A Sunday brunch worth waiting for

The Flying Pan Blue’s eggs benedict with mushrooms. By Cho Jae-eun

The brunch trend in Korea has officially gone askew. The late morning meal intended as a laid-back start to the weekend has gotten to the point where one has to stand in line for an hour to get an omelet and a salad. I’m not exaggerating. About six months ago, a waitress at Suji’s (a restaurant in the Itaewon area with a popular brunch menu) told me I would have to wait at least that long to get in. Their blueberry pancakes are agreeable enough, but the commotion of the crowded restaurant at 11 a.m. on Sunday was, for lack of a more graceful word, annoying.
Another thing that has always bothered me about this trend is the fact that it is so one-sexed. I’ve never heard any of my male friends declare, “I’m going out to brunch with my buddy.”
It is always the ladies, gathering around “Sex and the City” style. And maybe I’m overreacting, but when out to one of these occasions, I sometimes can’t help but feel like a New Yorker’s vacant shell. The plates of overpriced eggs and sausage feel a world away from the pushy ajummas at my bus stop every morning.
But it’s a new year and a new season and I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I decided to give brunch one more shot. So on Saturday, I visited The Flying Pan Blue, a cafe/restaurant in Itaewon which serves up brunch menus all day long. The restaurant is the second venture for the three sisters who opened The Flying Pan. When The Flying Pan’s weekend brunch menu met with huge success, the sisters opened another restaurant serving only brunch menus and cakes ― The Flying Pan Blue.
I ordered their pancakes and eggs benedict with mushrooms (most menu items are priced between 10,000 and 20,000 won). The pancakes were impressive ― fluffy, moist, with the right amount of sweetness and maple syrup that actually tastes like maple syrup. The eggs benedict were satisfactory. The eggs were nothing along the lines of extraordinarily fresh farm eggs, but they were regular old eggs that were cooked right.
Many restaurant goers claim that this dish is the restaurant’s signature, but I presume that this has gotten to be popular as it is extremely rare to see eggs benedict cooked right in Seoul (with the exception of hotels).
Holding my sparkling wine with one hand, I paused for a minute as I caught a glimpse of myself among the bubbles inside the flute.
Funny enough, like one of those beginnings to dream sequences on television sitcoms, fragments of my face fizzed up with the bubbles and popped against the crystal rim.
My 30-minute role as Carrie provided a lovely escape.

The Flying Pan Blue is located near Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon. For more information, call (02) 793-5285.

By Cho Jae-eun Staff Writer [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]

korea joongAng daily

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A Sunday brunch worth waiting for

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