Pho’na Thai (포나타이)
Review by Kristen O’Brien, ETA 2014-2016 City: Seoul Restaurant Name: Pho’na Thai (포나타이) Food Served: Thai, Vietnamese Restaurant Address: 1) Sinchon-ro 155, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 서울특별시 서대문구 신촌로 155 120-809 2) Gaepo-ro 621, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 서울특별시 강남구 개포로 621 SH공사 View Map Directions: I visited the branch in Sinchon (right near Ewha Women’s University). Take Line 2 the green line to Ewha Women’s University Station, exit 1. Walk straight, away from the other subway exits. If you keep walking, you’ll pass two side streets on your right (pass a post office). At the next street, you will find yourself at a big 4-way intersection. On the corner (on your right) is a NH bank, and the restaurant is right there. You have to go up to the 2nd floor up a ramp to get there. Cost: ~8,000 won and up The price of this restaurant varies by dish, but the prices are very reasonable. The decor is very nice, with cushioned seats, and it sits on the 2nd floor so you get a nice view of the streets below. There is seating for people dining alone, and even seating for groups of people. This restaurant has the best pad thai and the best pho I’ve had in Korea. I always get the pad thai here, and I also love their Vietnamese iced coffee! The food here is very delicious and fresh, and the coffee is really, really good. If you’re looking for great Thai and Vietnamese food, I highly recommend this place! It’s also perfect for a shopping trip to Ewha. If you’re already shopping along the main strip, just shop your way along it, and once you reach the end and find yourself hungry, stop at Pho’na ^^ [slideshow_deploy id=’4233′]
Fried Cabbage in the Kyomushil: A Poem
a poem written and read by Victoria Su, ETA ’15-’16 I wrote a poem on the eve of Thanksgiving. That morning I was still suffering from the hurricane of homesickness that had struck me all of a sudden the night before. My host family’s extended family had been visiting, and while they were friendly and warm, I couldn’t help but feel like an outsider in the midst of this joyful family reunion. I thought about how I had spent all my past Thanksgivings surrounded by family, friends, and the irresistible smell of my mother’s candied yams, and how this year I would just be alone in my room staring at my computer screen, worrying about how to make the Lesson 9 “target language” interesting for my middle schoolers. The simultaneous thoughts of missing Thanksgiving this year and how far away Christmas (when I would go home) was, mixed with feelings of guilt and regret for wishing away the precious time that remained between me and my third graders hit me hard, and I cried silently in my room all night. There is a famous Chinese poem that goes like this: 独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲。 Roughly translated, it means “Alone in a foreign place, I am a foreign guest; every holiday season brings a double measure of longing for my family.” When I learned this poem in middle school I didn’t really understand it. Who knew that it would be in middle school again that I would experience this poem’s core sentiment as reality? The next morning (Thanksgiving Eve), when I had finished my first class of the day, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the teachers cooking paechu jeon (배추전), which is a cabbage pancake (basically just sheets of cabbage dipped in a flour-water mixture and fried). Korean cabbage tastes pretty similar to Chinese cabbage, so even though we never eat it in pancake form like this, it reminded me of home. The warmth of the smells, the sounds, and the taste of the food and more importantly, the inviting mirth of my fellow teachers filled me with an unexpected joy and inspired me to write this poem in the little time I had before my next class. Fried Cabbage in the Kyomushil (teachers’ office) Eager noses pressed up against doors and windows, peering in, breath fogging up the glass What is it? What is it? I can’t see! Smells good— Here comes Teacher, will she take pity? it’s cold outside— oh! Time for class. Kids scurry off—still, a few noses and sighs Linger in the corridor. A chuckle slides opens the door: Welcome. Step into the room now, another world— Warmth. tips of Ears, Nose and Fingers suddenly aglow the hearty crackling of grease permeates the air, paechu jeon sizzling in a pan. The room is bright with anticipation as six or so surround the expert hand— flip! crack! sizzle… a steady buzz of chatter and cheer complement the spitter-spattering of the prize— Do you have cabbage in America? —a deft motion, deference (or maybe preference) to the delicacy at hand and—flip! crack! startled! for a split second by the flying object momentarily poised to wreak havoc break—disrupt, disturb, suspend—our heady expectation of perfect satisfaction to come then, swiftly as it came, summoned back as if by magic SNAP! Perfect landing. sizzle, crack, sizzle… back to the same simmering state, just sizzling, sizzling, smelling of simplicity And common grace fills the room. Soon—a Feast! It’s not quite Thanksgiving, but the spirit is here Chopsticks separate at lightning speed Dip, drip, devour Crispy cabbage with a kick of spice Flavor of delight.
D. Queens (디 퀸즈)
Review by Kristen O’Brien, ETA 2014-2016 City: Seoul Restaurant Name: D. Queens (디 퀸즈) Food Served: Brunch, Italian Restaurant Address: 1) Coex Mall (1st floor, I-104) 서울시 강남구 삼성동 159 코엑스몰 지하 1층 I-104호 2) Hannam Branch 서울시 용산구 한남동 273-2 View Map Directions: I went to the Coex location! Take the subway to Line 2, Samseong Station exit 5 or 6. The mall is directly connected. Cost: 15,000+ won This restaurant is pricey with meals starting at 15,000 won and up. Salad starts around 11,000 won, and the portion sizes are very small. Despite all that, this restaurant has the most legitimate spaghetti and meatballs I’ve ever tasted in Korea. They are juicy, tender, herby, and meaty. It was served with perfectly al dente pasta in a mini skillet, coated in a warm tomato sauce. I was licking the sauce off the plate once I finished. I also had the ricotta salad, and then carrot cake cheesecake for dessert. The ricotta salad…I can only rave about it. They have mixed nuts, a big helping of creamy ricotta cheese scooped on top, cranberries, and a delicious glaze-like dressing. I’ve had a lot of ricotta salads, and despite being small, this is the best ricotta salad ever. Unlike the other dishes, the cake was a generous slice. It was a large slice of carrot cake, with thin layers of cheese cake in between. Service was average, but the restaurant was also bustling. It was very busy. The restaurant was clean, and had a bistro-like feel to it. If you have some extra money to spend, I highly recommend you check out D.Queens! It also has a cafe section, and the brunch looks really delicious as well (for a much more modest price during regular lunch hours I believe).