[eat] You can’t go wrong with Lamb at Simyang @ Hongdae, Seoul

My heart has a soft spot (or lots) for meat on a stick. I go wild when I see any meat on any stick. Even just looking at them makes me happy. And along comes Simyang 심양 — specialized in lamb. Lamb on a stick? Challenge accepted.
Simyang is quite a popular hangout at Hongdae and seems to gather much love from Korean food bloggers. As far as I know, there is another Simyang in Cheongdamdong but I usually visit the one in Hongdae. At Hongdae branch, you can get Original lamb skewers, Tender lamb, and Spicy lamb (10000 KRW for 10 skewers); Pay 2000 KRW extra and the normal lamb is upgraded to lamb rib meat. They also have lamb chops at 25000 KRW for 300gr. Other standard Korean fare are available (you know, the ramyeon, and kimchi jjigae), as well as Chinese specialty aka. Qingdao beer. It looks like the Cheongdamdong branch has more choices on lamb, however.

I can’t emphasize enough the fact that I am cheap. So every time I go to Simyang I just stick with the 10000 KRW for 10 skewers option. More specifically, I always opt for Original skewers; the spicy one tastes good at first, but soon the chili powder becomes overwhelming, and then annoying.

Original skewers — look at those lovely cumin seeds!

Not the biggest skewers, but certainly reasonable given that you are in Korea.

Tender skewers & spicy. Honestly I don’t detect much difference between original and tender option. SO I guess you can just go with either of them.

Tender:

Spicy… Too much chili powder…

Should be enough for 2 people… or not :}

Grill me my darling:

Dramatic…

Beautiful………

TIP: whenever you order the skewers, no matter how many you order at once, they give you a complimentary garlic skewer. The grilled garlic goes so well with the lamb, so do try. So if you want more garlic, just order 10 lamb skewers at first, then 10 more, then more… Don’t just go ahead and order 20 like I once (or twice…) did.

Simyang, 5pm -> 5am (yes, you read it right). It can get crowded in the evening and you may have to wait. Hongdae station exit 1, Hapjeong station exit 3 or Sangsu station exit 1.