I have wanted to go to Hannam Market in Seoul for awhile now since it's the only place I've heard of that you can buy American food. It is located under the Volvo building and you will see this sign marking the entrance before the Volvo building.
It is located on Subway Line 6, Stop 631 and Exit 2. As you exit the subway, walk to the corner and take a right. You will see a walkway going over the highway, cross the highway using the walkway and continue south for about a block and you will see the sign on your left.
Upon entering, I noticed a grocery store immediately to my left. I beelined in when I saw all the American food. I didn't notice until we had to pay that I was in Dandy's Grocery. I didn't care at that point since I was happy with what I got. Further ahead, we saw the sign for Hannam Supermarket and proceed inside. I was on the prowl for sauerkraut. I've been craving it for many months. Dandy's didn't have it but Hannam Supermarket did. We also encountered a room full of non Koreans. They were also speaking German, all of them. Ah, maybe that accounted for scoring the sauerkraut!
Here's Curt in line. I kinda lost track of how much everything weighed. Poor Curt, being the gallant and ever considerate husband, carried everything back to Suwon. This entailed several subway lines and a bus trip. What a guy!
Curt usually never complains when I spend money but I sure heard about my purchases above. What do you think?
Campbell Soup - 2000 won a can ($2 US)
Vanilla Extract - 6500 won ($6.50US)
Lipton Onion Soup Mix - 4500 won ($4.50 US)
Chef Boyardee - 4000 won ($4 US)
Duncan Hines Brownies - 6500 won ($6.50 US)
Johnsonville Brats - 9000 won ($9.00 US)
We spent around 70,000 won ($70 US). I was ecstatic. Curt was ticked off. He feels we were totally ripped off. I heard about it all the way home (along with "I can't believe these cans can weigh so much"). We must have looked so pathetic that on one of the subways, an older Korean woman took the bags from us to hold. She was sitting while we were standing. It was the sweetest thing.
Would I go back? Sure, if I had a craving for something. I don't feel you can put a price on that. Would Curt ever go back? I don't think so. He would be singing a different tune if they opened a "Chipotle" here and charged 20,000 won for a burrito. He would pay just about anything for one of their burritos. I would too!
On another note, there is a new Bennigan's commercial playing on the television that caught my eye. The background music is a girl singing the Eric Carmen song "All By Myself" while the commerical is selling "All by my chef." It cracks me up every time I see it.
3 comments:
Hi Becky. I live in Korea, too, and I've been reading and enjoying your blog for a while and thought I should "introduce" myself.
I go to Hannam Supmkt too, as well as a few other imported food stores, and even though it's expensive, it's nice to have some favorite foods from home once in a while. Also, every summer when I take a trip to the U.S., I bring back a suitcase full of foods and toiletries from home.
There is a pretty good Tex-Mex place in Gangnam in Seoul, called Dos Tacos--have you been there? I bet your husband would like it.
Also, since you live in Suwon, Bundang is not too far away, and they have some good foreign foods and western restaurants--you might like to check out that suburb some weekend.
We used to go up to Itaewon to get oatmeal from this little black-market shop that had illegally resold stuff from the base (I think). I always found Itaewon kind of creepy, but we'd go to get oatmeal. And go to the Indian buffet (or the Pakistani place right behind it, which was yummy too).
Sandra: Great to meet you! We have discovered Dos Tacos thanks to The Daily Kimchi! Love it!
Hellena: I totally agree with your opinion of Itaewon, What was the name of the restaurant??
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