Schoolboy Chew

My most pleasant memories in elementary, middle, and high school all have one thing in common: they occurred during recess/lunch. Want to know why? It's because I loved the food my mother used to pack me everyday for school. Growing up in America, my mother used to pack me all kinds of sandwiches, chips, and fruits. On special occasions such as field trips, my mother would buy me a lunchables so I could share with my buddies. One day, I wondered what my parents' parents packed them for school recesses and lunches. They told me they usually ate rice, spam, and kimchi all mixed up in a metal lunchbox their parents packed for them. My mother then recommended I try this restaurant called "School Food" which wasn't too far away from where we lived in Koreatown. I have fallen in love with the place ever since.

The name of the restaurant is what first intrigued me. I felt like I could travel back to the time when my parents were elementary students. The main dish of the restaurant is the combination Gimbap roll (shown in the picture below). This is the most popular item packed by Korean parents when sending their kids off to school in Korea. Some of my Korean friends even here in America came to school with Gimibap rolls. They're like the Korean version of sushi, but instead of wrapped in raw fish, they are wrapped in dried seaweed. Another popular schoolboy and schoolgirl dish is tteokbokki, which are spicy rice cakes. My parents told me they would run to the tteokbokki stands afterschool to munch on these tasty treats. The nice thing about School Food is that they cater to the American taste buds, as the tteokbokki is served in many different flavors, such as carbonara and cheese so they're not as spicy. I highly recommend this restaurant if you want to try some authentic, traditional Korean school-food.

Tteokbokki (left), Gimbap Combination Roll (right)
Taken with my iPhone

Your Seoul Survivor,
Albert Ko