Once upon a time, a Caffeinated Seattleite went to Seoul. Or rather, this CaféSeaSeo returned to Seoul, as he had been doing for many times over the years. He did not seek fame or fortune, but he did seek some other important things. And among these things, and among all the delicious delicacies that Daehanminguk had to offer, he sought bibimbap.
And lo, he did not have to seek far and wide! Daehanminguk, the Republic of Korea, is a small country, and Seoul is but a spot, albeit a large one, on the map of this great nation. But Seoul also becomes huge once one visits, and years and years of searching can be futile without some guidance.
And guidance the Traveler did find…
Some enlightened readers might now be thinking, “just go to Jeonju!”. Yes, the Traveler had been to Jeonju a few times before, and he had eaten the bibimbap there in its most popular incarnation. But he was focusing on Seoul for this visit. And the guidance he found, from a source with long but short history from far far away, pointed him to the very center of Seoul, to three places all within the historic city wall.
This guidance, shall I share it with you? Are you a devoted longtime reader, a person of good character, and a subscriber? I’ll be generous and assume you are at least one of those three. Sharing knowledge is a precious thing, and sharing wisdom is a virtue.
It wasn’t a wizened old person meditating at the top of a mountain.
It wasn’t one of my foodie friends.
And it wasn’t one of my usual restaurant searching services, such as the late MangoPlate, Google Maps, Naver Maps, or kakaomap.
It was the venerable publication National Geographic.
Yes, National Geographic, famous in the USA for its long-running magazine (since 1888) and its TV specials (since 1965), and famous in Korea for winter clothing (since… around 2015?). But now, of course, they have a large Internet presence, and it’s probably the easiest way to reach people these days. It certainly works for me. My family hasn’t subscribed to the magazine since the 1980s, and I only have over-the-air TV back home in Seattle at the moment. So my only interaction with NatGeo in these modern times, apart from seeing my former students in the signature black winter clothing, is running across interesting articles while browsing online. And of course, one of them was about Seoul…
“A culinary city guide to Seoul“, to be precise. Scroll down, down, down, through this informatively detailed article, and you’ll reach the section ‘Where to get the best bibimbap’. Why thank you, Hahna Yoon! You’ve given me a new quest for my trip. For I wasn’t planning to go on this bibimbap adventure, but I pinned the three locations she mentioned on my Google Maps, and once I was in Seoul, I started going there one by one. I wasn’t even sure that I would visit them all during this visit, but today, the 3rd day of December in the Gregorian calendar year 2023, I had lunch at the third location. And it inspired me so much that I decided to write this blog post, to share my experiences with the world. The knowledge came from Hahna Yoon. The experiences will be shared below by yours truly, CaféSeaSeo. But the wisdom? I hope you develop it through the fusion of all these snippets of life.
Bibimbap the first – 목멱산방 (Mokmyeok Sanbang)
Friday, 10 November, 2023
A chilly but clear day. I asked my 형 to meet me for lunch here. Well, “here” accidentally being the second branch location, which is quite close to the first. But while the first is at a hanok within the boundaries of Namsan Park, the second was inside a modern brick building a few meters from the northern edge of the park. My mistake! Anyway, at 11:30 there was already a waiting list, but once we were inside, service was quick and efficient. So efficient, actually, as they are using kiosks to order, as many Korean restaurants have switched to these days. I wanted to try the original Sanbang bibimbap, and my friend decided to do the same. We also each got a cup of makgeolli to go along with it. We both agreed, it had a nice presentation and was very tasty. But while the place was very popular, we didn’t think the taste matched the popularity and hype. It didn’t taste bad at all, but with slightly small portions and rushed and “efficient” service, it wasn’t a place that we needed to tell all our friends about, or keep a secret. Maybe the original branch would be better? Anyway, here’s the location, the menu, and the bibimbap.
