[RESTAURANT STORY] A Steamy bowl of Kongnamul Gukbap (Bean Sprout Soup with Rice) makes you refreshingly candid

[RESTAURANT STORY]A Steamy bowl of Kongnamul Gukbap (Bean Sprout Soup with Rice)

makes you refreshingly candid

Dongmakgol Jeonju Kongnamul Haejangguk in Dongchun-dong

There is a saying that the best restaurants are concentrated around the road going down Cheongryangsan Mountain. Of the restaurants, a modest restaurant located on the road to Cheongryangsan Mountain draws my attention. The owner of the restaurant must have a lot of gut. Otherwise, how he can serve a dish made with kongnamul (bean sprouts), one of the most common and inexpensive ingredients on an alley that is lined with fine restaurants.

With my curiosity, I order a bowl of affordable haejangguk. After hearing the sound boiling in a ttukbaegi (earthenware pot), I am served a bowl of haejangguk topped with saeujeot (salted and fermented shrimp), cheongyang red pepper with spicy scent, thinly sliced eomuk (fish cake). I taste the soup. I’m relieved as I have kongnamul with refreshing soup. I can only feel the delicious taste of soybeans, not fishy smell of kongnamul.

By the way, I find the amount of cooked rice I was served to be rather small. This is because it is participating in the half-bowl rice activity which is being implemented by the Yeonsu-gu office to reduce food waste.

You may ask, “Give me an extra bowl of cooked rice, please.” rather than get upset. No extra cost is charged on additional bowls of cooked rice.

The refreshing taste of the soup and crispy texture of the restaurant’s are beyond compare and its secret is in its fresh ingredients.

“Fine and fresh ingredients are the secret recipe. Heads of dried Pollack and dried shrimp are boiled to make the soup, and the kongnamul, which is no taller than 5cm is used, which gives crispy the texture and pleasant taste.” The restaurant owner, Kim Jeong-hui, dreams about making the best restaurant, serving the finest food in the cleanest conditions.

She says, “Although the business is going well, I will not be greedy when it comes to my restaurant. And if it doesn’t, I would not spare ingredients to reduce expenses. I’ll try not to forget my first aspiration and passion as if I set the table and served dishes for my own family.”

Her strict principle on serving good food to customers can be sensed in her words that she’d like to serve dishes that are natural and easy to eat.

There is a restaurant serving kongnamul haejangguk that makes you refreshingly candid at the end of an alley in Dongchun-dong, which is lined with fine Japanese restaurants and Korean restaurants.