 Image: Daily NK |
Ever since she was a little girl, North
Korea defector turned restaurant owner Lee Soon Yeong (pictured left) pursued
cooking as a hobby. That’s why as soon as she arrived in South Korea, she began
working in the restaurant business. Although her ultimate goal was to own her
own establishment, Ms. Lee had to start from the very bottom and work her way
up. Ever the optimist, she figured she could gather all the expertise she would
need through this experience. After years of working as a waiter in a
department store, she became adjusted to the ins and outs of restaurant life,
so at that point she resolved to start a buckwheat noodle soup restaurant.
She looked up various recipes and
ingredients for buckwheat noodle soup with her phone, carefully recording all
she had learned in a notebook when she got home. Her desire to learn didn’t
stop there. She traveled to Seoul to search out the top buckwheat noodle
restaurant and began experimenting with different combinations of the recipes
she had picked up through her research. In this way, she eventually mastered
her very own recipe. But the road she traveled was not always easy. There were
times that she grew so upset that she ran away to a hiding space to cry alone.
The greatest single source of this pain was a manager who paid her less because
of her North Korean origin.
Every time she got sad or discouraged, Ms.
Lee would write in her journal and think about her goal of starting a business
within five years. Whenever she couldn’t sleep, she pored over recipe books and
strengthened her resolve. At the five-year mark, she looked in her bank account
and determined that she had enough capital to invest in her own shop. The
victory was extra sweet because the restaurant had her name written across the
top, and she’d been able to accomplish her goal without anybody’s help.
Before long, the news began to spread about Ms. Lee’s buckwheat noodle soup.
Its taste is known to be a cut above the competition, the direct result of her
hard work and experimentation. The secret to Ms. Lee’s noodles is her combined
use of North Korean and South Korean cooking styles. She uses South Korean
style radish water to make the broth and North Korean style beef broth to
flavor the cold noodles. This union of flavors – a delicate balance between the
cool freshness of the radish water and the deep savory taste of the beef broth
– gave birth to a truly unique dish.
Becoming the Cream of the Crop in Gangwon
Province
After a year and a half, it became clear
that Ms. Lee’s venture was a success. Both the internet and the neighborhood
were abuzz with the news of the newest popular eatery. But the ambitious Ms.
Lee was still not satisfied. She began to cook up even bigger dreams. As long
as business continues at its current pace, she believes it will be possible to
move the restaurant to a bigger space within three years.
Ms. Lee said, “I think anyone can
accomplish their goals through hard work. By continuing to build on what I’ve
accomplished so far, I look forward to our shop becoming the definitive
buckwheat noodle restaurant of Gangwon Province.”
Ms. Lee emphasized that through commitment
and hard work it’s possible to get positive results. Though she was bogged down
by struggles in the past, Ms. Lee used perseverance to overcome her
difficulties and lead the life she always dreamed of. Considering her tenacious
ambition and renowned skills as a chef, it’s not hard to envision Ms. Lee
smiling and working hard as ever in a big new restaurant sometime in the near
future.
*This article was made possible by support
from the Korea Hana Foundation [the North Korean Refugees Foundation].