I did visit the first branch a few weeks later. It’s a beautiful hanok! But I didn’t try bibimbap this time. The service was a little unfriendlier than the second location. I wasn’t greeted upon entry, which is done 100% of the time when entering Korean restaurants or cafés. (Personally, I don’t mind, as that’s not done in the USA, but I knew it was rude, and I was surprised). Here’s the hanok location:
Bibimbap the second – 툇마루집 된장 예술 (Toetmarujip Doenjang Yesul)
Friday, 1 December 2023
Another cold cold day. Around this time, it turns out that my 형 and seemingly many other people are sick with the coronavirus or other maladies. So I’m wandering a lot alone, quite a change from two weeks prior when I met a lot of friends. So I decided to go to another one of the recommended bibimbap places, and Toetmarujip Doenjang Yesul turned out to be a decent walk from my current hotel. The NatGeo article said that older gentlemen like this place, and while I’m far from that phase of my life, that fact intrigued my taste buds. So I went in right at the opening time of 11:30am.
Eh, what’s this? A few groups are already halfway through their meal? Isn’t the opening time 11:30am? — Yes, the elder ahjummas in the adjoining kitchen replied, but those in-the-know can come for early service. — Ah okay. I’m just one person alone. — Well then, sit here, right at the entrance.
So I sat down where they directed me. Turns out the table was possibly designed for those older gentlemen with shorter legs than mine. For my legs couldn’t fit under the table with the chairs that accompanied it. So I spent the meal sitting sideways.
The meal came almost instantly, before I’d even taken off my winter clothing, my scarf and my coat, and before I’d had a chance to take a breath after walking quickly for half an hour or so. It was a bowl of rice with a small bowl of doenjang jjigae, and the surrounding banchan to go into the bibimbap. Or so I thought.
Because as I started assembling the bibimbap, dumping everything into the rice bowl, the elder ahjummas looked my way disapprovingly. Why are they looking at me like that?, I thought. It’s a bibimbap, and you gave me all the ingredients to put in it. I didn’t even put all the doenjang jjigae into the rice, I put a scoop of rice into the jjigae. Shouldn’t I be able to eat my bibimbap the way I like it? And the way you gave it to me?
The small side of delicious doenjang was the last thing I reached for, and by that point, the ahjummas felt like they had to put the fire out, and stop the culinary disaster that this foreigner was inflicting upon himself. “너무 짜다!” (too salty!) they warned me. Scoop out the doenjang and put it back into the banchan dish! And they soon gave me extra rice to balance things out the way it should be.
I felt like I was in a mini time warp, as disapproving ahjummas of this type aren’t something you run into in real life very often these days. These ladies weren’t quite halmonis, but their generational style made me feel like I was meeting elder ahjummas from 10 or 20 years ago, those who are now halmonis. Nowadays, Koreans up to a certain age tend to be more… cosmopolitan? But these ladies, friendly as they ended up being, were more old-school, possibly country style. It was nice to see this older style of personality in people who were a bit younger than expected. When I was very young, around 5, my aunt in Seattle had friendly neighbors who were in their 80s or older, a couple from the Greatest Generation, and I still remember how different and gentle their personalities were compared to more modern folk. There’s so much chatter online these days about how different Generation Z is in the USA, etc., and I won’t drag that out. But there is something about encountering those generational styles from the past, that fade away with time, that’s similarly appealing as encountering old architecture or collecting antiques. And it’s certainly more precious, as they are living beings. As much as humans can write and take pictures and videos and keep history, it’s still almost impossible to preserve the authentic personalities from the past. And somehow I reflected upon all this from visiting a bibimbap restaurant…
Well, was the bibimbap too salty?! Yes, just a little, but not as much as the ahjummas’ reaction implied. It was still delicious. What made me more uncomfortable were the table and the portable heater placed right beside me. Fortunately I could open the window right behind me a crack to cool down. But the food was good, and the decorations were nice, and the ahjummas ended up being friendly enough, despite their disapproval.
Bibimbap the third – 꽃밥에피다 (A Flower Blossom on the Rice)
Sunday, 3 December 2023
Another chilly day, but warming up slightly back to normal late autumn temperatures. Very sunny again.
