A favorite pastime of mine: Blaming China for all my problems. It's not the nicest thing to do, but I figure we have to blame someone, and i sure as hell am not going to blame myself! But in all seriousness, one of the most interesting aspects of Korea is the deluge of Chinese restaurants around, barely any of them 'authentic'. There is an colorful, if not depressing, history to Chinese food in Korea, dating back to Chinese forced into Korea and having no other choice but cook and sell their food as a way to survive. I remember learning about this, over dinner with a former professor. Eating Chinese food in Korea never seemed to be the same after that depressing bit of history, but it doesn't mean it made it any less delicious. This place, 효동각, is located close to my house and Yonsei University and is perhaps some of the best Korean-Chinese food I've ever had, especially their 탕수육 (sweet and sour pork). Most places make it similar to others, but this place has a sauce that is worth the exceptionally high price they charge. It's really the only reason I go here, because I don't eat black noodles and even though their udon is great, it's udon. All in all, guys and dolls, this is one of those places that I will certainly miss when I head home in August, even if there is nothing really 'authentic' about this Chinese food.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Day 79: Blame it on China, Folks
A favorite pastime of mine: Blaming China for all my problems. It's not the nicest thing to do, but I figure we have to blame someone, and i sure as hell am not going to blame myself! But in all seriousness, one of the most interesting aspects of Korea is the deluge of Chinese restaurants around, barely any of them 'authentic'. There is an colorful, if not depressing, history to Chinese food in Korea, dating back to Chinese forced into Korea and having no other choice but cook and sell their food as a way to survive. I remember learning about this, over dinner with a former professor. Eating Chinese food in Korea never seemed to be the same after that depressing bit of history, but it doesn't mean it made it any less delicious. This place, 효동각, is located close to my house and Yonsei University and is perhaps some of the best Korean-Chinese food I've ever had, especially their 탕수육 (sweet and sour pork). Most places make it similar to others, but this place has a sauce that is worth the exceptionally high price they charge. It's really the only reason I go here, because I don't eat black noodles and even though their udon is great, it's udon. All in all, guys and dolls, this is one of those places that I will certainly miss when I head home in August, even if there is nothing really 'authentic' about this Chinese food.
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Citizens of the Republic of China in exile. Lots of people say, why don't they just go home to Taiwan, but Taiwan never was their home..
ReplyDeleteAs I keep telling you Tim, we have all those things here, including Korean-Chinese restaurants here. It won't be as good as the one in Korea, though.
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