While Itaewon is a culinary wasteland, it is all happening south of the river. One of the newest places to open up that I could not resist giving a try was Chick Peace. The new restaurant is located in one of the side streets just off of Garosogil and specializes in pita sandwiches and meat, rice, and salad type platters. Since my Chubby Hubby works nearby I thought would be a good wife and go down there to meet him for lunch and check it out.
We arrived just before 1pm to find the place fairly busy despite it only being open for a few days. They seemed to be doing a lot of promotions to mark the new opening including a 10,000 set along with giving away free falafel sandwiches on some some of the expat groups, (though I believe this has now ended). Inside the large restaurant the decor is bright and cheery. There are plenty of tables and a large stairs style seating area that reminds me of sitting in the gymnasium at school for assembly. All orders need to be placed and picked up at the counter, so after having a good look at the menu we went to pay for our goodies.
As we had both signed up for a promotional free sandwich we each got on of the Falafel Burgers (3,900). I was really impressed by the this, the pita was super fluffy and fresh, the falafel was shaped like a burger patty and was piled up with salad and topped with sour cream. For the price this was really fulling and really satisfied a craving. My only complain is that it is a little hard to eat due to the way they serve it with the veg and sauce pilled on top.
There are a few other pita sandwiches available including a cauliflower, cheese burger, and chicken shwarma. Not content with a pita wrap each we also ordered the Chicken Swarma (5,000) to share. This one was even more stuffed with different veggies, which kind of overpowered the chicken a little. Again it was hard to eat, and the way it was stacked made every bite different. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the price was right.
Lastly we ordered the Chicken Rice (9,900). This was hella tasty, and a nice riff on the Halal Guys style chicken and rice, yet different enough. The plate itself was piled high with spiced roast chicken, pita, hummus, rice, mixed salad, beetroot and onion kimchi. We loved the addition of the beetroot and the hummus and pita was on point. The chicken had plenty of flavour from the spices it was marinated in, and the salad was nice too. The only thing I could have lived without was the kimchi style onions. Obviously they aren’t traditional but I’m sure their Korean customers love them, and at the end of the day those are the customers they need to please. I’m sure if you ask they would happily remove them.
Overall we both really enjoyed our lunch. I’m glad to see another middle eastern style place has opened up. It is great having more variety and places to choose from. I’m sure the vegan/vegetarian community will also be pleased, as they offer several dishes with both cauliflower and falafel. The prices were fantastic and they have a great location in Garosugil. Fingers crossed they might open up a second branch in Itaewon, though not sure how the kebab mafia would feel about that.
Chick Peace is located at 540-18 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam, Seoul. To get there take a train to Sinsa Station (line 3) and come out of exit 8. Walk straight and take the fifth turning on you left. Walk a little way down this street and you should see Chick Peace just ahead on the corner. For more information you can call them on 02-6956-6780 or check out their Instagram.