RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK RawRaw becomes welcome addition to HBC's restaurant scene

RawRaw Burgershop is located in the former space of Al Matto in central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood, Aug. 11. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

It was a shock when Al Matto, probably the best pizza place of central Seoul's Haebangchon (HBC) neighborhood, closed without fanfare earlier this year. Once the Italian-style pizzeria and Deokseongjang Motel upstairs were shut down, the building underwent a thorough renovation. That's been happening in the area a lot lately, and mostly, it results in unused — but probably higher-value — real estate. Don't ask me why that's preferable; I'm not a realtor.

The former Al Matto space has been cut into two smaller spaces available for commercial rent. And one of those has been transformed — surprisingly quickly — into RawRaw Burgershop.

I was a little cautious at first, partly out of feelings of loyalty to Al Matto, the disappearance of which remains a mystery to me. But I had to try RawRaw, and I'm glad I did because it was a surprise.

The first surprise is that the interior is very nice, reminiscent of a U.S.-style diner with a bit of a hip-hop theme. It's comfortable, and somehow, it doesn't feel any smaller than Al Matto (they must have had a larger kitchen than I realized?).

The next big surprise was the menu, which looked familiar. It's a dead ringer for the menu at Brooklyn The Burger Joint, right down to offering larger or smaller patties (in this case, the quarter-pound Single and half-pound Double). The prices are slightly lower than Brooklyn, possibly because of slightly smaller portions. Both burger joints also feature various sides, as well as shakes — plus a root beer float.

The menus aren't totally identical. There are RawRaw burgers that have no counterpart in Brooklyn, like the Runny Yolk (with egg) and the Waikiki (with pineapple and teriyaki sauce) and vice versa.

On my very first visit, I tried the T.H.C. (The Horseradish Cream) burger, which comes with a distinctly tangy horseradish sauce. It very much resembles the C.R.E.A.M. (Cheddar Rules Everything Around Meat) at Brooklyn, which also uses a horseradish mayo. I did a taste test of both of them together and found there are differences, such as the T.H.C.'s heavy use of red onion. There are also differences in basic ingredients such as the buns, patties and bacon, which means that one is not a carbon copy of the other. Ultimately, both are great burgers, and it would be hard to pick between them. For most consumers, the choice should simply be: whichever's closest.

When asked about the similarities, staff said that Brooklyn was their "inspiration." Whatever the case, RawRaw has certainly been inspired to make great burgers.

If you're in the HBC area and hungry for this particular style of burger — to say nothing of the shakes and that root beer float — RawRaw is a gift.

RawRaw is open 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day of the week except Tuesday. Follow @rawrawburgershop on Instagram for more information.