Cycle 14 – Item 118
3 (Wed) May 2023
Rice-Noodle Pho with Beef Brisket
2.0
at Mibundang
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with W and IZ
Try Every Restaurant in Scandi Mall (4) (see TERSM).
Mibundang is a Vietnamese restaurant chain. Currently 89 locations across the country. Specializes in pho. Oddly, the name of the place derives from the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters “米 (mi) 粉 (bun) 堂 (dang)” – “米粉 (mifen) = rice flour or rice noodles” + (堂 (tang) = hall)” – i.e., a pho joint.
Over the course of 14 years, my perspective as a food blogger has gone through 3 phases:
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- Phase 1 (Cycles 1-4) (2010-2013): fresh and dewy-eyed; everything seemed new and exciting as I tried to find foods to write about while living a quiet life in Korea.
- Phase 2 (Cycles 5-10) (2014-2019): positive and confident; so much to explore from my world travels and expat life in the Philippines.
- Phase 3 (Cycles 11-14) (2020-2023): grumpy and cynical; apathetic about some things, irritated by other things, rarely impressed – holier-than-thou across the board – even while the restaurant and grocery scene in Korea has advanced quite a bit upon our return.
Hoping that the final cycles of GMTD will bring on a Phase 4 in which I attain enlightenment and peace.
Until then, currently rooted in Phase 3, I offer a couple rants inspired by today’s restaurant experience.
First, since returning to Korea a few years ago, I have come to abhor straight-to-franchise chain restaurants. I’m not talking about traditional fast food chains owned by massive corporations, which are problematic in their own way, but at least they’re easily identifiable and thus avoidable when necessary. I’m talking about a new generation of eatery that appears by careful design to be a humble, long-standing, independently established/operated mom-and-pop establishment, but turns out to be merely one among identical and limitless clones. They spawn out of nowhere and overnight spread like viruses. The trend exploded while we were in the Philippines (2016-2019) – a few years back, I was shocked at encountering a beer chain that had been founded in 2016 and already had over 700 branches (at that time) (see 12.196 ‘Tis Rare Fine Beer). The food – mass-produced in a factory somewhere, packaged into individual portions, then distributed to the franchises, where they’re reheated upon order – is usually sterile and competent, which is good in a literal sense, but not figuratively.
Generally, I stay away from these chains when I can. A strong giveaway is the exterior signage and interior design, typically simplistic and unimaginative, but this place looked kinda high-end shabby-chic, quirky enough to be independent. I didn’t realize that it’s a chain until just now, doing a quick Naver search while writing the post.
Second, I have come to harbor disdain for (the vast majority of) pho restaurants in Korea. I’m a huge fan of pho in its authentic form (see for example 7.245 Pho Bo), but (the vast majority of) local versions tend to be watered-down copycats comprising mass-market dried rice noodles in stock derived from bouillon cubes (compare this 13.040 Seafood Pho vs that 13.015 Bun Hai San). In any given restaurant, the 2 immediate telltale signs of bullshit include the absence of fish sauce on the table and the absence of cilantro in the dish itself (but see 12.078 Bun Nem). Another tell is that the establishment is billed as a “Vietnamese Restaurant,” but they serve only pho, and perhaps a few variations of spring rolls, which can be half-assed without much expertise.
Anyway, as noted above, the pho was sterile and competent.
(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)