Sangsaengjang: Hidden Pub in Cheongnyangni
After eating pork, we headed over to the Cheongnyangni Fruit Market (in Seoul). My friend had clearly said, "Let's grab a beer," so I wasn't sure why we were at a market. It was late and all the stalls were closed, making me wonder where on earth we were going. He kept telling me to trust him, but as I've mentioned before, this guy sprinkles more MSG on his words than I do, so I couldn't trust him at all. Eventually, we stopped and walked into a place that looked like it would sell anything but beer.
Once we actually went up the stairs, a space with a completely different vibe from the outside appeared. I wouldn't call it highly sophisticated, but it still had a youthful atmosphere full of sensible touches everywhere. The name of this place is "Sangsaengjang." The name itself blatantly means a space that coexists with the market.
There are no older market vendors hanging out in this trendy space. However, I think just having young people look around the market on their way here is helpful enough. I thought the drinks might be cheap since it's in a market, but that wasn't the case. The variety is huge, and I saw some beers I'd never seen before. There are some cheap draft beers, but the portions aren't very large. The most disappointing part was that the cups were plastic. Ah, that's just because I've been trying not to use plastic lately to protect the environment.
