Protests at Seoul National University

This is a topic which is a bit underrepresented in the english media in korea. Since a few month there is a controversy raging whether SNU should become a corporation or remain under government control. The cooperation way is favored by the SNU president and the current korean government while the other solution seems to be more popular with the students. There are basically two arguments: competitiveness / quality of education vs. Tuition fees. The corporate side claims that a university free of government control can become more competitive, acquire more money which also will lead to better education. The examples they offer are often the ivy league universities in the states. This argument is often countered with the examples of Korea and Yonsei university, the two other universities of the SKY (SNU / Korea / Yonsei) group which are considered koreas best universities. The korea and Yonsei university are private but are far behind SNU in most university rankings.
The plans for privatization are pushed forward in a time where in korea the tuition hikes are a big topic (student unions demand a nation wide 50% cut to tuition fees). Fears are that instead of decreased tuition fees the privatization will lead only to higher tuition fees due to lack of government control. Another concern is that non profitable departments will suffer after the privatization.

There is an additional problem making the situation at SNU more complicated: the privatization is not only planed, it is already decided. the government passed already a law and the only thing to do is to implement the privatization of SNU. For this, a privatization committee was formed which hopes to privatize SNU by next year. In other words the protest come to late.  However there are hopes that student unions might get a say in privatization process or at least get more binding promises that tuition fees will not be raised.

Another problem is that the university administration, namely the university president neglects to talk to the student unions. Much anger is also directed at the tradtional conservative newpapers of korea which mostly take side with privatization supporters.


Currently the administration building, including the presidents office, is occupied by students. As far as i heard there was a support event planed for friday the 17th but in its infinite wisdom SNU government tried to stop that by blocking the roads leading to the administration building with university owned busses. 

further readings you might find here:
Marmot's Hole
a good example why i think that the JonagAng Daily is a crap paper you can find here.

Hosuabi Dongkase

I noticed that i didn't share yet my most often visited restaurant. I will correct that mistake now.

Dongkase or better 돈까스 is the korea version of a cutlet or schnitzel. It came to korea by way of japan where it was called donkatsu. In korea there are two different 돈까스 styles: the korean and japanese style. Korean style is more like a schnitzel. Very flat hammered breaded cutlet with special 돈까스 sauce slightly similar to ketchup or worcestershire sauce. They are cheap and if you are hungry they help you to avoid starvation. but thats basically it.
The japanese style 돈까스 are thicker, have a fluffier crust and, if well made, are fantastic. It is difficult to say wether japanese donkatsu in japan or japanese style 돈까스 in korea a better, but among all 돈까스 restaurants in korea as well as japan Hosuabi, near SNU, is the best.

Here you see a meal for 4500 won. one delicious cutlet, appropriately spiced in fluffy-crunchy crust, one bowl of miso, shredded cabbage with a remoulade like salad sauce. The small drop next to the brown sauce on the right side is wasabi which is mixed into the sauce. The sauce itself is quite special, reminds a bit of ketchup mixed with worcestershire sauce and a slight fruit taste.

Hosuabi is a chain restaurant but unfortunately the quality varies between different places. Interestingly you also can eat vietnamese noodles there. or try a set menu with 돈까스 and vietnamese noodles for 6000 won.

Hosuabi can be found in Nokdu / Goshishon, 10 min from the SNU front gate. See here.

p.s. i said that Hosuabi is the best, this is largely true but a very close competition is a 'chicken katsu bern' in a small restaurant near the front gate of kyoto university.
p.p.s at hosuabi you can get free salad refill.

The Kitchen

When looking for italian food on the gwanak campus one has two choices: the fancy and expensive restaurant oposit the 501 building, or the much more resonable priced 'The Kitchen' behind the sports field.

They serve sanwhiches (far too small), burgers (definetly too small), pizza (also too small), pasta (a bit small) and risoto (guess what: not to small ^^).

While all things are pretty good, most dishes are just too small. To walk away from the kitchen well fed, as a man one would have to order around 3 sandwhiches or 2 burger minimum. However if one is on a diet or genereally likes smaller servings i would recomend the burger. Nothing fancy here but pretty decent meat.

The pasta is pretty good but nothing special, they offer the common fare of cream sauce, seafood and tomato sauces. Where the kitchen excells are the risotto. They are creamy, with some bite to the rice grains, well spiced and the servings are very fair. For less than 6000 won they are a good meal. Especially i would like to recomend the tomato / spinach / bacon risotto.

As far as i know the kitchen opens only for meal times, so no food before 11.30 am. The interior is nice but its often a bit crowded and noisy. But still until now the best risotto i had in seoul.

p.s. you also can find the location here

Grocery Stores in Korea

When first comming to korea, most western wonder where the grocery stores are. Well... there are none ^^. At least not in the way europeans or north americans are used to. Here are basically two places where you can groceries: supermarkets and traditional markets.