So far, my bibimbap quest wasn’t as excellent as I had expected. And I had high expectations because the three cafés recommended by Ms. Yoon happen to be three of the ones that I would recommend to friends. Namusairo and Fritz (various branches) in particular, I’ve visited both many times. I’ve only visited Manufact once as it’s been out of the way from where I’ve been/lived, but the one time I visited, I had two coffees there because it was so good. Now, I’m not saying that the first two bibimbap restaurants were bad, just not excellent. Would the third restaurant, visited on the third day of December, in the third year of the third decade of the third millennium in the Common Era, be the charm?
Yes!
An emphatic yes!
Again, I timed my walking route to arrive precisely at the opening time of 11:30am. This time, A Flower Blossom on the Rice was in a converted hanok, as opposed to Mokmyeok Sanbang’s hanok, which seems like it was built to be a restaurant. Or perhaps I’m mistaken, and Mokmyeok Sanbang’s hanok just happens to be a luxury hanok while A Flower Blossom on the Rice is one of the more regular, humbler ones, like the ones all over Insadong. I went inside, asked for a table for one. — Welcome! Do you have a reservation? — No. — Ah, it’s okay; since you arrived early and it’s not ultra busy today, we have a table for you. — Great!
The initial impressions were good. Friendly greeters at the entrance. Fresh flowers at each table and dried flowers on the pillars of the hanok. Cozy atmosphere. Beautiful handmade dishes. And a 95% organic menu.
I ordered the signature item, the bojagi bibimbap. But before that, I got a pair of appetizers, a porridge and a salad.
And then the main attraction, the bojagi bibimbap. What a unique bibimbap! I’ve had 연잎 (yeonip (lotus leaf)) bibimbap at 차 마시는 뜰 (Cha Mashineun Ddeul (Tea Drinking Garden)) along the Bukhangang (North Han River) in Namyangju, but this was the first time I’ve had a bibimbap wrapped in egg. And the inside was a rainbow of ingredients.
It of course came with banchan, including sesame and soy sauces, and I poured all the sesame sauce and a tiny bit of soy sauce, and had fun eating it, reluctantly mixing it all together after the first few bites.
I had also ordered a pumpkin sikhye but left it waiting until the end of my meal. It was tasty and refreshing, and the chrysanthemum variety it came with smelled nice, as did the flowers at my table.
I was serenely enjoying myself with the delicious food and drink, and enjoying the chatter of the now full restaurant, with couples on dates and families and ahjusshis and a mother and daughter. Aware that this place was popular and my seat might be needed soon, I decided to order another drink to justify staying a little longer. True to the restaurant’s name, I ordered a flower tea.
It was good, and the presentation was beautiful, but, well, it was hot! As it should be, but again, having been conscious of wanting to leave somewhat quickly, I ended up taking more time than I expected as I waited for the tea to cool down. But all was well, no complaints from the staff, only kindness. I kept watching the surrounding tables and the variety of dishes they ordered. The menu is quite comprehensive; I want to return soon and try other things!
While I was paying, I asked what was the most popular day? And they said every day, and reservations are most highly recommended, as the restaurant is almost always full. So, I do plan to return here, hopefully with a friend or two, or even a date, with a reservation in hand. And, I certainly suggest you come here too.
Bibimbap I sought, bibimbap I found, and bibimbap I ate.
What a delicious ending to my quest. Thank you for accompanying me in this chronicle of Nar… er… Namcheon. Yes, The Bibimbap Chronicles of Namcheon. Has a nice ring to it. And a good excuse to use the Silla name for Seoul. And the Chinese character for cheon, 川, is three lines. And Silla unified the three kingdoms. This is a tale of 3. ㅂㅂㅂ, 비빔밥, bi-bim-bap…
Good night, good luck, and until next time,
CaféSeaSeo
written in Seoul at say something, in Tongui-dong, where a beautiful and delicious mocha assisted in the composition.
continued in Seoul at Astronomers Coffee in Hongdae. where an oatmilk latte with Pluto beans assisted in the composition.
Snippets of my Seoul 