Fortunately, students at SIS have many delicious restaurants to visit after school. Myeongin Mandoo, Kassy’s Kitchen, Coffee Toah, and Popeyes are all examples of places that students enjoy eating. Another interesting addition to this long list of restaurants is Somunnan Sundaeguk. Unlike the other places that trend toward producing fast foods, this restaurant serves more filling, traditional Korean meals. Their main disk is sundaeguk, which is similar to seolleongtang, but with the addition of tasty Korean blood sausages. Blood sausages contain a variety of ingredients such as pork blood and noodles wrapped in pig intestines.

Upon entering the restaurant, you are greeted by the spacious, clean, and rather dark interior as well as comfortable wooden chairs. Somehow, the restaurant gives off an impression that it exists for those who come to eat a meal every day, rather than it being a novelty. The food is designed to satisfy the stomach at an affordable cost.

While the place has a variety of menus such as ppyeohaejangguk, a dish created from boiling ox bone, sundaeguk is arguably the restaurant’s specialty. There are two sizes available for the sundaeguk: 6000 won for the smaller size and 8000 won for the larger size. The smaller size is affordable and has a decent amount, but the larger size comes with a significantly larger serving for a small increase in price.

True to the form of many Korean dishes, the savory, salty taste remotely resembles the brine of milk with a mix of many different tastes. It includes vegetables, meats, bone marrow, and other organs that all come together to create a surprising nutritious and cohesive meal. The brine, along with the liver, pig intestines, cartilage, the scraps of meat, vegetables, comes together to create a rich flavor. While the soup may be a little bland for some, but they give you salt and pepper on the side for you to season it to life. The savory taste is really enhanced by the presence of even a little bit of salt or the pepper. The brine is great, but the true star of the dish is the sundae, which is best described as a blood sausage. They don’t require any additional seasoning, as the way they come, and they are already quite tasty. In the larger size, there are five pieces included, which is a considerable amount.

The ppyeohaejangguk is a red, mildly spicy soup that you can also order. The taste is decent, but it certainly pales in comparison to the sundaeguk, and it was much more of a pain to eat. To get at the meat, it is necessary to remove it from the wide bone, which was difficult: it wasn’t really tender and stuck on the bone. It tasted fine, but not remarkable, and the difficulty of eating it makes sundaeguk an overall better option.

There are many stores right around SIS that offer tasty snacks or light meals, but none really quite as comprehensive and filling as the sundaeguk. Some people, when they first try it out, might find the prospect of eating pig intestines not all that appealing, but the taste is completely contrary to what people expect. If students or teachers alike want more of a hearty meal, then it is highly recommended to try out this new place and the variety of the different menus that they provide.