Monday 27 April 2020

[Incheon] - Chinatown (인천 차이나타운)


Incheon's Chinatown is Korea's only official Chinatown. It became an international port in 1883 and it's designation as an extraterritoriality of the Ching Dynasty in the following year. 

  Outstanding 11-meter high Chinese-style gateway (paifang),
the entrance to Chinatown.  

Although over 100 years old, you can still find unique and old buildings hiding
in Incheon, while it's a metropolitan city that established as a major
transportation hub with the Incheon International Airport and Incheon Port. 

 
 
Diversified culture can be seen here as the residents are mostly 
2nd or 3rd generation descendants of the early Chinese settlers.

A Korean Odyssey (화유기 / Hwayugi) was filmed at this busy alley in Chinatown.

 
 Ok, let's go to explore more...

  
Add: 14, Chinatown-ro 52beon-gil, Jung-gu, Incheon 
인천광역시 중구 차이나타운로52번길 14 (북성동2가).

Jjajangmyeon Museum (짜장면박물관)

Serious? A museum for Jjajangmyeon?!! Interesting!
Admission is KRW 3,400 for 5 museums.

In fact Chinatown was the birthplace of Jajangmyeon (자장면 = black soybean noodles).


 Here was the kitchen of Gongwhachun in 1960.


  Jjajangmyeon was originally from China but evolved and adjusted to Korean taste.
And after that, it became one of Korea's most beloved dishes.

 
In Korea, singles celebrate Black day (블랙데이) by dressing in all black
and eating Jajangmyeon because it's covered in black bean paste.

You can find the restaurant's old and new signages.

 
 
This museum has a collection of all Jjajangmyeon related items from price list, 
the delivery container (cheolgabang), and also different instant Jajangmyeon
 available in the market.

Thanks to Jo Chang Gyeong, the museum staff who guided and explained 
to us the history of Jjajangmyeon.

Jjajangmyeon museum was filming site for K-dramas Hwayugi (화유기) and  Suits (슈츠).

 
She also introduced us to 泰臨鳳 (태림봉), an authentic Korean Chinese Restaurant.
 She also personally came to the restaurant to help us order the food.

Of course, Jjajangmyeon was not to miss since we're in Incheon. We also ordered Jjamppong (Spicy seafood noodle soup), which is another popular Korean Chinese cuisine.

 
Wow, can you see the big bowl of pork in black bean sauce?
Amazing, they are very delicious with thick flavours and the price is very reasonable.

泰臨鳳 (태림봉)
Add: 인천 중구 선린동 6 
6, Seonlin-dong, Jung-gu, Incheon.


She cordially strolled with us to enjoy a beautiful evening in Incheon city after work.




  We had delicious Budaejjigae at Hyundai Premium Outlet near Songdo.

We chatted a lot as if we knew each other for years. You wouldn't be able to tell that she's only learned the Chinese language for one year, because of her fluency, she even understood some of the words that I seldom used or didn't know! You're the best~!^^

 Writing this made me miss her a lot... will text her soon. Hope she's doing fine... 

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