Pyongyang, the restaurant

North Korea operates several restaurants outside of the country (in Cambodia, China, and elsewhere in Asia) in order to procure necessary foreign currency and as a front for money laundering operations.

Visitors to the restaurant are ushered into an air-conditioned, flood-lit hall filled with dozens of glass-topped tables. Unlike North Korea proper, which is wracked by economic sanctions and constant famines, the food here is fresh and abundant. The menu features specialties such as Pyongyang “cold noodle” (served encrusted with ice), barbecued cuttlefish, stringy dangogi (dog meat) soup, and countless variations on the kimchi theme, all served with glutinous white rice.

• food
• North Korea
• restaurants