Cycle 16 – Item 20
25 (Sat) January 2025
-Post 5,499-
Jin Ramyeon (Hot)
2.5
at Nolsoop
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with W and IZ
Manhwabang is a Korean comic book café. Customers pay by the hour to hang out and read whatever the establishment has to offer. Food and drink (and, in days of yore, cigarettes) available at extra charge. When manhwabang were first getting started back in the 1960s, they were (stereo)typically located in back alleys and basements, (stereo)typically filled with cheap furniture and musty air, (stereo)typically patronized by young men with nowhere else to go, nothing more productive to do. Modern-day establishments are now (stereo)typically super slick with high end amenities, popular among families, friends, couples.
Not to be confused with an American-style comic book store, where customers buy the books before they read them (see for example 15.121 Chili Dog & Chips).
This afternoon, I visited a manhwabang for the first time in my life. No particular reason why I’d held out, just never into comic books, certainly not in Korean.
For ages, IZ had been raving about the ramyeon at this particular manhwabang, that the kitchen supposedly does something to make it extra special, way better than my renditions at home. Though certain that his perceptions were tainted by the fun of the situation, I finally relented and tagged along to see what all the fuss was about, the food as well as the place itself.
I brought my own books, same ones that I’d begun at the Seoul Silent Book Club last week (see generally 16.014 Chicken Sandwich).
Prices are very reasonable. For adults, the minimum fee is 6,000 won for the first hour, inclusive of any drink priced up to 2,500 (with the option to top up for a fancier drink), 3,500 per hour thereafter; for kids, 5,500 won for the first hour, plus drink, 3,000 per hour thereafter. Pre-paying for a longer stay offers increasingly competitive hourly rates. Cooked dishes from the kitchen start at 4,500 won for instant noodles, maxing out at 8,500 won for pastas. Quite a cheap way to waste away an afternoon, reading junk, eating junk.
I was thoroughly unsurprised to confirm that the ramyeon was just ramyeon – no comparison to mine (see for comparison 15.350 Jin Ramyeon (Hot)).
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(See all RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)