There's a restaurant not far from my office where the service is fairly friendly, and the food is pretty decent if not spectacular: Go Bong Min Kimbap In. My boss says the first three syllables are probably someone's name, and the last three syllables literally translate as "kimbap person," i.e., a maker of kimbap. I tried going there a second time yesterday, but at 2:30 p.m., I hit the ladies during their lunch hour (ironic: a restaurant that doesn't serve lunch during the lunch-eating part of the day... is this France?), so after they told me to come back at 3 p.m., I grumbled, walked out, and shuffled over to my go-to Vietnamese place. Today, I went back at an earlier time, got seated... then waited several minutes while the one lady taking orders jabbered away on the phone. She finally looked my way and innocently asked, "Have you ordered?"—to which I replied, "I still haven't, no," after which she became apologetic. "Tell me when you've decided," she said, still on the phone. "Even if you're on the phone?" I asked. "Oh!" she said, "So that's why you haven't said anything..." I guess she assumed I'd be the typically shouty Korean male who simply brunts his way into the restaurant and calls out what he wants without caring. Anyway, I'd seen a type of doenjang pork dish that I'd never eaten before, so I ordered that along with some ddeok manduguk, i.e., meat-dumpling soup with rice cakes and vegetables. Here's a pic of the overall meal plus a closeup of the pork:
All in all, not bad. I'm thinking of becoming a regular at this place, but given the "we're on break" treatment I got yesterday, I'm a bit hesitant. Most restaurants that serve food like this don't take breaks right in the middle of the lunch period, and being made to wait while the order-taker jabbered on the phone for a long time wasn't the best feeling, either. The food is good, though, so that's a plus, and the lady who does all the talking (she has the same gravelly voice as singer/actress Awkwafina) obviously means well, even if she's a bit scatterbrained, so I don't attribute any malice to her actions.
Good lunch. I'll probably be back.
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