After a trip to Lotte World, I took a cab back to the old hood! I left Korea when I was 12, after finishing up 5th grade. I went back to my old apartment complex! Things looked a bit rundown/old but I guess that’s expected given it’s been 15+ years since we left. Old neighborhood still had some reminiscences of when I used to be there, but any vacant land there may have been around the neighborhood were now filled by high-rise apartment buildings.
Also went and visited my old elementary school, unfortunately it was fenced so I couldn’t get in and walk around but generally things looked the same… Looked to be in great shape!
While it was awesome to walk around the old neighborhood and apartment complex, I got to say, highlight of this short trip back to my old hood was eating something that I’ve been longing for 10+ years… My mom and I discussed before I left for Korea whether or not the same place that we used to order from would still be around after all these years… After all, it was a hole in the wall place in a plaza right next to our apartment complex. I approached the small shopping plaza slowly, hoping to see a sign for the same Sohn Kal Guk Su place, I had to do several takes b/c I thought the place disappeared… then I kept walking towards and saw the SIGN for a Sohn Kal Guk Su place!!! (Sohn Kal Guk Su is hand-made hot noodle soup - this english translation does not do any kind of justice for the flavor and goodness it has…)
Next step was making sure the place that was in front of me was owned by same owners as back then… just then an older gentleman walked out and I saw him, obviously older but he looked very familiar… (funny how I couldn’t recognize distant family/cousins but I recognized the owner of this food place at first glance… more on this in later posts LOL) - I walked in… and saw couple of soups prepared and set for delivery… there it was… Y U M… I sat down… waited patiently… then waited some more… wanted to jump over and take the food from this older couple next to me… lol jk finally… my bowl of soup arrived on my table… there it was… still looked same, still had same good smell… and the taste?
A M A Z I N G ! ! !
Just the way I remembered it!!! I killed that bowl with kimchi… SO GOOD! It’s not often I get very excited like this about food, but this bowl of noodles? Unreal… Just as I left, I asked the lady who was working how long she had been open for (just to double check)… she said they had been open for 19 years!!! I hope they remain open for a LONG time… Another ~20 Years!!!
Kind of spot I hope to bring my kids some day - that’s how delicious and unforgettable it is…
TYK
PS - Wedding posts coming up next couple of days…
