14.254 Futomaki

Cycle 14 – Item 254

16 (Sat) September 2023

Futomaki

3.0

at Chun Pungwol

-Apgujeong, Gangnam, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, FIL

DJ plays the cello.  He’s in strings class at school and receives private lessons at home.  He has never been seen/heard practicing on his own.  Even he would concede that he’s not a gifted musician, and he’s not really that into it.

But suddenly, he was scheduled to perform at a public recital, backed by a full professional orchestra.

The only cello on the program, everyone else playing piano.

Each performer (at least in this case, nobody knew each other) contributed part of the payment that went to the orchestra and the venue.  The recitals were recorded and given back to the performers for whatever purpose – DJ, for example, will attach the video to his college applications next year (the women performers were all much older and appeared to be teachers of various sorts, so the videos presumably will be used for marketing).

Photos were strictly prohibited during the show, but I got a quick shot after the performances were all done, and everyone came out together for a final bow.

He played the first movement Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, which I happen to know quite well (even though I don’t really listen to classical music) because it’s one of my father’s all-time favorites (I still have his vinyl record of the piece, which I’d grown up listening to ad nauseam).  When I was told that he’d be playing it, I didn’t have high hopes, aware of the music’s complexity and skeptical of his skill and/or preparation (see lack of practice above).  But wow, he killed it, at least to my novice ears – I had goosebumps the entire time.

He will always be my baby, but I prefer to remember him when he was still a little boy (see for example 2.054 Mini Burgers).

Afterwards, DJ wanted to eat Japanese, and we had to take FIL home, so we went to Chun Pungwol.

4 orders of negitoromaki x 18,000 won per order = 72,000 won – totally overpriced, but sorta worth it, given the inherent deliciousness of tuna belly.

The futomaki was okay per se.  And like the negitoromaki, this restaurant is the only place that I know of that offers the dish in Korea, so I was excited to order it.  But totally overpriced at 32,000 won – each piece costing 4,000 won (the price of an entire roll of gimbap) – and not worth it, given the mundane ingredients, including shrimp tempura, tuna sashimi, grilled eel, pickled burdock root, egg omelet, cucumber, avocado.  The whole point of a futomaki is to stuff it with ingredients on hand for a cheap yet filling roll (see for example 6.327 Futomaki) – win for the restaurant, win for the customer – but not here.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

Leave a Reply