Vietnamese Food QUA Songridan-gil Recommendation, Full of Local Vibes

As the skies that were blocked by COVID have opened up to some extent, many people are traveling abroad again. Still, there are inevitably various reasons why overseas travel can be difficult. That is why places decorated with interiors that feel very local are popular—visiting and enjoying them can make you feel as if you are on a trip even without leaving the country, and restaurants with that kind of local atmosphere are especially appealing. I visited a place that is decorated to look like Vietnam.

QUA is a restaurant that serves Vietnamese food, and I visited the Songridan-gil branch. There was already a strangely local feel from the entrance. Since it is on the second floor, I climbed the stairs, and somehow the atmosphere gradually gave off a bit of Vietnam.

After going up and entering the store, the first space you see is the counter. The counter is decorated to resemble Vietnam, to the point that I even found myself thinking, “Is this really Vietnam?”

On top of that, the floor tiles also help bring out the local Vietnamese feel. The patterns are not something you often see in Korean interiors, so I think that may make it feel even more authentic. But if you look closely, you can tell that they really paid attention to each and every decor piece to create a true Vietnamese atmosphere. It does not feel awkward, and it does not seem like they were just trying too hard to look exactly like Vietnam; instead, it genuinely feels like being in Vietnam, which made the Vietnamese food taste even better.

It seems that many people order banh xeo when they come to QUA Songridan-gil. Since it was my first visit, I ordered phở, which can be considered a basic Vietnamese dish. There is also a king rib phở, but when I tried king rib at another pho restaurant instead of QUA Songridan-gil, I was disappointed because the king rib was just regular ribs. So I ordered the classic meat-loaded phở, and it really was packed with meat, just as the name suggests. Also, QUA Songridan-gil has a unique twist: instead of onion, the pho contains chives. It was a little unfamiliar, but since chives have a familiar taste, it was easy to try. We all know how well chives and meat go together, so I ate the chives with the meat, and as expected, it was good. I also tried it with the noodles, and although it did not pair especially well, it was not bad.

Next is the fried rice at QUA Songridan-gil. There was only one kind of fried rice. It came with shrimp by default, and interestingly, an egg yolk was placed on top. I broke the yolk slightly and mixed it in a little at a time before tasting it. Since it was freshly stir-fried and warm, the egg yolk did not taste fishy or anything like that. If you do not like egg yolk, I think it would be better to ask for it without the yolk.

QUA Songridan-gil was a place where I could enjoy Vietnamese food while also getting a local Vietnamese vibe.