Thai restaurant near Hapjeong Station: shrimp curry with mom, Saeng

I went to Hapjeong with my mom to grab a meal and we ended up back at Saeng Augustine Hapjeong Branch. I'd been here once before, so it wasn't unfamiliar to me.

Last time I came here it was for a family gathering, reserved for the whole family. This time it was just me and mom, for the first time in a while.

For two people, à la carte over the set

I think what you order really depends on who you're with, even at the same place. Last time, for the family gathering, we ordered a bunch of dishes to share among several people. This time, with just the two of us, I picked things a little differently.

Meant to order pu pad pong curry, got goong pad pong curry

While looking through the menu, I saw the all-day set too, but figured it would be too much food for two, so instead of the set we ordered à la carte dishes we actually wanted. What we ordered was pho, a curry, and rice.

But here's where I messed up the order. I originally meant to get pu pad pong curry (crab curry) — that's what I was thinking about the whole time I was browsing the menu, and I assumed I'd ordered exactly that. It wasn't until the food arrived that I double-checked what I'd actually ordered... Turns out it wasn't pu pad pong curry at all, it was goong pad pong curry (shrimp curry). Haha.

At first I had no idea I'd ordered wrong. It was only after the food came out and I looked at the menu again that I realized — oops. I must have just glanced at the picture, saw it was a curry, and ordered it, and this is what happened. It wasn't the dish I'd planned on, so I was a little thrown for a second, but since the food was already there, I decided to just dig in.

The pho tasted exactly as expected

The pho came out first, so we started with that. It had meat and bean sprouts in it, looking pretty much like the pho I usually picture.

Taste-wise, it was exactly the pho flavor I expected. I generally like pho, so I enjoyed it.

Mom and I ate the pho first while waiting for the curry, and after a little while, the curry arrived.

Goong pad pong curry: plump shrimp and rice combo

Up to this point I was still assuming it was pu pad pong curry, but when I checked the menu again, it turned out to be goong pad pong curry, haha. Since I'd originally wanted the crab curry, I was a bit disappointed at first. But since I'd already ordered it and was curious, I gave it a try.

Goong pad pong curry has shrimp in it, and the plump shrimp were the first thing that caught my eye. The shrimp tasted great, and the curry sauce was the same one, so of course that was delicious too!

It went better with rice than eating the curry alone. Spooning the curry sauce over rice and eating it with the shrimp, I just kept going back for more. Once I actually tried it, the goong pad pong curry turned out to be tasty, so overall I enjoyed the meal more than I expected.

It was a bit of a letdown to end up with a different dish than planned, but thanks to that I got to try goong pad pong curry for the first time. Between the two of us, one pho plus curry and rice was plenty. So this time, ordering à la carte instead of the all-day set turned out to suit us better.

Family gathering versus just the two of us

Last time, for the family gathering, several of us ordered a variety of dishes to share. This time, with just mom and me, we ordered only what we needed, which made the meal a lot simpler. And coming back with just my mom to the place we'd once visited as a family naturally brought back memories of that earlier trip.

What stuck with me most from this meal at Saeng Augustine Hapjeong Branch was, of course, my ordering mistake. I clearly went there meaning to eat pu pad pong curry, and ended up eating goong pad pong curry instead...! All I had to do was double-check the menu name when ordering, but since I assumed I'd ordered correctly, I had no idea until the food arrived.

Still, in the end, it was delicious. I especially liked how plump the shrimp were, and the combination of curry sauce with rice was great too.

If you're looking up places to eat near Hapjeong Station and considering Saeng Augustine Hapjeong Branch, it might be worth double-checking the menu name when ordering, like I should have, haha. I went in only thinking about ordering pu pad pong curry and ended up with a completely different dish.

Still, this time mom and I shared pho and curry and had a good meal. Last time was a family gathering, this time it was just the two of us, but both times we got to share dishes together over a meal. Next time I go back to Saeng Augustine Hapjeong Branch, I'll double-check my order first and actually get the pu pad pong curry I meant to have. This visit didn't go as planned menu-wise, but it was still a great day catching up with mom over a meal in Hapjeong!