Lunch in Myeong-dong, Seoul

Getting lunch in Seoul was an experience. We had read on WikiTravel about Jeonju Jungang Hoegwan. We decided we would try to find the joint. Um, yeah. We walked to Myeong-dong from the Namdaemun Market which wasn't too far, but cold. We explored several of the underground shopping arcades. These are incredible little places under the streets and intersections with food vendors, clothing stores, and vinyl record vendors:


When we arrived in Myeong-dong we found the station and exit 5, but no Jeonju Jungang Hoegwan. It probably didn't help that we can't read Korean and we didn't know to look for "the guy".

After about 45 minutes of wandering around and generally just being in awe of a new city, we popped into a little local restaurant. We quickly learned that the only way to order was off the menu on the front of the building which was all in Korean and had small photos of the food items. We flagged it and went down the block to a different place. Stood in the doorway for a few beats before figuring out we needed to seat ourselves. We poured over the menu with a little difficulty. There were photos of the items which descriptions in Korean, Japanese, and English. However, many of the English descriptions were "Noodles with vegetables and" but didn't finish. Ugh. Finally we picked some things and called the waitress over. She was very confused when I asked for a coke and told me "Family Mart" and pointed at the wall behind her. We sussed it out that I needed to go someplace. I went outside and the store nextdoor was called "Family Mart" and was like a 7-11. So I got a drink there and just walked it into the restaurant. Works for me.

Lexey with her bibimbap:


The restaurant, courtesy of Google Street View:


The original restaurant we couldn't order at: