2.268

30 (Fri) September 2011

Gim Bab

2.5

from Halmeoni Gim Bab

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Halmeoni Gim Bab is a Korean restaurant.  Sells 1 item, 1 variety: gim bab.  Takeout only.  The entire premises comprises a kitchen, no counter or any hardware to indicate that business is taking place.  The rolls are wrapped in foil and piled on a table near the entrance.  Customers take as many as they want, as may be available.   Customers do their own math – rolls are currently 1,300 won apiece – and throw their money into an open box next on the table, and take their own change.  Cash only.  The “halmeoni” – the term means “grandmother” but the term is commonly used for any old woman – refers to the old woman sitting behind a table from 7:00AM to 9:00PM every day making the rolls.  She never looks up or otherwise acknowledges when a customer enters.

To live or to have lived in Oksu-Dong is to be an eternal votary of this hole-in-the-wall establishment. While the ingredients per se aren’t particularly amazing in terms of taste, they’re generously over-stuffed into each roll that costs a mere 1,300 won.  In fact, the low cost does cast a bit of suspicion on the quality.  For over 10 years, the price had remained steady at 1,000 won, when other places were charging 1,500-2,000 won, even before the “1,000-won gim bab” craze had briefly become the standard at most cheap restaurants during the mid-2000s, but the old woman finally poked her head out the door and discovered that it’s a new decade/century/millennium.

I arrived home late to find a couple leftover rolls from a lunch gathering that W had organized.  Normally 3.0, maybe even a 3.5 when hungry, the gim bab’s rating unavoidably dropped down to a 2.5 after sitting around on the counter for half a day.

(See also FOODS.)

(See also PLACES.)