I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 165



Only Noblemtl

165 Restaurants You Haven’t Experienced (3)

[A new restaurant has opened in Midtown East.

It’s a Korean food place, no reservations, no tipping, and no ordering. They have one menu. But the food changes every day. I’ve been there 3 days in a row now, and I’d give it 5 stars except for the long line. It’s a lot different from the Korean restaurants in Koreatown.

It’s not cheap, but once you try it, you won’t feel regret at all.

All the vegetables are organic and all the meats served as main dishes are delicious. Another advantage is that you can taste unique Korean soups. The plates and utensils are also unique in that they are in the traditional Korean style.

They say they make all the ingredients themselves, including the tofu, so it’s definitely worth a visit. And big eaters, take note!

The side dishes are refillable. Only side dishes are available, not main dishes or soups. Every time I go, I order an extra bowl of rice and refill the side dishes.]

└You mean Hundred Dishes? I’ve been going there every day since it opened. I’m worried because it seems like the number of people is increasing.

└Don’t post things like this. It’ll just make the line longer.

└Is it really unlimited refill? They keep giving it to me?

└It is not good manners to refill more than twice. Trust me, I have lived in Korea for a long time.

└What day is best?

└Recommended in that order: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Monday.

└I liked Thursday and Saturday.

└Friday was the best? But every day has its own charm, so it’s hard to choose.

“Wow. There are so many people.”

Segreto has a regular holiday on Tuesdays, while Hundy’s (as the locals have come to call it) whose main target is office workers, is closed on Sundays.

Soyoung, who came to eat Korean food with Ella on a holiday, looks fed up as she sees people starting to line up even before the store opened.

“Because there was a fuss on Reddit and Instagram. It seems like they were sharing reviews by day of the week.”

Ella had been obsessed with Korean food since she had visited Korea. However, she was disappointed that she could not find the same quality food she had eaten in Korea in Koreatown. Then, when Jehee opened a Korean restaurant, she came here right away.

After a long wait, we were able to go inside and order our food.

“There are a lot of Korean elements. The paper-covered windows and decorations are all in the traditional Korean style. The paintings on the walls are also like that.”

Soyoung looks around curiously. She wonders what kind of magic the head chef used to bring so many people to a Korean restaurant.

“I’ve only been to Korea once, but I can tell. The interior design is stylish.”

The food came out shortly after we ordered.

A table is served with brown rice, bracken fernbrake, cucumber salad, stir-fried zucchini, braised tofu, pollack pancake, perilla leaves, and rolled eggs in a stone pot. Then, bulgogi and seaweed soup, both of which look overwhelming, are placed on a tray.

“I guess you’re a real chef. I didn’t know you could do something like this.”

Ella smiles and picks up her chopsticks.

“Ella won’t know how I feel right now. This is ridiculous. I have to eat.”

As if they had promised, the two of them started tasting the side dishes that were light in flavor.

“As expected of a chef. You cooked it so that it’s just right to eat without damaging the fiber. The seasoning is just right. Korean food is similar to Italian food in that it’s a method that maximizes the flavor of the ingredients.”

“The braised tofu is so delicious. It’s well seasoned but still tender. The seasoning is no joke.”

“Pollack pancake is also good. I like the one with vinegar in the seasoning sauce because it’s sour.”

After tasting all the side dishes, the two people’s chopsticks turn to the bulgogi.

“This taste. I missed it so much. But it’s much more delicious. It seems to have been made with nuts. The savory sweetness goes well with the soy sauce. If you don’t grill the meat over an open fire, it can have a gamey smell, so how did you press it? You must have extracted the flavor from the garlic and vegetables and designed it to harmonize with the sauce.”

Ella closes her eyes and savors and analyzes the food.

“I also really like seaweed soup. I was actually surprised to see seaweed soup on the menu.

Americans hate seaweed. But you make a soup with it as the main ingredient. I wish Americans could experience the rich savory flavor that comes from seaweed.”

Let’s look around. There are customers of various races eating seaweed soup with spoons. They don’t look reluctant, but once they taste it, they can’t stop eating.

‘Is this possible?’

“What’s so different about the sense of taste between humans? You may have likes and dislikes for certain ingredients, but what’s delicious is delicious. There’s no need to worry.”

“I think the chef has great courage.”

