16.138 Dim Sum Special Course (Dinner)

Cycle 16 – Item 134

Post 5,613

19 (Mon) May 2025

Dim Sum Special Course (Dinner)

3.0

at Mongjungheon

-Munjeong, Songpa, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, Mom + Dad

Among the many lifetime full circles that I hope to encounter in the coming years, this was the first: seeing my son graduate high school, from SIS, where I had graduated 34 years ago (1991).

Back in my day, with just 43 graduates, the ceremony had been held in the auditorium; now with 72 graduates, the ceremony was held on the soccer field.

The thing these days, at least at SIS (maybe at other schools), is for students, after receiving their diploma, to come off the stage and give an impromptu shout-out to their family, usually in Korean.   DJ yelled “엄마 아빠 사랑해! (Mom and Dad, I love you!),” even though the audio seems to suggest otherwise.

IZ was hurt that he wasn’t acknowledged in the “Dominic would like to thank…,” which had been written and submitted earlier, and read out (by the assistant principal) as DJ accepted the diploma.

A mini full circle: standing next to DJ is Mr Niko Lambert, DJ’s AP Bio and AP Chemistry teacher, whose father Monsieur Francois Lambert was one of the French teachers and senior class homeroom teachers when I was a senior.

Mongjungheon is a Korean-Chinese restaurant.  Serves the typical fare, along with dimsum.  Somewhere between mid to high-end in terms of quality and pricing.  Currently 10 locations, mostly scattered in Gangnam and other areas south of the river.

Located 165 m from Munjeong Station (Exit 2)
Mostly empty, on a Friday evening.

Afterwards, we had dinner at Mongjungheon – the 4 of us plus Grandpa and Grandma (paternal grandparents) (maternal grandparents had attended the ceremony but we’ll host a meal with them separately in the near future).

The Dim Sum Special Course (Dinner) serves 8 courses.  Appetizers + 6 types of dimsum + scorched rice soup with seafood + black pepper beef + choice of noodle or rice (e.g., jjajang myeon, jjambbong, fried rice, congee) + dessert.  80,000 won.

The food was good.  Not worth 80,000 per person for the set, but solid regardless of the price.  Perhaps the best Korean-Chinese cuisine, certainly the best dimsum, that I’ve had close to home.  Will be back for more.

Another tradition these days is for undergraduates to give graduates flower bouquets – this is what DJ brought home.
Surprised – good or bad? – to find that the diplomas have not changed in 34 years.

Whether I should continue GMTD to cover IZ’s high school in 2030, Cycle 21…?

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