There is a Chinese restaurant called Yeonghwajang near Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. It has been famous for ages, but honestly, going to a Chinese restaurant on your own is a bit awkward.. for a start, ordering just one dish feels off.. Anyway, that day something came over me and I went and ate there by myself.

A place like this

Even though it was not a special day, there were a lot of people. Still, not so many that you had to queue, which was a relief.

The table

Nice and tidy. Maybe because it is right by the university, there seemed to be a lot of couples who looked like students.

A beer

Even when you come alone, you have to have a drink..

Chili gan-jjajang

You can tell just by looking that there is real skill behind it. I do not like spicy food, so I usually order the non-spicy version, but this jjajang is the house signature, so I deliberately went for the hot one.

Mixed it well

It is not the violent kind of heat you get from the mala that is trendy these days, so even a spice wimp like me could finish the whole thing. The noodles have a good chew and the quality of the well-fried jjajang is excellent, and on top of that the heat of the Cheongyang chilies keeps pulling you back for another bite of that aftertaste. Looking at the other tables, people were mixing rice into the sauce left over after the noodles, but I finished off the remaining sauce as a snack with my beer. One bowl of chili jjajangmyeon settles both the meal and the drinking snack in one go. Next time I want to try the non-spicy version and order some proper dishes too, but finding someone to come all the way out to HUFS with me is not easy..

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