14.192 Gye-Ddeok Ramyeon

katch4246

Jul 16

Cycle 14 - Item 192

16 (Sun) July 2023

Gye-Ddeok Ramyeon

3.0

at Teumsae Ramyeon

-Jangcheon, Mapo, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Teumsae Ramyeon (틈새라면) is a Korean restaurant chain. Specializes in Korean-style instant noodles, each bowl customizable according to the customer's preference. Initially made with various third party brands, now using the company's own brand, which is also sold in supermarkets. The original restaurant was founded in 1981. Currently 51 locations across the country.

Located 399 m from Hongdae University Station, Gyeongeui-Central Line (though Hongdae University has its own branch).

The original restaurant was located in Myeong-dong, not in its own building but rather in a narrow space between two buildings, about 10 meters long, less than 2 meters wide. The word "teumsae" means "gap." The kitchen, just a couple of portable gas stoves, was located at the back. The dining area, max capacity of 8 customers if squeezed together, was simply a shelf bolted into the wall, with detached round stools to sit on. It was so tight that if a customer on the inside needed to get out, all the customers closer to the entrance had to get up and leave to make way. The absurdity was the whole point. Funny to think that this kind of unregulated food business was still possible in the 1980s.

The official history of the restaurant, which claims this location as the original, is bullshit.

From the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, my mother ran a series of cafés in Myeong-dong. The first one - which was called "Osun Dosun" (an idiom that translates loosely to "harmonious/agreeable"), a tiny place comprising 6 tables where customers would be asked to share tables with complete strangers at peak hours (again, the absurdity was the point) - was located directly across from Teumsae's entrance. When I would drop by the shop, I would often eat at Teumsae.

Now M Plaza, this used to be Jeil Department Store, back in the 1980s.

I don't know for sure what happened in the end, except that the original place was shut down sometime in the early 1990s, probably due to stricter regulations. By that point, the brother of the founder had opened a secondary location in Myeong-dong and began to claim that it was the original one, never mentioning the actual original, or acknowledging his brother.

That protruding structure to the left of Foot Locker is where the original Teumsae Ramyeon used to be.

Beyond the oddity of the location, Teumsae Ramyeon was notable for allowing customers to customize their orders - a revolution at the time. 3 variations were available: Ddeok Ramyeon (with rice cakes), Gye-Ddeok Ramyeon (with egg + rice cakes), Bbal-Gye-Ddeok (with extra chili powder + egg + rice cakes). Other gimmicks included specialized jargon: for water, the customer had to ask for "ori bangseok (오리방석) (duck cushion)."

The menu has expanded somewhat, though the core variations remain.

While waiting for IZ to finish playing in a chess tournament nearby, I had an early lunch at Teumsae Ramyeon, my first experience beyond the original restaurant.