The Flying Pan
7:30am-9:30pm Monday to Friday / 9:30am-9:30pm Saturday / Closed Sunday
Subway Stop: Itaewon / Exit #2 / Walk straight and at the first street (alley) take a left and it is located next to the My Thai restaurant
For the most part adjusting to the diet and food here in Korea has been quite simple. Korean food is delicious and when the cravings of things from home arise there are many Western fast-food chains scattered around the city such as Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonald’s. Plenty of supermarkets and import stores carry most of the ingredients that we cook with in the west so as long as you are willing to pay astronomical prices and do the legwork of finding these items then it is not an issue of never having it but instead an issue of how much work are you willing to do and how much money are you willing to spend.
This being said, most things can be cooked and modified at home but there is one thing that no matter how often I cook it and no matter how delicious it is, it just is never the same as going out and having it cooked for you. This is breakfast. A real western breakfast, be it home fries, over-easy eggs, french toast drizzled in Vermont maple syrup, crispy bacon with the fat still sizzling on the edges when it arrives to the table, fresh squeezed orange juice or a black cup of joe loaded down with sugar and creamers. This is what I miss. This is what I crave.
So on Saturday when my co-teachers called to announce that they were on the hunt for eggs Benedict my taste buds immediately began going psychotic with anticipation. Our destination was Itaewon, i.e. Little America and if you think I’m kidding for even a moment about how highly anticipated a breakfast of this degree is let me just explain that from where we live it takes 45 minutes by public transportation, each way, to indulge in a delight of this sort.
My Canadian co-teachers had heard of a little joint called The Flying Pan so off we headed. The Flying Pan was tucked into an alley and probably missed by many people just strolling by but having done the research ahead of time and knowing our ultimate destination it was a short walk from the subway exit and quite easy to find. The restaurant is simplistic with white washed walls and wooden tables. A few chandeliers were strung from the ceiling and overall it was nicely decorated. The menu was an All-Day Brunch with prices ranging from approximately 14,000 won and up. This did not include a drink so realistically we probably spent in the vicinity of 20,000 won on breakfast per person.
At this moment I should probably interject that if you are looking for a greasy, fat filled Western breakfast this is perhaps not the right destination for you. This was more of a health conscious bistro breakfast that you might find in a trendy artsy neighborhood back home. I ordered the eggs Benedict smoked salmon which was composed of poached eggs, smoked salmon, hollandaise sauce, grilled tomato and spinach all served on a toasted white bread. It was mouth-watering and amazing. However, and this is a big however, there were a few tiny diced potatoes on the side but nothing of real substance. All three of us thoroughly enjoyed our picks but were in unison that there just wasn’t enough food on the plate. Perhaps it truly is the westerner in us who love to gorge on food and feel utterly and sickly full after indulging in a true western breakfast but that was the one place this restaurant did fall short on.
Overall The Flying Pan was a good experience. The food we ate was well prepared and the restaurant itself was clean and easy to find off the subway. If you have the opportunity to go I would definitely recommend trying it out but that being said now that I’ve tried it there are a million other places jumping onboard the western breakfast train in Korea and a “good Western breakfast” just might not have what it takes for a return visit when I am on the hunt for the “best Western breakfast in Seoul!
