Thursday, April 18, 2013
Korea Memory: Pizza!
During the entire 5 weeks I was in Korea, I think I had pizza twice. Both were very different experiences. The first was with my first host mom and host brother when they took me to a place called Mr. Pizza.
Mr. Pizza was located inside of a cupcake shop (sort of- you had to go through said cupcake shop to go upstairs to the pizza place)... yeah, I know. Pretty much perfect, right?
The pizza options were mind blowing to me. Instead of the standard pepperoni, mushroom and olives the selection consisted of what seemed like an entire dinner on top of pizza dough and cheese! I was torn on what to try out...and really confused as to whether it would be good or not.
Anyway, we (or more so my host brother) decided on the omyRib pizza. I didn't really remember the name... so I looked it up online *guilty*. It was basically short ribs, potatoes, cheese, zucchini and broccoli with BBQ sauce drizzled all on top of it... don't forget the sweet potato stuffed crust. I really tried to like it... but it just wasn't pizza! It was dinner at a steakhouse, but not as good I guess. I felt so bad because pizza is not the standard Friday night, can't find anything to eat in the house so let's order a pie type of deal. It is more of a treat and it is EXPENSIVE. A medium pizza could range from $25-$34 USD. I think that is why my host brother was so excited to eat there. He even ordered me the "salad bar" option and.... well, call me crazy but it was more of a yogurt and toppings bar more than anything!
Mr. Pizza was located inside of a cupcake shop (sort of- you had to go through said cupcake shop to go upstairs to the pizza place)... yeah, I know. Pretty much perfect, right?
The pizza options were mind blowing to me. Instead of the standard pepperoni, mushroom and olives the selection consisted of what seemed like an entire dinner on top of pizza dough and cheese! I was torn on what to try out...and really confused as to whether it would be good or not.
Anyway, we (or more so my host brother) decided on the omyRib pizza. I didn't really remember the name... so I looked it up online *guilty*. It was basically short ribs, potatoes, cheese, zucchini and broccoli with BBQ sauce drizzled all on top of it... don't forget the sweet potato stuffed crust. I really tried to like it... but it just wasn't pizza! It was dinner at a steakhouse, but not as good I guess. I felt so bad because pizza is not the standard Friday night, can't find anything to eat in the house so let's order a pie type of deal. It is more of a treat and it is EXPENSIVE. A medium pizza could range from $25-$34 USD. I think that is why my host brother was so excited to eat there. He even ordered me the "salad bar" option and.... well, call me crazy but it was more of a yogurt and toppings bar more than anything!
The slogan for Mr. Pizza is "Love for Women". The entire combination threw me off, but that didn't mean I did not want to try it again. One day when my friend Ariella and I were in Insadong, our host mom's were trying to find a place for us to eat dinner. We wanted Mr. Pizza, but this was kind of difficult to convey to them so as we walked by Ariella said "OoooHhhh Mr. Pizza" to see if it would catch their attention. It didn't.
But, for a long time after our trip, and occasionally to this day, "OoooHhh Mr. Pizza" has become our inside joke. As you can see in the video below, we ended up eating bibimbap for dinner! At the 1:42 mark I mention Mr. Pizza!
My second Pizza experience was with my second host family at Pizza Hut. OMG... it was the best. I remember being really mopey that day since it was day 1 of the switch to host family two and I was really bummed about not having wi fi and the fact that my room was small and had a window that opened into the "laundry room which was technically the kitchen (post on that later). Hence the lack of photos from this Pizza Hut experience.
Anyway, the pizza's were tiny and again, expensive. But, soooooo delicious. They were almost the same as here in America, but better for some odd reason. The salad bar had all sorts of interesting fresh fruits and I loved it!
My overall concensus is that I like pizza of the American/Italian/New York/Chicago variety much better. However, I can see why Korean pizza is so popular there, because it really is mostly about what people grow up eating and what is considered "normal" to them!
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2 comments:
I lived in Korea for 3 years, and LOVED the sweet potato pizza. Everyone told me I was sick, but oh my goodness, I miss it!!
www.ameliorerlavie.blogspot.com
@Lisa... OMG I couldn't even look at a sweet potato for a long time after I left S. Korea. Maybe because I was not a big fan in the first place? :)
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