I ate at a North Korean restaurant two times while living in Shanghai. This was a state-sponsored North Korean restaurant, as opposed to North Korean restaurants operated by Korean immigrants, which I've also had.
It was a mix of traditional North Korean food such as nangmyeon (cold noodles), really good kimchi from Pyongyang, and a few other things, and some really pyrotechnical dishes such as live lobster sashimi, a deer tartare, and grilled dog meat. They had an interesting selection of alcohols, too: really potent soju from Pyongyang, and some crazy stuff like fur seal penis alcohol and viper alcohol. All the waitresses wore the traditional hanbok dress, and they did some songs and dance. They were cheerful and friendly.
I didn't speak Korean but I spoke Mandarin, and so did the waitress. I had a chance to chat with a girl from North Korea, which I found very exciting. She asked if my girlfriend was my "lady," and she was very interested to hear what I thought about China. I asked her if she liked it here, and she said she did although she missed home. She said she found it shocking to see so many beggars, and how dirty things were in general.
Now, she was probably not at liberty to chat as much as she would have liked, and I realize that by living abroad she's clearly part of the ideological elite of the DPRK. Still, it was nice to let that aside a moment and chat with another human being.
A friend from South Korea was with us, and they were very nice to him too. My friend says he could understand their spoken Korean, but that it sounded very old-fashioned; a bit like Shakespearean English would sound in the middle of New York City.
The girls were excited to see my girlfriend and I loved kimchi, so they gave us a bunch of it to take home. It was delicious, and I was really excited to have North Korean kimchi in my fridge.
I ate at a North Korean restaurant two times while living in Shanghai. This was a state-sponsored North Korean restaurant, as opposed to North Korean restaurants operated by Korean immigrants, which I've also had.
It was a mix of traditional North Korean food such as nangmyeon (cold noodles), really good kimchi from Pyongyang, and a few other things, and some really pyrotechnical dishes such as live lobster sashimi, a deer tartare, and grilled dog meat. They had an interesting selection of alcohols, too: really potent soju from Pyongyang, and some crazy stuff like fur seal penis alcohol and viper alcohol. All the waitresses wore the traditional hanbok dress, and they did some songs and dance. They were cheerful and friendly.
I didn't speak Korean but I spoke Mandarin, and so did the waitress. I had a chance to chat with a girl from North Korea, which I found very exciting. She asked if my girlfriend was my "lady," and she was very interested to hear what I thought about China. I asked her if she liked it here, and she said she did although she missed home. She said she found it shocking to see so many beggars, and how dirty things were in general.
Now, she was probably not at liberty to chat as much as she would have liked, and I realize that by living abroad she's clearly part of the ideological elite of the DPRK. Still, it was nice to let that aside a moment and chat with another human being.
A friend from South Korea was with us, and they were very nice to him too. My friend says he could understand their spoken Korean, but that it sounded very old-fashioned; a bit like Shakespearean English would sound in the middle of New York City.
The girls were excited to see my girlfriend and I loved kimchi, so they gave us a bunch of it to take home. It was delicious, and I was really excited to have North Korean kimchi in my fridge.