HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Okryu-gwan or Okryu Restaurant is a restaurant in
Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...
, North Korea, founded in 1960. South Korea analyst Andrei Lankov describes it as one of two restaurants, the other being Ch'ongryugwan, which have "defined the culinary life of Pyongyang" since the 1980s, and a "living museum of culinary art".


Building and location

Okryu-gwan is located on the bank of the Taedong River, between Moran Hill and the Okryu Bridge. It is a large building, and can seat up to 2,000 patrons, which Lankov described as reflecting "a penchant for large-scale eateries ... common to all Communist regimes". The building is distinguished by its traditional architecture and curved green roofs. The building is divided into a main area and two wings, with a total floor area of . The stairs are made of
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
from Ryonggang,
South Pyongan Province South Pyongan Province (; ) is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Pyongan Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea. Its capital is Pyo ...
. According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the building was renovated in 2008. , who supervised the original design and construction of the restaurant, was soon after dispatched to South Korea as a spy, and spent 38 years in prison there before being repatriated to North Korea in 2000 along with 62 other
unconverted long-term prisoners "Unconverted long-term prisoners" is the North Korean term for northern loyalists imprisoned in South Korea who never renounced ''Juche''. The North Korean government considers them to be "pro-reunification patriotic fighters", while South Korean ...
. He returned home to a hero's welcome, even receiving a personal congratulations from Kim Jong Il on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2009.


Cuisine

Okryu-gwan is famous for its '' raengmyŏn'', Pyongyang-style cold noodles. The restaurant sends research teams into the North Korean countryside to collect data on
Korean cuisine Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles which are associated with Korean culture. This cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomad ...
and introduce new recipes. Other dishes that the KCNA reports are served at Okryu-gwan include gray mullet soup with boiled rice, beef rib soup, green bean pancake, and '' sinsollo'' (a soup made from various ingredients including meat, fish, vegetable, pine nuts, gingko nuts, and mushrooms).


Branches outside North Korea

The Japan-based Korean residents' association Chongryon has authorisation to open overseas branches of Okryu-gwan. Okryu-gwan has various branches throughout China, which help the North Korean government to earn badly needed foreign currency. Okryu-gwan is thus well-known even in South Korea. Each restaurant is reportedly required to remit US$100,000 to US$300,000 to Pyongyang per year, depending on local conditions. As a result, they market themselves aggressively, even purchasing advertisements in local South Korean expatriate newspapers. However, the South Korean government takes a dim view of their own nationals who visit the restaurants, and warns them that they may be charged with violating the National Security Act. The first Okryu-gwan branch in China opened in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
's Wangjing district in 2003; by 2010, its revenues were estimated at more than US$6,000 per day. The waitresses are graduates of the or culinary schools in Pyongyang. The restaurant in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
of the same name is a knock-off, staffed by Chinese citizens of Korean ethnicity. The Okryu-gwan branch in Dubai is located in the
Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/ or ; or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom. Etymology The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic , meaning 'oak' ( in modern Welsh), in which case ...
area, near the Deira Clocktower. It is a joint venture with several equityholders, including an undisclosed majority local owner, along with Chinese businessman Gavin Tang. It is popular with Japanese expatriates. A branch in
Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...
reportedly continued to operate as of early 2011, though another nearby North Korean restaurant Kumgangsan closed after its manager absconded to India with its funds and reportedly defected to South Korea. Other international branches of Okryu-gwan operate in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Russia. In 1999, a restaurant of the same name was opened in South Korea by Kim Young-baek, attracting attention in the South Korean press for its claim to be an officially contracted branch restaurant of the one in the North. A spokesman for the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan denied that any such contract existed, while Kim clarified that he had not contracted directly with the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan but rather with Chongryon. Nevertheless, the Southern Okryu-gwan, a 360-seat restaurant in
Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
, maintained several ties with the one in the North; they employed a Korean with a Japanese passport who had trained as a chef at the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan, hung a painting of the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan done by a North Korean artist on their outside wall, imported
buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...
and mung bean from the North, and even purchased utensils and tableware from the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan. Soon after they opened, they were turning away as many as 3,000 customers a day for lack of seats.


Customers

Okryu-gwan is open to the general public of North Korea, but in order to eat here, they must obtain tickets from their work units; there may be a long wait for such tickets, as well as a fee, which does not cover the food itself. Foreigners who eat here will not be seated in segregated sections, but may be shown into one of the smaller rooms.
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
veterans who live in Pyongyang also receive free noodles at the restaurant on the anniversary of the
Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement (; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United States Army Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison Jr ...
, which is celebrated as a public holiday in North Korea.


See also

* Pyongyang (restaurant chain)


References


External links


Page
on Korean Dishes {{Tourist attractions in Pyongyang Restaurants in North Korea Restaurants established in 1960 Buildings and structures in Pyongyang Tourist attractions in Pyongyang Noodle restaurants 1960 establishments in North Korea