Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

The title of the thread is a summary of the topic of my post. Consider yourself warned.

Dining out has been one of the challenges of living out here in Swampville.

My choices in Swampville itself are limited to a) Mexicana Chicken, which I don't really like. The sauce is bland and the ajuma radically overcooks the chicken. It's tough; b) Pelicana Chicken, which I do like because the sauce is dynamite and the ajuma is friendly and pretty. However, it seems to have closed down. It could be she ran off since she wasn't too happy with her husband. He drank too much and she didn't like his friends hanging out there all the time; c) an incredibly grungy Chinese restaurant that is so grungy and dirty that even I am afraid to eat there--and I have low standards in that department; and d) a �������� restaurant, found after being turned away from half a dozen other places that demanded ordering for 3.

I can also drive 5 km over the mountain and eat at a) a Chinese place that recently went under new management. The food is average and the family is dysfunctional. It puts me off my appetite to listen to family arguments, including crashing dishes, while I eat. It's colorful but not relaxing; and b) the ���� place with the life-size plastic Elvis out front--which didn't have any food the last time I dropped in.

My only other option is to go to Namji. It's the little burg down the road from my apartment. It has a) a Chinese restaurant with kick-butt ������, with the best sweet and sour sauce I've found in Korea. It's only open sometimes because the ajuma is 'weak'. At least that is what Cookie the husband tells me. I guess he can't cook if she is not up to riding her scooter to deliver; b) a truly great �߰��� restaurant where I'm almost always the only customer; and c) another Mexicana Chicken restaurant. They have a boneless chicken thing that is pretty good. The sauce is tasty as heck. Their pizza sucks. Corn. I'll leave it at that.

So I was delighted a few weeks ago when all the apartment doors started getting plastered with ads from Joy's Fresh and Joyful Dishes Restaurant. The BBQ pork ribs looked mighty tasty in the pictures. The only problem was, there is no map on any of the ads. Now Namji is not a city. It's two or three times the size of Swampville, but that doesn't mean a lot. Nearly all of the town is on one street. Apparantly, everyone in town lives in the same 3 or 4 apartment buildings because there are no houses anywhere to be seen. I've driven up and down the street and didn't spot the place. I wondered if it only had carry out food.

Tonight I had a brainstorm. I took one of the ads with me to Namji and stopped at Win Mart and asked the girl at the checkout counter where Joy's is located. She said 'ahpay Nong-Hyup'. Good. That narrowed it down to three possible places.

As luck had it, Joy's has taken over BBQ Chicken's spot in glorious downtown Namji, the first place I looked. Good karma?

I went in and sat at the only table in the place. I may well have been the first customer to walk in and sit down to eat. I placed my order and sat back and watched the blaring TV. Fortunately, it seems to be a family policy for the ajosshi to kick the kid out in the street when someone wants to sit down and wait for their order.

Nervously waiting, I was reminded of the post here about maybe Koreans get their ideas of Western food from pictures. Thank you Billybrobby for making me paranoid about that. I needn't have worried. Out comes the ajumma with a plate of bbq ribs. Five ribs. The meat is tender enough to fall off the bones. The sauce is tasty. Maybe not something I will write home to Mom about, but I will mention it to you. Along comes a heaping plate of...thumb-size pieces of breaded pork with a plastic cup of chili sauce. And an actual green salad. Two little cherry tomatoes and a bunch of honey mustard (?) dressing. At least it was light yellow. Also a glass of beer. Bigger than a water glass.

I wolfed down the salad and started in on the meat. When the ajumma noticed the salad was almost gone she came over and asked if I wanted more. She returned with the bowl (the size of a regular dinner plate) heaped with salad. Not just ice berg lettuce either. Some of those nameless but tasty greens all the grocery stores are carrying now. I also got a second glass of beer--I was feeling wild and crazy, kind of like the poster who goes up the down escalator. At the end, I had 'em bag up the pork nugget thingies for later.

For W16,500 I think it's a big deal. And a tasty one. For fast food, I give it three thumbs out of four. (I can get a hamburger at McD's if I drive down to Masan or go to Out Back in Changwon...both more than 30 minutes away and require me driving in city traffic. I'm not THAT far out in the boonies. If you have a Joy's in your neighborhood, give it a look.)

[endofthewor1d]

where is swampville?

[lawyertood]

My first job was in Namji back in '96.....we're talking small....

[Ya-ta Boy]

[endofthewor1d]

yeah... i just asked my wife about it. i thought we lived at the end of the world, but she expressed grief and pity when i told her someone lived near masan. she wishes you luck.

[just because]

Just had one open in the building I teach in, in Changwon....

Looks good but for one person it looks a bit too much for a lunch snack...

So i am happy to hear the good review, I'll have to try it out sometime soon.....