Seoul, Korea —
◆ A gourmet restaurant that has grabbed the attention of the picky denizens of the Hongdae area
There is an attraction in the Hongdae area that has been around for more than a decade without a proper signboard. Even if you spot the small sign on the second floor, you can barely see the entrance. But if you are a Hongdae student, you eat there when you are freshmen and continue to go there after graduation.
Hongik Sujebi has been making
sujebi across from the front gate of Hongdae for 17 years. On the side of building, there is a stairway just wide enough for one person and through a old wooden doorway, you see a interior that brings to mind the word
charming. In the interior, there are no nice tables, but there are stands all around the walls, allowing anyone to come and eat alone while also allowing one to enjoy the feeling of eating side by side rather than face to face.
At lunchtime, it is common to see long lines of people waiting to eat a bowl of
sujebi. It is best to avoid the lunch hour if you want to calmly take your time eating your
sujebi. When I went in long after the lunch hour was over, I saw a mother and her son getting up after finishing their meal. Sunlight shone in through the large window on one side of the restaurant, lighting up the back of the mother and son. This scene was as comforting to me as seeing a black-and-white picture of my childhood. The interior provided an atmosphere of softness and rest, like a quiet way station somewhere off the beaten track.
As soon as she gets your order, the cook pours soup stock into a pot, adding
sujebi with expert hands as soon as the stock starts to boil. The smell starts to tickle the end of my nose, making me even more eager for my bowl of
sujebi.
There is a story of a famous actress who was so poor before her career took off that the only meal she could afford was sujebi, and sujebi has become a beloved dish of Korea. It offers a different form of satisfaction from a bowl of rice and is not so good for people on diets, yet it seems that sujebi is more favored by women. It’s hard to put your finger on why people feel such a fondness for sukjebi, which is made in what seems an almost absent-minded way as the cook pulls off piece after piece of dough to drop into the boiling broth? Is it because the different shapes of the sujebi dumplings seem to reflect the many and various things we see in our everyday life? I guess I have grown old enough to see my life in a bowl of sujebi.
The dough for the next day is kneaded after the busy lunch hour has ended. After serving us two bowls of
sujebi, the master cook shows her skills by expertly handling the sticky dough. With quick, habitual movements, the master quickly makes three or four lumps of dough. Then the dough is left to rise, waiting for tomorrow to be used as the main ingredient for the day’s meals. She is frustrated that because
sujebi is regarded as something that should cheap and abundant, she can’t raise the price even though the cost of everything that goes into it, including flour, cabbage, and turnips, has risen. The entrance, which is so narrow that just one person can pass through, is stacked with sacks of flour and yet more sacks fill every nook and cranny of the small room. She wants to buy more because the price of the flour keeps going up, but she can’t because there is no more room in the restaurant. She wishes for the price would stop rising.
Since she has been here for 17 years and has seen the hair of many a Hongdae professor turn white. She says that she misses the old days.
After watching the kneading and peeking in at the making of the anchovy broth, my leftover sujebi has cooled off, but I can’t let it go to waste. The cold sujebi is chewier and stickier, giving a whole different, special taste that is also enjoyable. Usually customers eat as quickly as possible, out of consideration for the customers who are waiting their turn, but because I came at a time when the restaurant was not so busy, I took my time eating, and after looking into this and that, I had the chance to experience a new taste of sujebi. Even the master cook says that sujebi tastes better after it has cooled. Because the sujebi is made by hand, I didn’t want to leave any, and in any case, the delicious taste just won’t allow it. I finished everything, including the soup. Hearing the sound of footsteps on the narrow wooden stairs, the cook rushes into the kitchen to get ready to serve more customers. The smell of the soup stock, made with plenty of anchovies, and the sound of pots clattering as she busily prepares the food make for a warm, familiar atmosphere.
Flour
In the process of milling flour, it is separated into different types according to its intended use and chemical composition. They can be largely categorized in three types, according te their protein content and, therefore, their ability to form gluten: soft wheat, hard wheat, and durum wheat. Durum wheat is most suitable for noodble, sujebi, and other pasta. Mixing the flour with a small amount of water and kneading it causes some of the starch to be washed away, leaving the gluten, the sticky lump of dough which is used to make bread, cookies, noodles, and sujebi. It is high in calories and full of carbohydrates, so it is recommended that people on diets avoid foods made with flour. Nevertheless, wheat flour is effective in decreasing constipation and colon cancer because the large amount of fiber absorbs moisture.
Uses of the different types of flour:
Hard flour: adds softness to various types of bread because it is high in protein.
Soft flour: cakes, cookies, and fried foods
Durum flour: noodles, ramen, sujebi, dumplings
Origins of sujebi
Sujebi and noodles made with wheat flour have been eaten since the Goryeo Dynasty, but the word
sujebi originated during the Joseon Dynasty. The word came from the word
sujeobi, a combination of
su, the Chinese character for
hand, and
jeop, the character for
fold. It is sometimes called thrown soup, and in North Korea, it is called tear flour soup.
How to Find It
Hongik Sujebi
Mapo-gu, Seogyo-dong 358-9
Phone: (02) 323-6828
Tip: The refreshing, clear anchovy stock is good, but also try the soy sauce with
cheongyang chili pepper when you want a spicy taste. If
sujebi alone isn’t enough for you, try the
sujebi with soft tofu.
Ratings
Taste ★★★★☆
Service ★★★☆☆
Transportation ★★★★☆
Satisfaction ★★★☆☆
By Kim Min Suk (Third place in 1994 Miss Korea)
Source: TVReport (Original article in Korean)
Photo from TVReport DB
Kia customers will benefit from the next generation Picanto’s greatly reduced CO2 emissions and improved fuel economy when the company’s latest A-segment hatchback goes on sale around the world later this year.
