four pics from today's walk

JW and I walked about two hours from Line 7's Surak-san Station (not named after Surak the Vulcan philosopher) and ended up in Uijeongbu. One of JW's team members had told JW about a restaurant called Odeng Shikdang,* which is apparently the very home of budgae-jjigae, a fusion stew with a red, peppery broth; some Korean veggies; tofu; and usually three fatty American meats: spam, hot dogs, and ground beef.

The place smelled good when we entered it. There was a greeter standing in the street, ready to guide us into the place, which is obviously something of a local tourist trap at this point, although it markets mainly to Koreans, not foreigners. The menu offered a ton of options; JW ended up ordering the "everything" special for two people. He had said, before we arrived, that if the budae-jjigae was good enough, he'd order more and doggy-bag it for his family. He ended up not ordering any more than what we ate, but the meal was pretty good, if a bit fibrous for my taste given all the large green onions.

When our soup came and was placed on the gas burner set into our table, the waiter advised us to eat the ramyeon first before it became too soggy. I kind of like my ramyeon to be al dente, anyway, so this was a good thought. Overall, I liked the stew a lot, especially the hot dogs. I forgot to ask what brand of hot dog the place used; it was the cheap and nasty sort that is perfect for something like budae-jjigae but not for much else.

I didn't remember to take a picture of my food until my second bowl of stew was almost gone (you're given small, individual bowls into which you ladle your soup from the big bowl that's bubbling away in the center of the table.

At the end of the meal, JW went to the bathroom, so he missed my horrific and embarrassing coughing fit when I tried to drink some water, and it went down the wrong pipe (ever since my stroke, I've had to be extra careful about drinking stuff because choking, coughing, and sputtering are now real possibilities every time I drink). But I did my best to recover my dignity, and I paid for our meal. The place is definitely worth revisiting.

As it turned out, we had eaten in the first branch of Odeng Shikdang to appear after the original restaurant, which was barely two doors down from us on the same street. The original resto dates back to 1960, so it's older than I am. That particular street is known, informally, as Budae-jjigae Geori, or Budae-jjigae Street, because there are several budae restaurants there. I snapped pics of both Odeng Shikdang branches when we were leaving. 

The plan, for me, was then to walk another 15K along Joongnang Creek toward Oksu Station upon leaving, but I wimped out and took the subway back to my place. I might or might not do another couple hours' walking this evening. We'll see.

Some pics:

a snapshot of the menu

I almost forgot to take a picture of my food

the original restaurant's first rhizome

apparently, this right here is the original original house of budae-jjigae

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*In case you're wondering, odeng, a.k.a. eomuk (eo, pronounced "aw," means "fish"), is a molded fish paste used throughout East Asia. It can be shaped into thick sheets, tubes, meatballs, or pretty much anything else. It's a quick, cheap source of protein that is often sold as street food in Korea: odeng on a stick, boiling away all day in a bath of salty soup. The word shikdang simply means "restaurant"; shik is "eating" and dang is "place" or "hall." So translating Odeng Shikdang into English doesn't sound very appetizing: "Fish Paste Restaurant" sounds kind of gross, actually. But if you live in Korea long enough, you come to understand that odeng is a cultural trope, one of many symbols for Korea that has had significance for years. There's something familiar and homey about odeng that the English phrase fish paste doesn't capture because the very concept of fish paste, in English-speaking culture, is so foreign. So just roll with it. Imagine an American restaurant named after an iconic American food trope, say, "House of French Fries" or something.