Alley & Alley in the Alley

Korea is the king of fusion food. Well, there are some wacky combinations originating from Korea and Koreans are not afraid to try new ideas and push the limits of the menus. Kimchi tacos, kimchi chocolate, ramyeon burgers are just some of the inventions that involve Korean food mixed with something more foreign.

 

One such food that gained some traction a few years back was the combination of eating ddeokbokki with pizza. Luckily they are still eaten separately, and I have yet to see ddeokbokki ON an actual pizza.

골목에 골목 (Alley in the Alley) takes the concept a small step further. They do not only serve this combination on their menu, they have also developed the specific dishes a bit further. Most popular on the menu are the cream ddeokbokki and 인절미 pizza. The latter is a sweet injeolmi brown rice cake powder sprinkled on a thin bread crust with condensed milk, sugar and some kind of stringy cheese.

The ddeokbokki comes with a few fried mandus swimming in the creamy sauce, pieces of rice cake, something that looks like “spaghetti seasoning” (chili, parsley etc.) and your regular onions etc. Not only those it have regular ramyeon, it also contains a little bit of what looks like regular pasta.

The creamy ddeokbokki goes well with the crunchy pizza, baked in a stone oven right in front of your eyes. I have to admit I was skeptical towards rice cake pizza, but it works out really well! Luckily there was no tomato sauce on the pizza, since the pizza is more of a sweet pizza type rather than savory.

The set goes for about 8,000W per person and includes one choice of ddeokbokki, one choice of pizza, one jumokbap (“fist rice”, a ball of rice you get to mix yourself with other ingredients) and homemade gelato ice-cream! We tried both the yoghurt ice-cream and green tea ice-cream, and they are both legit. Before eating I was thinking “What stops restaurants from lying and saying it’s made in the restaurant when it just might have been store-bought?” But taking a bite, I realized how uncalled for my question had been.

골목에 골목

Tel: (02)468-9166

Address: 서울시 광진구 화양동 11-39 2층. Right in the middle of the Konkuk restaurant area, in an alley on the 2^nd floor.

Open days: Every day of the year except 1 day off on Seollal and Chuseok respectively.