Korean Fast Food

Of course, Seoul being a very modern place, there are loads of fast food restaurants like KFC (first to blanket the country), Subway (world's largest fast food chain), Burger King, Mickey D's, and even Quiznos. But Koreans have had their own version of fast food for centuries, including street vendors carts called pocha 포차, short for pojang macha 포장마차 (meaning covered wagon).

But today I got my lunch from a newly opened place across from my building. It's not technically a pocha, since it's in a building, but the term has come into use for such places, as long as they offer the usual fare. Among the items they sell are o-deng, or fish spam, which I don't much care for, and sundae 순대, or pig blood sausage, which I do. Like so many pocha, ddeokbokki 떡볶이 is a staple. It's a kind of rice cake stewed with spicy red sauce, slivers of o-deng and a sprinkle of pa 파, spring onion.


Pictured is the "double set", which is technically for two people at 9,000 W. But I wanted a full load of sundae, there in the middle, with steamed offal--yum! On the right is a fried sampler of batter-fried stuff, 튀김, including crab (probably imitation), sweet potato, mandu 만두 dumpling, and kimbap 김밥 or seaweed roll.


맛있게 드세요!