정태네실비집 — Restaurant in Seoul

Food that warms your soul.

Takes an effort to find this local haunt. You’ll have to navigate up a small dingy flight of stairs and then another dingier flight of stairs up to the second storey.

Once inside, you’ll realize that you’re not in a proper restaurant. No, this place was not designed to impress with shiny things. It is rather run down and drab looking. But you will also notice that everyone inside is having a great time and you’ll soon find out why.

The owner/ waiter doesn’t speak English but he will spare no effort to make you feel like you’re at home. We only ordered their famous spicy chicken stew because it’s just two of us and it’s late and it’s deep winter. He came back quickly with a small pot of hot radish and fish cake soup, served it to us in 2 small bowls and gestured to us to take a sip cos he knew we were cold. Wow.

The chicken stew came straight from the kitchen in the beat up pot that it was cooked in, like what my mum would do when I was a kid. We gobbled quickly. It was fantastic.

Before my third bite into the chicken, owner came again with 2 sunny side ups. I didn’t order it. I remember seeing it in the menu but I didn’t order it. “Itsh flee”, said the owner with a smile and open palms gesturing us to enjoy it. Why was he so nice to us? We’re foreigners in a hidden local haunt. We’ll probably never come back anytime soon.

The meal ended and the owner handed a couple of Yakult drinks to aid digestion. “Flee” again I suppose. Omg right there and then, I wished I had another night in Seoul to visit this place again.

When it came to payment after the soul-satisfying meal, owner took less than what was due. “Deeshcow” he said.

In the heart of Seoul, in Myeongdong, there exists this enchanting little joint with a owner who has the brightest soul in all of Korea. He didn’t want us to order more, or to come back again, or to tip him. He just wanted us to feel happy. And we...

Restaurant was nondescript from the outside. In fact, you will not “stumble” into this restaurant unless you purposely look for it. To get to the entrance, we have to take a small flight of dark and slightly greasy stairs. We were a bit apprehensive. But once you push through the door, it was such a surprise. The interior had an authentic local Korean feel. The bigger surprise was the food. We were blown away by the stewed chicken and omelette. The stewed chicken was very flavourful with spiciness that grows over time. We ordered some rice to be cooked at the end of the meal. There were not anything like it in Singapore. The boss (we think) who took our order was really attentive and pleasant. We communicated through Google Translate! He was super attentive. All in, it was a...

Go here and order some Makgeolli and the stew. That’s what I did and it’s one of my favourite memories here in Korea. The owners a total sweetheart and will help you if you need help ordering. It’s right next to the Seoul Tower but isn’t a tourist trap. Just a good, honest food place with a...