Cycle 15 – Item 47
21 (Wed) February 2024
Woosamgyeop Jjageuli
4.0
-Sangam, Mapo, Seoul, Republic of Korea-
with book fair staff
At Dwight School Seoul this afternoon to set up for a book fair this week – the first since the advent of IRIS.
Midway through, we went out for lunch.
Iseonsaeng Jjageuli is a Korean restaurant. Specializes in hotpots, mostly involving pork and kimchi. Part of a franchise chain, currently 18 locations.
Ad nauseam, here it comes again: I abhor franchise chains.
I could see this one coming from a mile away, but it was the closest restaurant to the school (the school cafeteria didn’t look very promising).
Jjageuli (짜글이) is a Korean dish. Essentially a jjigae (stew), typically with kimchi + pork + vegetables, or a jeongol (hotpot) if cooked at the table, but with a denser broth, perhaps closer in that regard to a jjim (braise). The name derives from southern slang for the dented tin pot in which the dish is traditionally served (see for example 11.278 Truly a Felicitous Combination). Supposedly, the dish garnered national attention when Paik Jong-won (see most recently 15.035 Jjajang Myeon) featured the dish on one of his food travelogue shows several years back.
The Paik Jong-won thing happened in 2017, while we were in the Philippines. When we got back to Korea in 2020, jjageuli was already a thing. I was like, “jjageuli – what the fuck is that??”
Before I even sat down, I sensed something different. The hustle and bustle of the kitchen, visible from the floor, suggested that actual cooking was happening. While the promotional posters plasters on the walls were clearly produced by the corporate marketing team at HQ, the rest of the interior decor was no-frills, no-bullshit, no-time-to-play. The manager’s bad-ass attitude in managing waiting parties – “Order now, you’ll be eating the instant you’re seated” – instilled confidence.
Though loathe to admit that the food at a franchise chain could be anything but, it was awesome. The broth of the jjageuli was perfectly balanced between spicy and sweet, enhanced with the beefiness of woosamgyeop (shaved beef brisket), chock full of kimchi + dubu + zucchini + mushrooms, plus noodles – the ultimate comfort food. So good that everyone ordered an additional bowl of rice.
The chain has a location closer to home – I am very curious to see if the quality carries across the chain (skeptical), or if the Sangam branch is an outlier (likely).
(See also HANSIK)
(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)