Cycle 3 – Item 196
19 (Thu) July 2012
Deungsim + Anchang
3.0
at Chosim Hanwoo
-Geumgok, Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with W and DJ, Mom + Dad
In stark contrast to the sweet selflessness of my son’s birthday request a few days earlier, which had involved opting for a restaurant near home to make things easy on everyone (see 3.192 Sundubu Jjigae), my father’s birthday request also involved a restaurant near home, but near my parents’ home in Bundang, which doesn’t seem egregiously selfish per se, except in light of the fact that his office, where he and my mother both would be just prior to dinner, lies a mere 4 km from our home in Oksu, meaning that we all could’ve enjoyed a meal conveniently and cozily in the vicinity of where everyone already was, without having to drive 42 km to another city in another province. I would’ve understood if the restaurant were special, but it was just a run-of-the-mill barbecue joint located on the ground floor of their apartment building. When I tried to propose alternatives, he brushed them all aside, declaring that he was too tired to go anywhere out of the way. I couldn’t argue that he would therefore be making us go way out of the way, which invariably would’ve compelled my mother to cancel the whole thing in protest of my perceived laziness and lack of filial piety, particularly on a day like this.
Fortunately, the food was pretty good, as usual. Not a big fan of deungsim (ribeye), which I find to be much too marbled/fatty/rich for my tastes, I ordered a serving of anchang (skirt), which tends to be leaner, a bit chewier in texture, and beefier in flavor. I don’t know why it’s much darker in color, at least at this restaurant, as the photo above would suggest. These days, for some reason, the cut is often more expensive than others; here, the skirt was 37,000 won for 150 grams, compared to the ribeye at 35,000 won for 170 grams. The complimentary side dishes were varied and reasonably well made, if predictable.
Much to the dismay of my father, who regards my practice of taking food photos to be pointless and preposterous, offensive and obstructive, I documented every single item on the table with delightful deliberation, just to annoy him, passively, aggressively. So here they are.
(See also FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)
