1. In Korea it is rude to drink alcohol without eating something - or at least having some food on the table. Most drinking establishments (Hofs) have large plates of food (Anju) that the whole party shares. This causes a problem for parties of 2, like us, because if we go out for dinner and want to have a few drinks afterwards we have to order more food. Since the Anju is meant to be shared by a table of friends the dishes are rather large.
2. Making Korean friends is difficult. When we go out at night we try to meet people to talk to or to become friends with but there is very little english spoken and our Korean is non existant aside from a few food terms. It seems that once you are introduced to people here they are very warm and open up to you but it takes a while to get that first step going.
3. A lot of the Hofs have large booths with high walls or tables seperated by beads so that each party has their own private section. I love the idea of this and I deeply want to be a part of one of these parties, but sadly we wind up sitting alone at a tall booth without being able to see anyone or any of the fun going on.
The Strategy: If we don't eat dinner at a restuarant we can go to the Hofs and the large Anju will be our dinner. We would only pick Hofs that don't have high walled booths or seperated seating and would ask to be seated next to large parties where we might be able to strike up a conversation.
Result: Despite the extreme cold and slushy/snowy weather people were out and about all over. Following our first two rules, we didn't eat dinner and we looked for a Hof that had tables instead of booths. We found one and we asked to be seated next to a large group. So far, so good. We didn't eat dinner and we were starving. Our waiter gives us a menu completely in Korean. We ask him for some suggestions and with his limited english and our limited Korean food knowledge we are able to figure something out. We had a meaty lunch and so we asked about the vegetables. He points to the veg section on the menu and we ask him what the first vegetable dish was. He says: Cajun Chicken (hmmm?) So we go next on the list and he says pumpkin. Great! We've seen pumpkin seeds in a lot of the food we've had so far and thought it might be pumpkin soup or stew or anything hot and delicous to warm us up. We agree on Pumpkin and we order a bottle of soju (like vodka but less potent and tastes much much better) and two beers.
While waiting for our Pumpkin dish to come we keep looking over at the table next to us with puppy dog eyes. We are practically begging them to talk to us. They are having a great time. None of them even look in our direction, not once. I see our server coming towards us with a plate that doesn't look like it should be for us. He puts it on our table and we realize that it's Pumpkin ice cream.
So now it's freezing cold out, we are starving, we have beer and pumpkin ice cream for dinner and we still haven't spoken to anyone there besides the waiter.
More details about plan B soon. Pumpkin Ice Cream below.
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