16.218 Nokdu Bindae Ddeok

Cycle 16 – Item 218

Post 5,697

11 (Mon) August 2025

Nokdu Bindae Ddeok

1.0

at Bong Piyang (New Building)

-Bangi, Songpa, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Business is booming, apparently.  Beyond the original building (bon-gwan) (see generally 4.179 Pyeongyang Mul Naengmyeon), the restaurant has since branched out to a separate building next door (byeol-gwan), then another building down the block (sin-gwan).  Not to mention the many other locations sprouting all across the capital region, currently 15 in all, including the one in Lotte Department Store, where I’d eaten last week (see 16.213 Pyeongyang Naengmyeon).

While abhorring the ubiquity of the franchise chain – a model designed from the outset to standardize menus and recipes, centralize production and distribution, and simplify preparation and operation, so that anyone can simply pay a licensing fee and have it up and running the next day, resulting in food that is consistent and convenient, usually cheap, yet entirely soulless – I am all for a restaurant that does it right on their own then builds on that success to scale up operations to additional locations, so long as it maintains quality control in doing so.

Annex building (byeol-gwan) – new building can be seen to left, next to the police station, behind the green tree.

Interestingly, perhaps not coincidentally, 2 other massively successful naengmyeon restaurants expanded by buying out neighboring properties, rather than relocating into a bigger space: Eulmildae (see generally 4.184 The Eulmildae MNM) and Jinmi Pyeongyang Naengmyeon (see generally 16.126 Eobok Jaengban) – must be an MNM thing.

New building (sin-gwan).

Upon arrival, the original building and annex building were packed to capacity with long waitlists, but the new building was empty.  I couldn’t understand why someone would wait in line to eat in a loud, crowded environment when they could merely walk 20 steps down the alley and dine in peace and comfort – the food would be the same, presumably, even if each building has its own on-site prep kitchen.

Cutting it into pie pieces makes sense, though I can’t recall ever seeing bindae ddeok cut this way – in fact, it’s usually served whole.

First time ordering the bindae ddeok, at any Bong Piyang location, so I have no point of comparison, but it was clearly overcooked, nearly burnt, dry and crumbly, inedible.  I sent it back, wondering if the kitchen in the original building would’ve let such a thing be served.

Anyway, the rest of the food was fine, including the MNM, which is what counts.

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See HANSIK)

(See BOOZE)

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