Nau speak: Seoul: Dongdaemun Street toast

Korean Street toast is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Warm, sweet, eggy, crispy, toasty...it's all the things you need to cozy up and face the cold mornings, or to soak up any residual soju that might still be lingering in your well-partied belly. Whatever the case, I miss it dearly and look forward to recreating it for Antho and I at some point...until then I can reminisce about the butter-scented clouds drifting off the hot grill as the auntie's skilled hands grease, fry, flip, and toast away. There's a lot of options for customizing your toastie, too, whether you like ham or hamburger! I'd always opt for a coffee with my meal, because caffeine is crucial to my functioning like a semi-cogent human being many mornings. We've all got our vices, and coffee is at least a well-accepted and highly-accessible vice to have in Seoul. Coffee shops are practically everywhere- inside train stations, on busy street corners, nearly anywhere you can tuck a tiny business into. I mean, look at the vast floor plan these women had to work with!

That's it. That's right folks, that photo above comprises the entire floorplan of their restaurant. When you're in an area as densely packed and busy as Dongdaemun, in a city with land-constraints like Seoul, who's mountainous peaks not only prevent invasion but limit expansion, space becomes a premium. I was surprised to learn from friends who'd been living in Seoul that you can find reasonably affordable accommodations, as I'd expected rent to be quite high as it is in/near Tokyo. Businesses, of course, have to pay their share of rent and I'm sure it's pretty high in these corners, but people make do. And they make seriously tasty food out of these tiny, micro-kitchens. It's really no wonder I'm so enamored with the concept of minimalism and tiny-house living after seeing the incredible and ingenious methods people use to optimize even these little corners of the inner city for maximum practicality. With an item like this street toast, which is quite simple in concept but offers multiple means for customization, they're able to really hone in and do what they do best with a simple menu.