Cycle 4 – Item 91

6 (Sat) April 2013

Special Mari I + II

2.5

from School Food

at HSK’s home

-Geumho, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, HSK’s family

School Food is a Korean delivery chain.  Founded in 2002, the company currently has 32 locations, including 1 in Tokyo and 1 in Los Angeles.  They’re famous for their newfangled gimbab, referred to on the menu as “mari (마리) = roll.”  In lieu of the typical gimbab components (e.g., spinach, carrots), the rolls feature ingredients that are essentially Korean but not necessarily associated with gimbab (e.g., myeolchi (멸치) (dried anchovies)).

The occasion was a long overdue visit to see, for the very first time, my friend HSK’s baby girl L.  She was born in November, but the father has been remiss in inviting us over, even though we live within a 5-minute walk of each other.  L is quite the doll who, at least in appearance, is fortunate more to resemble her mother.

For dinner, we ordered a variety of items from School Food.  Special Mari I consisted of a 3-roll set comprising dried anchovies, tuna, and sautéed kimchi, while the Special Mari II included “spam” (don’t know if it’s the original stuff), squid + squid ink, and flying fish roe.  It was all pretty good.  On the other hand, the more traditional items that we got were kinda crappy.  First, they were exorbitantly priced, like ddeokbokki/”topokki” for 6,000 won, which sells for half/third as much on the street.  Second, they didn’t taste very good, the ddeokbokki/”topokki” being so ridiculously spicy that I was sweating after a couple bites.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)