‘Homyeondang’ Offers Quality Meal

By Seo Dong-shin

Staff Reporter

Organic food has yet to catch on in Korea, although it has earned quite a following among health and environment conscious consumers in the West over the last few decades.

Dining at Homyeondang, which labels itself an ``organic noodle bar,’’ however, you would think it is about time. The restaurant has sprouted branches across Seoul from Cheongdam-dong to Yeoido. Busan and Daegu will have one within this year.

As word of mouth and blog reviews about Homyeondang spread, this reviewer decided to try one of the branches located in Myeongdong, central Seoul.

At first glance, the restaurant does not stand out from its peer-level restaurants located in Cheongdam-dong or other fashionably populated areas, which have promoted their atmosphere’s chic-ness along with the food’s fusion-ness to appeal to 20-or30-something customers in recent years.

The difference is that Homyeondang claims to use organic cooking materials only. And there seems to be no reason to doubt that proclamation yet, at least judging from the dressing and vegetables served as the starter for a standard dinner set.