Banh Xeo Is a Vietnamese Crepe. In Seoul It Comes With Kitchen Scissors.
A 31,000-won set for three on the second floor of a building next to a coffee chain in Sindang. The crepe is the size of the plate. The scissors are the Korean part.
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Songok Lists Four Buckwheat Noodles and Translates Every One Into English. You Still Cannot Tell Them Apart.
A buckwheat noodle place on the second floor in Sinsa-dong, open since 1961. Four versions of the same noodle, all translated on the menu board, and the translations tell you nothing useful. One of them arrives as parts you are expected to assemble. Here is what is in each.
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Momil Is Not Even the Correct Word. Every Restaurant in Seoul Uses It Anyway.
The kettle came to the table first. I thought it was tea. I poured some into the paper cup and drank it. It was broth, and it was cold. Nobody told me. At a momil restaurant, nobody tells you anything. I ordered pan-momil. It came on a bamboo tray, two piles of gray-brown noodles, cold….
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Kongguksu Is Only Sold in Summer. The Salt or Sugar Fight Never Ends.
Kongguksu is sold for about three months a year and seasoned at the table, which is where the trouble starts. Most of Korea adds salt. Jeolla adds sugar. Nobody has ever changed sides.
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Gamja Means Potato in Korean. Gamjatang Is Mostly Bones.
Gamja means potato, but the pot is mostly pork spine bones. Nobody can explain the name, including Koreans. What ugeoji is, and why the bones — not the spice — are the hard part for foreigners.
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Kongnamul Gukbap Comes in Two Versions at the Same Restaurant. Nobody Explains the Difference to You.
Nambu style or boiled style — same soup, same price, and nobody explains the difference. What toryeom is, what to do with the sueran, and why the 7 a.m. customers are all sitting alone.
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Budae Jjigae Started With Leftover Army Food. Now We Pay Extra to Add More Spam.
Army base stew started with surplus processed meat from US bases after the Korean War. Now we pay extra to add more spam. Why Uijeongbu and Songtan went in different directions, and why someone always has to control the pot.
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Malatang Is Everywhere in Young Seoul. My Coworkers in Their 40s Still Don’t Eat It.
Malatang is on every block in Hongdae and nowhere in the office districts. A Sichuan dish that split Seoul by age — and how to order it without overpaying like I did.
