Light Italian lunch for two in Pangyo: ricotta salad at Raon Sik Tak

When I lived in Bojeong-dong, half the fun was checking off restaurants on Bojeong-dong café street one by one.. now that I've moved to Pangyo.. it's the same fun checking off restaurants on Baekhyeon-dong café street..

So it happened that a friend of mine, whose money tree plant at home had grown way too big, offered to bring some cuttings over as a gift.. I have zero talent or interest in growing plants so I told her not to bother.. haha.. but she insisted our place gets great sun so it'd grow well, and that money trees are low-maintenance and easy to keep, so she was determined to bring it over.. haha

So as a thank-you to this friend who took a day off work and rode public transit all the way from Yongsan to Pangyo carrying a potted plant, I decided to treat her to a meal at Raon Sik Tak, a Baekhyeon-dong café street spot where the potato gnocchi was especially good..

What Raon Sik Tak Pangyo Branch looks like inside and out

Raon Sik Tak Pangyo Branch is an Italian restaurant on Pangyoyeok-ro 10beon-gil in the Baekhyeon-dong café street, with a brick exterior and wood-tone interior. Seriously.. the exterior alone is so pretty! Looking at just this you'd wonder if you're in Europe or Korea haha

Common enough on café street, but this place is also a Blue Ribbon-verified restaurant!

The exterior brick is pretty, and the wood-tone interior inside is so pretty too, so my mood lifted the moment I walked in.. this is definitely one of the great-vibe cafés of Pangyo!!

Is there a wait right after weekday opening?

Since it was right after weekday opening, we got seated smoothly with no wait, and even got to pick the seats we wanted. So happy about that.. haha

A place where taking photos is genuinely fun.

Even the napkin here hit my taste exactly.. same as at Meolmeol Pangyo.. it feels like Baekhyeon-dong cafés put in effort down to the last napkin? haha

Two plates for two light eaters: ricotta salad and cream potato gnocchi

What we ordered that day at Raon Sik Tak Pangyo Branch was just two things: roasted vegetable and ricotta salad, and cream potato gnocchi. If I'd come with a different friend.. we probably would've ordered one salad, one gnocchi, and maybe even a pizza.. but since my friend is a genuine small eater.. today it was just the roasted vegetable and ricotta salad and the cream potato gnocchi!

After chatting a bit about how we've been.. out came the signature dish of this place, the very reason I brought my friend here, and the thing I'd been looking forward to all along: the cream potato gnocchi~

Cut it in half, load it up with cream sauce, and pop it in your mouth.. so chewy and rich.. it makes you wonder again whether you're in Korea or Italy haha

A story from 30 years ago that came up over lunch

As we talked, we agreed on something.. these days there are so many nice-atmosphere places close by, and it feels like Korea makes foreign food more delicious than abroad.. so the urge to travel far overseas has been fading a bit..

That reminded me of an episode.. summer break of my sophomore year of college in '96.. thirty years ago now..

I did 1–2 week homestays at the homes of my dad's foreign friends in the US and Canada, and one of them, a Canadian friend, had three sons, the second of whom happened to be my age.. he played hockey like all the boys in that neighborhood, was ridiculously tall, had a bit of a Tom Cruise vibe and was pretty good-looking, quite the heartthrob type.. but unusually for a foreigner, now that I think about it he was extremely introverted.. maybe it was also because he had a girlfriend, but I was pretty introverted myself so, contrary to my hopes (?), we mostly kept a polite distance from each other.. I actually ended up talking and hanging out much more with the playful youngest brother who played football haha

But.. the handsome second brother had lots of friends, and sometimes they'd all come over in a group.. among them was an extroverted kid who seemed curious about the Asian girl and talked to me more.. I don't remember much else, but one conversation stuck with me.. this kid looked like Kevin Bacon, and he said he was born in that neighborhood and had barely ever left it.. but he loved it so much he said he'd live there for the rest of his life..

Back then, I had never once thought I wanted to live my whole life in the neighborhood I grew up in.. if anything I was full of the desire to see a wider, better world, and eventually live in a better house, better neighborhood, even a better country than Korea.. and I assumed most of my friends around me felt the same way.. so it was genuinely shocking that this guy just said, plainly, that he loved where he was born and raised so much he wanted to live there forever.. it was the first time I felt that maybe some people are in an environment where they're already satisfied with reality, without ever having the 'don't be a frog in a well' kind of anxiety??

These days I've finally started thinking our neighborhood is nice enough that I could live here forever.. haha.. now I'm suddenly curious whether that friend, who felt that way 30 years ago, is actually still living in that same neighborhood haha

We finished off the healthy but delicious roasted vegetable ricotta salad completely, and ended up with just the right amount of fullness, not too much, not too little.. good!

Parking at Raon Sik Tak Pangyo Branch: 1 hour free at the Baekhyeon-dong public lot

Lastly, one parking tip..

Raon Sik Tak offers 1 hour free parking support at the Baekhyeon-dong public lot.. the staff told us to bring the receipt, so we did, but it's not an automatic barcode-scanning system.. you press a call button over there and get manually confirmed by staff.. haha we didn't know that at first and fumbled around for 1–2 minutes..

• Make sure to keep your receipt to get the parking benefit
• Press the call button, talk to staff, and follow their instructions
• You must exit within 1–2 minutes after processing

But.. while processing it, the staff member said we had to leave within 1 or 2 minutes.. we were on the 4th floor, and since there were a lot of cars leaving it took us a bit, so we ended up paying an extra ₩200 on the way out. haha You really do need to leave within 1–2 minutes~~haha it's not much money, but it'd be nice if they gave about 5 minutes of leeway after processing.. that part was a bit of a letdown..

The money tree ended up suiting our place better than I expected, and that makes me happy~~