In hectic Edae, a healthy place that feels homey
Finding decent food around “Edae,” an abbreviated term for Ewha Womans University, is not easy for anyone with conservative tastes for choosing restaurants. By conservative, I don’t mean extensive wine cellars and bowties, but places that have roofs and serve hot meals that have been prepared just for me.Sadly, Edae is the wrong neighborhood if you want a relaxing lunch.
This is where most young Korean women come to shop, do their hair for blind dates and leave before they get too hungry. Instead of restaurants, you have snack joints and street carts that offer all types of fast food, which you eat as you stand between shopping binges.
But since hitting 30, I need a seat when I eat. Luckily, I found a pleasant surprise in an underground floor of an anonymous building next to the Coffee Bean on the main alley leading to the university’s main gate.
The place is called Jayeon Maeul (02-312-3800), or a natural village in English.
There is nothing too girly about the menu here, and maybe that’s why I like it so much (My dad always teases me that I have the worst ajeossi taste in food). I am not too fussy about food. If it’s served in a pot and has bean sprouts and tofu, I usually drink it without even asking.
In the restaurant, I ponder a hot noodle soup or a house bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables). But when a lady approachs to take my order, I spontaneously ask for kimchi sujebi (4,500 won).
Sujebi is a soup with vegetables and dough flakes. In the restaurant, it had kimchi slices. The soup was simple and clean. I tried getting details about the broth, but the lady left after saying the main base was clams.
My favorite part was a complimentary bowl of barley rice served with chopped slices of green peppers and chili paste to mix before the meal arrives. It tasted healthy and homey. That’s the beauty of finding restaurants like Jayeon Maeul in areas like Edae. In the end, you can shop with the 20- year-olds, but eat like a 30-year-old.
By Park Soo-mee Staff Reporter [myfeast@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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