the ceiling and the
walls. The restaurant has created its own jargon that is recognized only by regular customers: ramyeon
is called ppal-gye-tteok (spicy red soup with egg and rice cake), and yellow pickled radish is
pineapple, to name a few of the coined terms. The menu board lists the price of ramyeon as W30,000
confusing first-time visitors. But don’t panic: an extra zero (0) was just added for fun!
The name of this restaurant means “grandma’s noodle soup.” Opened in 1958, the restaurant
serves guksu made from a traditional recipe handed down to grandma’s daughters. While the restaurant
looks like an ordinary snack bar, it attracts crowds of customers because of the wonderful flavor of
its guksu. The secret lies in a mouthwatering, delicately spiced seafood broth, as well as tender,
hand-made noodles and mildly flavored tofu. A bowl of guksu is the perfect snack, and the service is
also great.
[Dessert Info] O'sulloc
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