14.271 Dimsum

Cycle 14 – Item 271

3 (Tue) September 2023

Dimsum

2.0

at Haibo

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with IZ

Haibo is a Korean-Chinese restaurant.  In addition to the standards, the menu also offers dim sum – the signage claims dim sum to be the house specialty.  The restaurant is part of a chain, currently 7 locations.

Located in Woosung Tram Tower on the east flank oif Wirye Central Plaza (on the ground floor, Oozy Coffee is where the chicken shop was located – see more below).

The restaurant occupies the same space as Chunhyang, where we’d gone for my birthday dinner a few years back (11.358 Happy Family).

The dim sum chef, doing her thing out in the open, so as to prove the hand-madeness of the dumplings.

On this final day of a gloriously long 6-day holiday, starting with Chuseok last Thursday to Foundation Day today, IZ and I took advantage of the crisp fall weather to go on a bike ride around the neighborhood.  Afterwards, we dropped by Haibo for a quick snack.

Though well aware of the outrageously/unjustifiably high prices at all Korean-Chinese restaurants, I was surprised to find many of the dishes listed in excess of 100,000 won.  Albeit with seafood ingredients (e.g., lobster, abalone), albeit in large portion, but still shocking to see 6-figures on a menu at a casual neighborhood restaurant.

To put the dimsum prices into perspective, a plate of shaomai costs 12,000 won for 3 pieces.  Compared to 6,500 won at TimHo Wan for 3 pieces (see generally 14.064 Abalone Pork & Shrimp Dumplings), also 6,500 won at Dim Dimsum for 4 pieces (see generally 14.159 Roast Duck Noodle Soup).  When I commented to the manager that the dimsum seemed kinda pricy, she pointed to the dimsum chef and made a big deal about how the dumplings are handmade (TimHoWan and Dim Dimsum also make their dumplings by hand).

Sweet & Sour Pork: on the house.

The food was hit and miss.  The shaomai were pretty good, nicely textured and seasoned.  The xiaolong bao were okay in flavor but lacking in soup.  The hargao fillings were fine but the skins were kinda pasty and fell apart upon the first bite.  Definitely not worth 12,000 won, which is a shame because access to dimsum at reasonable prices near home would’ve been so nice.

Could be worse – 9 dumplings would’ve cost at least 90,000 won at (14.044 Dimsum Hahaha).

As previously alluded to (see 12.318 Ojingeo Muchim), I was involved in a minor incident a few months back.

I stop by a fried chicken restaurant and order a small bird from the takeaway window, waiting outside until the order is finished.  But when I try to give the guy behind the counter my credit card, he insists that I come inside to pay, even though the cash register is right there, adjacent to the takeaway window.  Me: “Just take the card – you’re already standing next to the register.”  Him: “Our store policy is to accept payment only within the premises.”  I try a third time but denied thrice.  Yes, I could’ve just opened the door, taken a single step inside, paid, and walked out with the chicken; but nay, I wasn’t about to put up with the bullshit, the dumbest thing that I’d ever encountered in my life.  So I just walk away.

The guy runs out from behind the counter and blocks my path, demanding loudly that I pay for the chicken.  Me: “I offered 3 times, and you refused 3 times.”  Him: “We have a rule that everyone else obeys – why should you be given special treatment?”  Meanwhile, as this exchange loops a few times, I’m heading to the parking lot to retrieve my car, but he’s body-checking me with ever-increasing aggression.  Soon, I’m on the edge.  I warn him not to touch me.  He does.  I shove him, causing him to fly back through the air and fall to the ground.  Still on the ground, he begins yelling that he’s been assaulted and cries out for witnesses.

A neighboring vendor has already summoned the police, who show up in short order and took our respective statements.

The self-ordering kiosk on the left is where I’d ordered the chicken; the “ALL ABOUT BAKERY,” just inside the doorway to the right, is where the cash register had been; the girl behind the counter is where the guy had been standing, initially to take my order then to refuse my offer of payment.

In the end, I was charged with battery and forced to pay a fine.  The guy, who turned out to be the owner – all this time, I’d been thinking that he was just a knucklehead part-timer trying to enforce a loose payment procedure – is also charged with battery but to lesser degree because I’d elevated the situation by using my hands (lethal weapons).

Soon thereafter, the chicken place went out of business – is this a wonder to anyone? – replaced by a coffee shop.

Incidentally, I was required to visit the immigration office during my visa renewal to submit documents about the case (see generally 14.216 Kal Mandu Guk).

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

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