Reunifica-

In the spring of this year, I worked for the Michael Cohen Group as a project manager. The project came from SKP, a branch of the absolute giant, SK, from, you guessed it, South Korea. (Oddly not what the S or K stand for). I really enjoyed the team from SK, and was able to meet up with them for an evening while I was in Seoul! It's always fun to see people in their own environment, and exciting to recontextualize known elements, like a city and a group of people, that you've never seen together before.

JP, Audrey, and Sang were the three of the SK group free that evening, and they brought another colleague, who joined them for follow-on work in New York after I had left. She was fun! I am deeply embarrassed to say I cannot remember her name, except I suspect it of starting with H. All of them speak great English, which is good, because my Korean has atrophied, and was never the Schwarzenegger of my languages to start with. We met up at Sinsa station, and proceeded to walk to a BRILLIANT restaurant just off Garosu-gil, the big shopping street in Gangnam's northerly bit.

Here is why the restaurant was brilliant:

 Yes, you read that right, "Better than Beef."

This is a restaurant that sells nothing other than different preparations of pork belly, called samgyeupsal. Familiar word, right? Because it is the best barbecue option! But here at BtB, it is never barbecue, none of the time. It is all the other awesome ways to eat pork belly!

Also, when socializing in Korea, one must have appropriate libation. In this case, makgeolli, a cloudy rice wine. This was the Blue Label makgeolli, and it was the most delicious of its type I've ever had. High marks.

 This is the gochujang preparation, delicious and spicy. It came with the petit pots de pomme de terre (this is a tongue twister, see how many times and how fast you can say it) you see at right.

This one is the closest to barbecue you can get: a plainly grilled version. The kimchi it is served alongside has sugar as part of its mixture - you can't just dump sugar on already-made kimchi and get a similar taste, I asked - and it is AMAZING. That comes from me, and I am not a kimchi eater by choice.

This was a super funky preparation that had a completely different flavor profile from most Korean food - it tasted kind of like mole. There's no discernible chocolate in it, but I think it was made with Mexican chilies, not Korean ones. It was fabulous! After the sugar kimchi-accompanied preparation, this was my favorite.

Enh, this one had cream sauce and jalapeños. I was not responsible for ordering it, and the most I can say for it is that I am delighted at others' delight in it.

When we finished at BtB, we decided on a relatively nearby place for round 2. It was just up the road and around the corner, and on our way, I saw these two kittens. While looking at them and marveling that any wildlife (ex-domesticated or other) lives in that part of town, a nice lady came and laid out some cat food for them. Now, I feel a little conflicted over this, Internet. I am, on the one hand, very happy to see these little guys get fed instead of starve miserably into cat-shaped holes in the universe. On the other hand, feeding stray cats can end with herds of feral cats with entitlement complexes roaming the streets. Apparently, women of this sort are called "Cat Moms" and are regarded with affection by some but derision by most.

This was the goal of round two: the beer foamsicle. That beautiful little puff thing is frozen beer foam, and it is a nicely refreshing blob of almost-water. Just the thing for a muggy night.

Because this was a Japanese place, we were provided glass noodles with seaweed and the ubiquitous edamame.

This is the beautiful platter of fried things we got in addition to our icy beverages. It includes chicken, pork, beef, sausage, shrimp (for them as wants), and interestingly, chicken hearts. Those were shockingly delicious. Oh, also, that little dish with the corndog looking thing is a dish with an egg in it that you mix with the meatball, which is what that corndog thing really is. SO GOOD.

This is a picture of JP, worshiping at this altar of cholesterol. What the darkness hides is the fact that his eyes are actually in the shape of hearts right here.






We ate, drank, and were merry. We chatted about Audrey's endless shoes, the terrifying qualities of human children (and their benefits, both Sang and JP were adamant that there are some, so don't worry, not totally one-sided), and the universal appeal of grilled meat things (and our shared failure to understand vegetarians. We love animals. They're delicious). It was a wonderful evening. As we walked off to our respective homes, it was a great snapshot of life in Korea, a thoroughly enjoyable revisitation.

Thanks, SKP team, I had a great time with you! Next time, burgers in NYC on me :)

Pictured: every night in Korea ever. Lights, camera, friends. And fried food.