뽕잎 사랑: 샤브 칼국수

Today we ate at one of my favorite places 뽕잎 사랑: 샤브 칼국수.

뽕잎 are mulberry leaves, so 뽕잎 사랑 is Mulberry Leaves Love, or possibly I Love Mulberry Leaves. The place runs on the gimmick that mulberry leaves are super healthy. They put mulberry leaves in practically everything they serve.

Bo Young and I ordered the Lunch Special which is simply hangulized to 런치 스페셜 (lunchy suhpeshul).

It comes with a couple of noteworthy side dishes. A cold, salty seaweed soup.

And a plate of shredded cabbage served with a yogurt dressing (and possibly some powdered mulberry leaves).

I’m not usually a fan of Korean yogurt/salad combos, particularly the strawberry variety, but this tastes pretty good. One side dish not pictured is a plate of horribly acidic kimchi, the lone sour note of the day.

샤브샤브/shabu-shabu is a soup made with thinly sliced meat and vegetables. It involves several stages of cooking. First come the vegetables (and fungus).

Notice a variety of mushrooms, greens and a couple thin slices of pumpkin. These are mixed in with the red broth and cooked for a few minutes. Take some out and start eating before adding the meat:

The thin slices cook very fast so be careful not to overdo them. Two to three minutes should do the trick. I put in about half at first then add the noodles:

These are 칼국수, handmade noodles. This place of course puts mulberry leaves in theirs, hence the green color. You basically get to just eat for awhile. Add in the meat stir the pot, lower the temperature of the stove and enjoy. When you finish all that’s in the bowl, you call the waiter over and ask them “밥 좀 해주세요” (bap jome hay joo say yo) Can you please make us rice? The rice has been sitting on the table since the start of the meal:

At other shabu-shabu restaurants they make porridge, with the left over broth, but here it’s fried rice. When they finish it looks like this:

You scrape it out of the pot with your spoon. The best parts are the crunchy bits stuck to the side.

Finally, they serve ice cream! It’s green tea ice cream with some mulberry leaves for sure.

It’s all so tasty. Oh, and they promise that their food will make you poop! They must believe mulberry leaves are high in fiber, but there doesn’t seem to be much information on the subject outside of some research exploring the possibility of using mulberry leaves as feed for ruminating animals.

Anyway, all that food and the Lunch Special is only 6,000 won.

You can find 뽕잎 사랑 in Sinchon. If you’re coming from Yonsei it’s on the crosswalk side past the bridge and the cluster of 약국s. From the Sinchon subway it’s on the same side as exit 4, about a 3 minute walk away from the exit. I hope to get around to making a map one of these days, which would make it much easier.

죽 전문점 Porridge Specialist

Today I felt like a 나홀로족 Nahollojok today because I ate alone. I decided to go for some porridge at this great basement restaurant 죽 전문점 (jook jun-moon-jum).

Porridge Specialist

It’s a simple and plain set-up similar to that of 딸기골/Strawberry Town but much smaller.

I’d been there once before with Bo Young. That time I ate 야채죽 (ya-chay-jook)/Vegetable Porridge, which is the same thing I had today without the chicken. The best thing they served was the 바찬 (bahn-chahn)/side dishes, particularly the potatoes. We went back for seconds, which got Bo Young a bit of a dirty look. Generally, the restaurants with the bad side dishes will pile them on your plate to no end, while the ones with better side dishes will hoard them. Sadly there were no potatoes today, but they were still tasty.

side dishes

(clockwise from the top: fermented spinach with onions, kimchi, mushrooms and carrots, bean sprouts and seaweed in the center)

I ordered the 닭죽 (dahk-jook)/Chicken Porridge. It’s mostly rice with little bits of carrot, mushroom, pepper, scallion and chunks of chicken.

pipin’ hot chicken porridge

That’s steam rising off the bowl. I had to wait for it to cool down a bit, so I ate the entire plate of side dishes. One ajumma had been keeping a close eye on me since I came in. She had a warm smile and bright eyes and quickly replaced the empty plate with a fresh helping. By then, my porridge was fit for consumption. It’s a subtle taste that is more about texture and warmth than anything else. I made short work of it paid the 5,000원 fee, thanked the ladies and headed out.

죽 전문점 Porridge Specialist is located just after the bridge when crossing the street heading away from the main gate of Yonsei University. It’s on the side opposite the cluster of 약국/Pharmacies.

딸기골 Strawberry Town

딸기골 (Ddalki Gol) is advertised as a HOF and Soju bar, but they draw a good crowd at lunch hour serving simple Korean food that is tasty and cheap.

I ordered 불고기 돌솥밥 (bulgogi dolsot bap), which is marinated beef over rice cooked with onions and carrots with an egg yolk on top and served in a hot stone bowl (돌솥 means stone bowl) . Interestingly, this restaurant cooks this dish using butter, which is rare for a Korean restaurant/Korean food in general. Bo Young supposes that this is do to careful surveying on their part as there are lots of foreigners in the area.

Bo Young ordered 치즈김치순두부찌개 (cheejuh kimchi soondooboo jjigae), which is a mild kimchi soup with noodles, tofu, peppers, and egg with cheese on top.

We also ate some boiled 만두 (mandu), pork dumplings, not pictured. These were all mild but delicious dishes and we left the restaurant with full stomachs and wallets.

The main dishes were 3,800원 each and the mandu was 2,500원, for a grand total of 10,100원.

딸기골 is located near the East Gate of Yonsei University. If you walk behind the dentist buildings and head down the hill you should reach it within a couple of minutes.