“What courage?”

“That’s right. You’re a chef who has achieved great success and fame, so it would be embarrassing if you failed.”

“I don’t think this restaurant can fail.

Healthy organic food, great main dish, generous portions, and more than anything, Korean food that allows you to enjoy a variety of side dishes is unique in itself.

“The chef must have been itching to introduce this to New York?”

The head chef he knew was someone who wasn’t afraid to try new things. He believed that if it tasted good to him, it would taste good to others.

“Korean food that uses absolutely no seasoning or pre-made ingredients, including soy sauce. If this had been opened in Korea, there would have been chaos.”

“I think it will come to Korea soon, just like Segreto.”

“I guess so?”

After the two had a satisfying meal, they said goodbye to the kitchen and left the restaurant.

* * *

The opening of Hundred Dishes was a success.

Marketing using banners and Instagram really hit the mark with the local residents. I thought it would take about a month for word of mouth to spread after opening, but fortunately, it seems my worries were unfounded.

In the US, unlike in Korea, there are no set meal times.

First of all, New York is a city where people of various races from many countries live and speak over 800 languages. In Spain, it is common to eat dinner after 9 p.m., and in Nordic countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Norway, dinner is served from 4 p.m.

As a result, Hundred Dishes’ business hours naturally became longer.

The characteristic of Korean food, which allows for a simple menu by only teaching the main dish and stew, since side dishes are prepared in advance that morning, fits well with this business method.

By training the staff, we were able to operate in two shifts.

When I opened the door at 10 p.m. and went in, there were still many people eating. I looked into the kitchen and saw Chef Lee Sang-beom frantically preparing the main dish. I thought it would be useless to go into the kitchen right now, so I finished up the business by taking in the customers with the servers.

“Thank you for your hard work. Are there more customers than you expected?”

Lee Sang-beom’s face looks tired.

“I didn’t know it would do this well. I didn’t know Korean food could be this competitive in New York.”

“Although Korean food has its own charm, it is important to do it right. Customers can tell if the food is made carelessly. Not only the ingredients and cooking skills, but also the interior, tableware, and atmosphere are all important.”

“I’m learning a lot. It makes me happy to see foreigners enjoying Korean food.”

“Are you having any difficulties?”

“It hasn’t even been a month yet, but I have some concerns.”

“Go ahead.”

“You have a lot of customers, but is the margin okay? I don’t know the details, but I have over 20 years of experience. I can tell you that there won’t be much left.”

“Haha. You don’t have to worry about that. What I’m doing now is a kind of branding. I’m going to establish myself in New York and make a name for myself. Fine dining like Segreto depends on the chef’s skills. It’s not easy to expand because there are many ingredients that are not easily available. However, Korean food is different. You can open branches as many times as you want.”

“I think so too. If you can supply the market, the rest isn’t that difficult. If you plant wild greens, they will grow quickly.”

“I plan to expand my business throughout the East Coast, starting from New York.

“First, we should attack the nearby major cities of Boston and Washington. Then we will go to the nearby cities of New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Maryland.”

When did the Korean Wave start in America?

There may be various opinions, but when I analyze from my experience leading a global company, I see that this is not something that suddenly exploded one day.

Since the early 2000s, Korean dramas and pop music have been receiving great responses in Japan and Southeast Asia, and by the mid-2000s, they had expanded their territory to Mexico and South America.

The Gangnam Style craze that occurred a few months later was the result of these energies gathering and exploding all at once.

I’ve been pre-soaking a good amount of intestines for this.

The food industry is more closely related to the film industry than to the music industry, because dramas and movies that directly show people eating food arouse curiosity in viewers.

Soon, a series of dramas that will be big hits in China and the US will be produced one after another. We are preparing for this in advance. We plan to create a model case of proper PPL using the cultural industry.

“It would certainly be easy to expand. I didn’t know you were going to do a franchise business.”

“If you can maintain quality, there’s no reason not to do it. And since it’s a method that’s hard to replicate elsewhere, you don’t have to worry about latecomers. Are there any other problems?”

“Should I call this a problem…?”

“What is going on?”

“I don’t know who started it first, but after some customers finished their meals, they refilled their side dishes and ordered rice. Then they mixed the side dishes together to make bibimbap. They asked for gochujang and sesame oil.”

