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Arirang Restaurant - North KoreanNAME OF RESTAURANT: Arirang Restaurant (not very original, as most things Korean seem to be called Arirang - a river). This restaurant is not just Korean (there are plenty of those in UB). But it is a genuine North Korean Restaurant. LOCATION: This North Korean Restaurant is in the same place as the previous Japanese restaurant called "Sanshiro". It's on the south side of Seoul St (which has to be a huge contradiction when you think about it) just before you get to the turn off for the western long-distance bus station. It's in the eastern corner of that building, and not far from the Aeroflot office and the Emon Night Club which perhaps only dinosaurs remember. And dinosaurs with massive hangovers at that - it used to be a very, very lively night club a few years back - - but we digress). How's that for directions? Sorry---we didn't get the GPS coordinates. The outside has no English or Mongolian signs, rather a series of stand-out Korean-character signs in blue and red. BACKGROUND: North Korea had an official Embassy in UB with a shiny, dark blue Mercedes flag car until the late-90s when they closed the Embassy. It was quite an event - or a non-event. One morning Mongolia woke up and the North Koreans had left without even saying goodbye. While completely coincidental, as this review gets posted "The Boys From The DPRK Are Back In Town", re-opening their Embassy.
A room in the back of the restaurant is North Korea's information office. There are the mandatory photos of the late "Great Leader", Kim Il Sung, and of his son Kim Jong-il, the "Dear Leader", behind the main desk. There are all kinds of promotional publications on a nearby table for public consumption, including two in English. One is about the Great Leader entitled "Reminiscences with the Century--#2" and the other about his son entitled "Let us Bring the Advantages of Our People's Government into Fuller Play." RESTAURANT STAFF: Our waitress was a young Mongolian gal working in a North Korean restaurant but studying at a university in UB funded by South Korea. Life in this part of the world continues to amaze with its incongruities. The maitre'd of the restaurant was a friendly North Korean guy who spoke pretty good Chinese. He had spent five years in China promoting North Korean trade with China. The staff were very attentive and friendly. They had to be, because your culinary nomads wanted a genuine North Korean experience, and so plied them with questions about what on the menu was exclusively from the advertised country!!! The restaurant was virtually empty, but that is undoubtedly because our visit was post-Naadam, and everyone had saddled up and split for the countryside for the rest of the summer. RESTAURANT DECOR: Clean, neat and well kept with several private rooms for larger parties, including floor seating in Korean style. Pine wood furniture, but exceedingly clean floors, cutlery and crockery with minimal table decorations. There is a large library of Korean-language movies. For what purpose, and what genre (propaganda; information; South Korean; westerns or what), we didn't ask. MENU AND FOOD: Prepare to be pleasantly surprised. Basically the menu is divided into Korean food and Japanese food. Other reports on the Japanese food have been glowing in their praise. Fresh, well prepared and extensive is the judgement. The menu certainly validated the extensive part. Everything you would normally expect at a general Japanese Restaurant. Except of course the knife throwing, cleaver juggling cooks.
Another oddity was that there was only one English version menu. The rest were Korean/Mongolian language versions. But your Culinary Cowboys were not at a North Korean Restaurant to eat Japanese food!! No - we were prepared to throw ourselves into the cuisine of Pyongyang and the Dear Leader. So we consulted with the Maitre de, and chose a couple of dishes he assured us were exclusively North of the 51st parallel DMZ. The relevant page of the Menu is photographed here for your preview. Pyongyang Raenmyon was a no-brainer. And also the only dish that disappointed. Gluey noodles shaped like a little volcano and resting in a bowl of ice and water. On the top of the volcano were a few bits and pieces of meat and fish etc. Scissors were supplied to cut the noodles!! No-one in our group endorsed this dish. However, it proved to be the only disappointment. The rest was great. Bibimba - recommended as a DPRK speciality. A fried egg in an assortment of meat, salad and vegetables. Stirfried Squid and Rice - universally acclaimed. A great rich dark sauce accompanied the squid and it was delicious just by itself. Pork Curry - a great sweet curry. Crispy pork slices on rice with carrots and a curry gravy. Tempura Udon - one prawn, tempura style, together with vegetable in the same batter. Average and edible. Corn Noodles - well worth it. Chicken omelette and rice was not what you would expect and was another universally-liked dish.
DRINKS AND UTENSILS: Good hot tea was kept supplied all evening. We also gambled on two bottles of the North Korean version of rice wine. It comes from the Pyongyang Trading Corp in the city of that same name. We had to ask for it as it wasn't on open display. But luckily our Mongolian friends with us knew that the North Korean's had a "great drink in a green bottle". How did they know that? Some of them had been to university in Moscow in the days when the communist brotherhood gathered their best and brightest and educated them in that country. And there were a contingent of badge wearing, quiet and studious North Koreans amongst them. While it was un-stated by our Mongolian friends (do the old brotherhood and familial ties live on?), the North Korean swots must have let loose at times and played the old "One Green Bottle" drinking song. It was agreed the liquor was non-threatening, immensely quaffable and while we didn't over-imbibe, hangovers of any description did not appear. Recommended. However, our chopsticks (according to their wrappers) were imported by the "Chicago Food Corp" in Chicago, Illinois, USA,but were labelled on the wrappers as a product of China. Go figure that one out!!! It's a global economy!!! But we have the phone number of this Chicago-based chop-stick distributor in case any one is interested and is short of utensils or a talking point at their dinner table. COST: Seven of us went to dinner. It's no "travellers' secret", but for Asian restaurants it's usually good to go in numbers because you can order and try more dishes. And, after all, that's our mission when we saddle up for the Culinary Calvary. For the North Korean restaurant, costs for food and drink came to about US$7 per head, without dessert. In fact, the only dessert listed on menu was ice-cream, but by that time we were all full and it would have had to have been a pretty well tempting dish to get us on the rampage again. SEEING YOUR HORSE: The facilities to see your horse (both men and women) were basically bright, functional and well equipped. It did seem, though, that when you looked at the white tile floors in both the restrooms that a few horses had left their hoof prints. Regular readers of our reviews would see by now that toilets in Ulaanbaatar are never judged to be perfect by your Hedonistic Heroes. That's because they aren't. No matter where you are, you will find something that jars if you are a Westerner. But these were quite passable. ART SHOP: At the entrance to the restaurant, there is a small art shop selling North Korean art in the best traditions of a free market economy. Some very nice paintings of birds and wildlife and landscapes, and at average prices ($4 for an hand painted postcard). However, even in the spirit of promoting a market economy and boosting the North Korean labour market we could not justify the $1000 asked for a 25cm high pottery vase. We may live to regret it. Perhaps the same item may sell at Sothebys in a few years for an astronomical amount. For now, it is yours for the asking should you venture down Seoul Street. We left it in the capable hands of the budding DPRK entrepreneur/salesman, despite his constant refrain of thumbs up and "North Korea, very good". RATING: On our scale of 1 to 5 in UB, we would have to give the North Korean Restaurant a rating of 3.4. The food and the service are good, and we recommend this little hidden treasure for an off-beat experience. CONCLUSION: Your OR reviewers will saddle up again when the moment and the place are right and meet our specific criteria for "obscure". Not only do we have our devoted followers to educate and inform, but we had forgotten what a pleasant pastime it is to find the unusual and the out-of-synch places in the world, and spend a few hours in good company. We already have a few other spots already in mind. Stay tuned. We are still at your service in one of the last and greatest frontiers on our globe.
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Up until now part of the building and the restaurant serve as a sort of informal trade and information office for North Korea. This brass plaque outside the restaurant testifies to its function.
