Hidden to even Busan natives, “Dragon Dream” (\uc6a9\uafc8) is a makgeolli (\ub9c9\uac78\ub9ac) bar with two twists: a former World War II Japanese bomb shelter carved into the mountain during the colonization of Korea, and a unique version of makgeolli called dongdongju (\ub3d9\ub3d9\uc8fc).<\/p>\n
The cave (\ub3d9\uad74) drips with water seeping through the rock, calcium deposits growing in small rooms, and naturally there is a nearly two meter dragon near the entrance. \u00a0Located a short taxi drive from Busan’s “downtown” Seomyeon (\uc11c\uba74), the “Cave Bar”, as it is know to expats, is a city escape inside the mountain.<\/p>\n
The difference begins with the makgeolli itself. \u00a0Dongdongju is made from sticky rice that floats in it, whereas makgeolli is brewed from hard rice (\uace0\ub450\ubc25). \u00a0Both can be made with either glutinous rice (\ucc39\uc300), the preferred method for more sweet than sour, and non-glutinous rice. \u00a0A special Korean wheat yeast (\ub204\ub8e9) is added along with a sweetener like rice sugar syrup, and water, which makes up 80% of makgeolli. \u00a0(Some Koreans like to mix either type with “cider” or a lemon-line soda, such as Lotte’s Chilsung.) \u00a0It takes about four days for fermentation. \u00a0Both makgeolli and dongdongju are roughly 6%-8% in alcohol content.<\/p>\n
The restaurant once served the typical food accompanying makgeolli: pajeon (\ud30c\uc804), a rolled up omelette\u00a0(\uacc4\ub780\ub9d0\uc774), kimchi with tofu (\ub450\ubd80\uae40\uce58), and several more. \u00a0But recently the restaurant turned into a haemul-jjim (\ud574\ubb3c\ucc1c) restaurant, a mix of steamed or braised seafood with bean sprouts (\ucf69\ub098\ubb3c)\u00a0 covered in a spicy sauce, a dish less popular with expats and one that runs on the high end. \u00a0(For a look at what haemul-jjim means to some, see this clip from the Korean drama “Let’s Eat” [\uc2dd\uc0e4\ub97c \ud799\uc2dc\ub2e4].) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wKn-gpWqSxw<\/a><\/p>\n Although the video below will show you the strong belief–particularly held by the older generations–that makgeolli has fantastic benefits towards longevity and weight loss, it is legendary for giving the finest hangover (\uc219\ucde8). \u00a0But Korean hangover cures, mostly in a soup version (\ud574\uc7a5\uad6d), date back as far as makgeolli itself, over 600 years to the Goryeo Dynast (\uace0\ub824\uc6d0\uc870).<\/p>\n The restaurant is not easy to find. \u00a0But if you find yourself in Busan, try telling\/showing this to your taxi driver:\u00a0\uc704\uce58 (location): \ubc94\uc77c1\ub3d9\uc0ac\ubb34\uc18c \uc55e \ud55c\uc0c1\uae30\ub9b0 \uc544\ud30c\ud2b8 \ub9de\uc740\ud3b8.<\/p>\n The Arirang<\/em> report\u00a0is a must watch to understand how important\u00a0makgeolli is to the traditional folks and Korea culture as a whole.<\/p>\n