http://busan.cityawesome.com

Visit our facebook page (and please like us!)

Article by Melissa Tait

I feel that Seomyeon is divided into halves. There’s the Judie’s Taewha Side and then there is the Lotte side. Once you decide to go left or right from the subway station, it feels like a bit of an effort to get back to the other side. And there’s plenty to do, eat and buy on both halves, but we all have our favourites. I had to go to Lotte on a Saturday, and then I was hungry…and getting to my favourite restaurant on the other side seemed quite beyond me in my hunger weakened state.

Thankfully, this amazing restaurant loomed into view. There’s a huge sign outside advertising lunch sets for between W5500 and W7000 so my friend and I jumped inside to see what they had to offer.

Inside the restaurant is modern and chic with a dark interior and long, comfortable, bench seats. We were presented with lunch menus that showed sets for food and meat…and bi bim bap? We just pointed at the first set (W5,500) and hoped the rest would sort itself out.

Firstly, the waitress brought over two bowls of rice. I sort of started picking at mine and then she helpfully showed me to make bi bim bap with bean sprouts and the sauces on our table. Mmmm tasty. Hunger pains abating. This is good. And then six side dishes arrived and two massive pieces of marinated galbi that were barbecued in front of us.

I was particularly impressed because the side dishes included that yummy egg souffle dish AND ji gae (sorry, spelling?) which, my friend and I split easily. When it came time to eat the meat we were both in heaven, the marinade was quite sweet and went perfectly with the sweeter kimchi in water and radish varieties. We both were hungry when we sat down and just to see the food coming and coming in waves was a sight to behold.

And then we got the bill. For the DIY Bi Bim Bap, BBQ, my favourite sides and also service coffee for two people it came to the grand total of W11,000. Now that’s a good lunch.

Directions: From Seomyeon Lotte (Seomyeon exit 7 or continue underground to Lotte) exit at the back of the building, away from the main road. There is two streets filled with food tents. This restaurant is just down the paved area where the two food tent streets intersect.