Okryu-gwan or Okryu Restaurant is a restaurant in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, founded in 1960. South Korea analyst Andrei Lankov describes it as one of two restaurants, the other being Ch'ongryugwan, which have "defined the culinary life of Pyongyang" since the 1980s, and a "living museum of culinary art".

Building and location

Okryu-gwan is located on the bank of the

Taedong River The Taedong River (Chosŏn'gŭl: ) is a large river in North Korea. The river rises in the Rangrim Mountains of the country's north where it then flows southwest into Korea Bay at Namp'o.Suh, Dae-Sook (1987) "North Korea in 1986: Strengthenin ...

, between Moran Hill and the Okryu Bridge. It is a large building, and can seat up to 2,000 patrons, which Lankov described as reflecting "a penchant for large-scale eateries ... common to all Communist regimes". The building is distinguished by its traditional architecture and curved green roofs. The building is divided into a main area and two wings, with a total floor area of . The stairs are made of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

from

Ryonggang Ryonggang County is a county in South P'yŏngan province, North Korea. It is administered as a part of Namp'o Special City. It is famous for its local apples. Administrative divisions Ryonggang-gun is divided into one town (ŭp) and 10 village ...

South Pyongan South Pyongan Province (Phyŏngannamdo; ) is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Pyongan Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea. Its c ...

. According to the North's official

Korean Central News Agency The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946 and now features onli ...

, the building was renovated in 2008. , who supervised the original design and construction of the restaurant, was soon after dispatched to South Korea as a spy, and spent 38 years in prison there before being repatriated to North Korea in 2000 along with 62 other

unconverted long-term prisoners "Unconverted long-term prisoners" is the North Korean term for northern loyalists imprisoned in South Korea who never renounced ''Juche''. The North Korean government considers them to be "pro-reunification patriotic fighters", while South Korean ...

. He returned home to a hero's welcome, even receiving a personal congratulations from Kim Jong-il on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2009.

Cuisine

Okryu-gwan is famous for its '' raengmyŏn'', Pyongyang-style cold noodles. The restaurant sends research teams into the North Korean countryside to collect data on

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient agricultural and nomadic traditions in Korea and southern Manchuria, Korean cuisine reflects a complex interaction of the natural envi ...

and introduce new recipes. Other dishes that the KCNA reports are served at Okryu-gwan include gray mullet soup with boiled rice, beef rib soup, green bean pancake, '' sinsollo'' (a soup made from various ingredients including meat, fish, vegetable,

pine nut Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trad ...

s, gingko nuts, and mushrooms).

Branches outside North Korea

Okryugwan Restaurant, Wangjing (20220308164158)

The Japan-based Korean residents' association

Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan,
" ''

has authorisation to open overseas branches of Okryu-gwan. Okryu-gwan has various branches throughout China, which help the North Korean government to earn badly needed foreign currency. Okryu-gwan is thus well-known even in South Korea. Each restaurant is reportedly required to remit US$100,000 to US$300,000 to Pyongyang per year, depending on local conditions. As a result, they market themselves aggressively, even purchasing advertisements in local South Korean expatriate newspapers. However, the South Korean government takes a dim view of their own nationals who visit the restaurants, and warns them that they may be charged with violating the National Security Act. The first Okryu-gwan branch in China opened in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

's Wangjing district in 2003; by 2010, its revenues were estimated at more than US$6,000 per day. The waitresses are graduates of the or culinary schools in Pyongyang. The restaurant in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

of the same name is a knock-off, staffed by Chinese citizens of Korean ethnicity. The Okryu-gwan branch in Dubai is located in the

Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom. Etymology The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...

area, near the

Deira Clocktower Deira Clocktower ( ar, دوار الساعة ديرة), originally referred to as the Dubai Clock Tower, is a roundabout in Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Telegraph newspaper listed Dubai Clock Tower among the 17 most beautiful cl ...

. It is a joint venture with several equityholders, including an undisclosed majority local owner, along with Chinese businessman Gavin Tang. It is popular with Japanese expatriates. A branch in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

reportedly continued to operate as of early 2011, though another nearby North Korean restaurant Kumgangsan closed after its manager absconded to India with its funds and reportedly defected to South Korea. Other international branches of Okryu-gwan operate in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Russia. In 1999, a restaurant of the same name was opened in South Korea by Kim Young-baek, attracting attention in the South Korean press for its claim to be an officially contracted branch restaurant of the one in the North. A spokesman for the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan denied that any such contract existed, while Kim clarified that he had not contracted directly with the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan but rather with Chongryon. Nevertheless, the Southern Okryu-gwan, a 360-seat restaurant in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, maintained several ties with the one in the North; they employed a Korean with a Japanese passport who had trained as a chef at the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan, hung a painting of the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan done by a North Korean artist on their outside wall, imported

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as ''Fagop ...

and

mung bean The mung bean (''Vigna radiata''), alternatively known as the green gram, maash ( fa, ماش٫ )٫ mūng (), monggo, or munggo (Philippines), is a plant species in the Fabaceae, legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata ...

from the North, and even purchased utensils and tableware from the Pyongyang Okryu-gwan. Soon after they opened, they were turning away as many as 3,000 customers a day for lack of seats.

Customers

Okryu-gwan is open to the general public of North Korea, but in order to eat here, they must obtain tickets from their

work unit A work unit or ''danwei'' () is the name given to a place of employment in the People's Republic of China. The term ''danwei'' remains in use today, as people still use it to refer to their workplace. However, it is more appropriate to use ''danwei ...

s; there may be a long wait for such tickets, as well as a fee, which does not cover the food itself. Foreigners who eat here will not be seated in segregated sections, but may be shown into one of the smaller rooms.

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

veterans who live in Pyongyang also receive free noodles at the restaurant on the anniversary of the

Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement ( ko, 한국정전협정 / 조선정전협정; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a complete cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United S ...

, which is celebrated as a public holiday in North Korea.

References

External links