On traditional markets you get mostly only the basic veggies like potatoes, carrots, onions and salads as well as cabbages. Traditional korean food used a wide variety of leafs, be it salad, cabbage or more exotic leafs like the korean mint. And these things you mostly find on the traditional markets. As for the prices... the traditional markets are generally cheaper, but sometimes don't write the prices down. It might therefore happen that the halmoni (old lady) tries to rip you off. On the other hand it might also happen that the shop keeper is happy to see a foreigner, strikes up a conversation and gives you some vegetables for free... you will never know :)

Supermarkets and departments stores offer mostly better quality, better but still not overwhelming variety and especially a nicer shopping atmosphere. Prices are higher here than on the traditional market. While average supermarkets and large ones like Homeplus and E-MART  are just a bit more expensive than the traditional markets, the department stores are offten prohibitively expensive.

Generally vegetables are in korea quite expensive. Crazy it becomes with fruits, here a single pear might go for as much as 8000 won, just to name an example. This means that you cant always get what fruits you like but you have mostly to rely on traditional market and get what is in season.

Another useful thing are the trucks driving around and selling fruits. often they are even cheaper than the traditional market and bring stuff fresh from the fields. However this seems to hold only for fruit trucks, not for vegetable trucks.
if you experience otherwise please let me know.

So where to go from SNU?
Near naksongdae station is a traditional market, which is the closest. However the traditional market a bit north of the seoul national university subway station is better. Not necessary the closest but most conveniently reachable Homeplus is located at Mullae subway station (there is an entrance from the subway station - don't have to go out, its nice when raining) and the best E-MART is located at yongsan subway station. The closest department store is most likely Lotte at Boramae park, at 10 minute walk north of Sillim station. But lotte closes quite early, i think at 8.30 or 9pm while Homeplus and E-MART open at least until midnight.

I updated the map in this post.

Hattip to Helen for the post idea

Dabuji Budaejigae

Budaejigae is a left over of the korean war. When faced with either starvation or the need to incorporate food donated by the UN / Gi's into something eatable, supposedly people in busan came up with this interesting dish. Basically its everything thrown in a pan and cooked until a smooth taste develops. Common ingredients are sausage slices, ham (or rather spam), potatoes, beans, bean paste, instant noodles and green onions. Served its normally with rice.

When looking for budaejigae you most likely come across a noolbudaejigae restaurant. They are your standard fare. Acceptable priced with ok taste and you find them virtually everywhere.

However they are nothing special. Neither outstanding tasty nor very cheap.
So from that buildup you must already guess that this post is about a better restaurant. This one:

With 5000 won per person free rice and refill as well as free potato croquettes, again with free refill, this restaurant is significantly cheaper than noolbudaejigae. Oh and one ramyon is 500 won. That aside it also tastes better and has friendlier staff and atmosphere. In other words: definitely worth visiting.

p.s. i updated this post, it now includes the location of this budaejigae restaurant

Pizza at E-MART

Recently we found imported, frozen pizza at E-mart. I have to confess that i miss the frozen pizza available in germany, and these were from Italy and Australia respectively, therefore we gave them a try.

To put it in a nutshell: all 3 were quite decent. Reasonably priced and tasty. 

Pizza Prosciutto: Italian style crust with much ham and mushrooms and sufficient cheese but unfortunately not enough tomato sauce makes this pizza well eatable but a bit dry. 

Something what i personally didn't liked so much was the ham. It hat a nutty, pungent aroma like you would expect from an air dried parma ham. Some people like this, but i am not among them. 

Pesto Pizza: Same brand and therefore same crust as the prosciutto pizza. More (and therefore enough) tomato sauce, combined with large pieces of mozzarella and some fresh tomatoes. Special here was a substance which was supposed to be Pesto Verde.  It tastes interesting but the pizza could well do without.  

Overall the pizza was the best among the three, large enough for one person, juicy, with a lot cheese. The only minus point was that the pizza was a bit too salty. 

Pizza Hawaii: Different brand then the two before. We ordered these pizza via home delivery and were quite surprised when this one came out at around 200g gram and mere 20cm diameter. The other pizzas were of 450gram and regular size. However the amount of toppings was quite ok. Here also a bit more tomato sauce would be appreciated. Pineapple pieces were numerous but a bit dry. The crust is not napoli style but was praised by my wife as the best among the three (seems to fit korean taste better than mine). Here again the ham had some nutty aroma which i don't really enjoy. 

Conclusion: All three pizzas were tasty. The Hawaiian pizza was for its price (around 5000 won) definitely to small (but compared to Pizza hut & Co still reasonably priced). The Prosciutto and Pesto Pizza are, with 450 gram, one complete meal and very reasonable priced at less than 6000won. The pesto pizza was the best among them: juicy, crispy with much cheese. I will buy this one again. 

p.s. the pizza was prepared in an oven. On the box they say you could also use a microwave, but i doubt that the result would be eatable.

Bell at Seoul National University

Quite a bit hidden, behind the Law school building hangs a bell. Its not a place where you normally pass by so most students never saw this bell. I don't know why that is but bells as well as large drums have somethings fascinating about them... and one of the best things about this bell is that there is nobody around trying to stop you from ringing it ^^

p.s. i also added the bells location to the map in this post.