Tuesday, May 21, 2013

A trip to Running Man - Haha barbecue restuarant (Pal Ja Mak Chang)


This is a stop where all Running Man fans would certainly want to visit in Seoul. I am one of those fans that really wanted to visit a celebrity restuarant run by my favourite artise. I suggested to iceprinxess to visit this restaurant and we can settle our dinner at the same time. Coincidentally, Hongdae is also one of the place we wanted to visit and do some shopping.

The picture was taken at Ha Dong Hoon Mak Chang (Pig intestine) restuarant in Seoul, Korea. Haha and his friends invested in this barbeque restuarant and they mainly sell pork meat and pig intestine. (Fortunately, we can go in without any issue with the foods) LeeSang Gary also open a Mak Chang restuarant and it is at the KonDae Branch which we did not get to visit the place due to our tight schedule. Nonetheless, we still go ahead with our plan to visit this place which is mainly run by HaHa friends.  Although I read online that HaHa may drop by the restuarant when he is free, unfortunately we did not see him when we visited the restuarant. I did some research before going  there and this is the address - Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu 395-17, operate from 5pm to 5am. It is located at Hong dae, near Hongik University ( Hongdae station ) and a mall called Sang Sang Madang

Being the first time going to the BBQ restuarant, we had some difficulty finding it since it was not located in a very obvious area. We actually need to walk about 10-15 minutes from the subway station exit 2 or 9 to reach the destination. Thanks to the GPS and Iceprinxess great sense of direction, we managed to locate the restaurant. I find that the signage was cute and it totally represents Haha personality. It is obvious that was Haha restaurant when I first saw the layout of the restaurant. The concept of the restuarant is reggae with a little hip hop style. I was immediately  attracted by the graffiti on the wall once i stepped into the place. The wall painting and the lighting matches the atmosphere of the restaurant too. I particularly like the wooden brown furniture which matches the background and the Celebrities signatures which attracted my attention at the entrance. 

Soon, we were greeted warmly when we stepped into the restuarant. We were urshered to a table immediately and given the menu. Surprisingly, this place was already crowded with people on a Thursday night. We decided to have some food sampling as we were pretty full due to the heavy lunch. There are english and Chinese translation on the food menu beside the Korean words. Therefore, it is easier for tourists like us to choose from the menu. 



We ordered two set of pork meat, a pig intestine and a bowl of spicy noodle soup. The waiters were in uniforms and interestingly two of them have nametags at the back. At a closer look, the waiter is wearing Gary nametag and the waitress has a HaHa nametag at the back. They work swiftly at every table helping to flip the barbecue meat and they took down orders very fast. The barbecue table was set up within minutes after we ordered and we do not need to wait long for our foods to be placed on the table.

The pork meat was good and chewy and it matches the fresh vegetables, garlic and special gravy sauce. Like any Korean meal, they serve side dishes such as white raddish to go with the barbeque foods. I am the only one that help myself to the pig intestine and i managed to place some of it into the vegetables before popping it into my mouth. However, I am not used to eating the pig intestine especially without any vegetable left. Therefore, I did not finish the pig intestine which I think look like a big portion even after they cut it into bite size. We managed to clear the pork meat which were quite filling and we were left with some pig intestine on the barbecue table. The spicy noodles was a little too spicy for my taste bug but the portion is just nice for the both of us. We should be able to finish the noodles if we are not too full. Nonetheless, the foods is at affordable prices and i finally got to taste some barbeque foods in korea. Ya!

Before we settled the bills, I requested to take photo of the signatures placed at the entrance and near the television. The cashier whom I recognized as one of HaHa friend readily agreed to let me take pictures of the signatures on the wall. Overall, the staffs are pretty polite and friendly. I observed that the staffs work  pretty well in this environment, serving their customers promptly. HaHa tweeted on his tweeter  account before that if any of the staffs are not friendly, we can tear the nametag off.  We left the restaurant contented that we had visited a celebrity restuarant. :)

Celebrities signatures



 Can you spot these?

Kim Jong Kook Signature


JYP Signature


Yoo Jae Suk Signature



Boyband - 2AM signature


 Gary Signature


Sulli signature


Lee Kwang Soo signature


Boyband - Beast signature


Girl group - Kara signature

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