Anna and I have spent many of our free days picking a side street near our apartment and wandering down it to see where it goes. This semi-frequently ends with us stopping by the zoo in Children’s Grand Park, but we usually make a good discovery along the way too.
This last weekend we decided to take the slowly curving street behind the CGV movie theater. We passed a couple places advertising take out in English, which we hadn’t seen before. Then we passed a large school campus as tons of high school kids were on their lunch break and flooding into the streets to grab some food. Just outside the entrance to the school was small sandwich shop.
They had maybe two seats inside the place, but a window on the sidewalk where you could order standing up. An old smiling couple stared at us waiting for our order, but all they had were a couple pictures of sandwiches and then lots of Korean. We didn’t recognize any of the pictures, but just decided to point to two and hope for the best.
Both of the sandwiches we ordered had a lot in common. They were on white bread (nearly the only thing available in Korea) with a mild Korean cole slaw, a drizzle of a dark sweet sauce, American cheese (what I would give for some cheddar!), pickles and a flattened layer of cooked egg. All of these ingredients led to a full and complicated sandwich. The cole slaw and pickles gave them a nice crunch, and I liked the sauce, but the egg seemed unnecessary. I’d really love to find a cheap sandwich on some nice bread, though I would settle for just wheat.
Our first sandwich was kind of like a burger but with and extra slice of the over processed ham available in many Korean grocery stores. The patty was thin and not terribly flavorful, but it was a passable substitute for a burger in a country of few sandwiches.
The bulk of the other sandwich was from three different kinds of thinly sliced sausage. They were dyed green, yellow and orange. The only one with a distinctive flavor was the yellow sausage which had a great curry taste. I’ve seen a lot of strangely colored sausages in the cold cases of the grocery stores, but I haven’t ventured to buy any of them yet. But after tasting the curry sausage I think I’m going to go try and find it in our neighborhood Home Plus Express. The combination of the three artificial colors didn’t make the sandwich look to appealing, but it tasted pretty good.
The sandwiches were unfamiliar and complicated in their textures and flavors, but they made for a great and cheap lunch, and I think I’ll be back.
As always, look for more photos on Flickr.
This made me really really want a sandwich. Keep it up/keep making me hungry!