“Hahaha. Really?”

It was really fun. I searched the web and found a lot of posts about Hundred Dishes.

[Enjoy 100% of Hundred Dishes in Midtown East

I’m a Korean food expert. My wife is Korean. Just pretend to be fooled and give it a try.

Eat plenty of vegetables. They are available upon request.

On Mondays, after you finish your meal, leave some of the stir-fried pork. Add kimchi and spinach, ask for gochujang and sesame oil, and mix to make a great bibimbap. You should order extra rice.

On Wednesdays, don’t eat all the gondre rice, but leave some left. It’s delicious when you mix it with vegetables and pancakes and the soy sauce that comes with it.

On Thursdays, you can just tear off some seaweed and add it to your bibimbap.

[Friday is delicious when served with pickled radish kimchi.]

└I did as you said. Are you a genius? It was really delicious. I’m so full.

└I really like that there is no tip. When you look at the menu, it looks expensive, but when you actually calculate the price, it is no different from other restaurants.

└I’ve lived in Korea for a long time, and I wish they sold fried eggs. Then it would be the perfect bibimbap.

└Don’t refill too much. Many restaurants reduce service because of the stale food.

The damage is ultimately borne by the guests.

“Are you sure you haven’t lost any dishes?”

“There were a few. Some of the plates were missing. What should I do with them?”

Lee Sang-beom’s face darkens.

“I have an idea. I think we should sell our guests special cutlery.

We will engrave the customer’s name on the spoon and make it available only to that customer. Of course, the restaurant will keep it.

If you move or no longer wish to visit, you must return it to the guest.”

This is a marketing strategy that some fine dining establishments use, but it is not a method that all restaurants can use. It has to be a restaurant that can boast that it has its own silverware. Segreto satisfies the criteria, but did not try it because the silverware they use is too expensive.

Hundred Dishes already has a significant following of regulars who would love to have their own special cutlery.

I asked a nearby workshop and found out that engraving a name on organic tableware isn’t that difficult.

So the price of the tableware that started selling was 50 dollars.

Since there was no room to store them indefinitely, we decided to keep only 300 sets. We decided to engrave the numbers along with the names and put up a notice, and the number came flooding in. We issued a card with the number engraved on it along with the dishes. When you order, you show it to the servers and they will take the dishes out of the storage.

* * *

The success of Hundred Dishes was a welcome relief to Korea, which was pursuing the globalization of Korean food.

As soon as the report started, it quickly rose to the main page of portal news.

[Shin Je-hee succeeds again, this time with Korean food.]

[Shouting out Korean food in the heart of New York.]

[Chef Shin Je-hee, who has emerged as a storm in the restaurant industry, what is his Korean menu that has captivated New Yorkers?]

└I live in New York and the article is definitely not an exaggeration. I have to wait in line every day to eat there.

└Shin Je-hee is amazing. Even if you spend that much money, things that didn’t work out are now possible because of Shin Je-hee. Stop doing stupid things and just push it through with the government budget.

└If you give her money, she’ll say “give me the persimmon and the pear”. It’s not like Shin Je-hee doesn’t have money, so why would she accept it? Leaving her alone is helping her.

└But how does it taste?

└I’m not kidding. I’m not saying this because I’m abroad, but I think it would be hard to find a Korean restaurant of this level in Korea, right?

└Why does Shin Je-hee always start in New York? Segreto did the same thing, and Baekban House also starts there. Do you think Koreans are lazy? Isn’t this reverse discrimination?

└I graduated from school there, gained experience, and have been running a restaurant for 10 years. I think I am half American. I think Segreto rarely comes to Seoul.

‘Were you only concerned about America?’

Reading the article and comments, I can’t help but smile bitterly. It’s inevitable since we’re based in the US. We have plans to expand our business to Korea, but not right now.

While I was thinking about it, I received a request from a gourmet restaurant. My father-in-law was already asking me to bring my children, so it seemed like a good opportunity, so I accepted.

“There were two when we left, but there are four when we came back?”

It’s funny to see Joohee and the child each holding each other while waiting for the plane.

“I bet your father-in-law will like it?”

“My mom says she only looks at pictures and videos of Noah and Yuna every day.”

Children who are coming outside for the first time look around in curiosity.

So after a few months, I was able to enter Korea.