As part of my birthday festivities two of my friends showed up at my apartment with a homemade cake and an invite to dinner. We weren’t sure exactly where to go but eventually decided to check out Rolling Pasta.
Rolling Pasta is a chain. Their goal is to make good Italian inspired food affordable. The one we went to was in Sanbon downtown. And like any franchise how good it is depends on the location and the cooks. The one in Sanbon was delightful. The one my friends went to later after having loved their food at Sanbon was…not as good.
We got two orders of foccia bread (포카치아) which was 1,000 won each. I got the basic tomato pasta (토마토 파스타) which was 4,500 won.
It was good. I was pretty happy with it. In Korea pasta is… a bit like trying to eat convenience store sushi in the US. There’s just something about it that almost always isn’t right. If it’s red there’s a good chance that it’s going to be spicy with gochujang mixed in. There’s also a high chance it’s going to be sweet rather than savory. I don’t think I’ve ever had such bad luck with pasta before, but in Korea I was always a bit hesitant to give any pasta shops a chance. Pizza fell very close on this scale as well. It was similarly either spicy or sweet or some combination in between which just wasn’t for me. But this was cheap, it was hearty and it was good. My friends were so impressed that they planned to make it their new go-to. Except like I mentioned before the chain where they lived wasn’t as good.
Another thing that was very common when going out in Korea is that a lot of things are shared. So while I was the only one who ordered a Sprite the staff gave me three straws to share with my friends. Almost as bad as when I went out with coworkers to get sushi and I ordered soup so they gave me like 20 spoons. (Or once when I bought myself a pint of ice cream in my old rural town and the convenience store owner thought I was buying it for the kids at school and gave me a ridiculous amount of spoons when in actuality it was just for me.) their other drinks include cola, ade, and lots of wine. They have house wines that they have paired with their foods as well as red and rose sangria and something called wine ade (와인 에이드) for 4,500 won. Meals range between 4,000 and 8,000 won. The most expensive item seems to be Chop Steak which is 12,500 won.
I had a good time and I liked the classy blue interior and the view of downtown Sanbon. It was also just fun to celebrate with friends and be pleasantly surprised at how much food we got for the price. The location in Sanbon is open from 11am until 10:30pm with last order at 9:50pm.
Also here’s a picture of the cake my friend made me. It was so good.
