This week, instead of just finding one interesting restaurant, I’ve actually managed to find an entire chain. This is a series of restaurants opened by the North Korean government in places other than their own country. They are present throughout many countries in East Asia and are all named after the country’s capital, Pyongyang. The Pyongyang restaurants, for many, may be the closest they’ll ever be able to get to having a look inside the DPRK.
The Pyongyang restaurants are pretty much standard, emphasizing a clean environment and a full selection of food. The food is, of course, whatever happens to be popular in North Korea, and one can even get a serving of dog meat if they so desire. The serving staff consists of young and good-looking North Korean women, dressed traditionally. The waitresses also happen to serve as entertainers for customers, putting on performances of singing and dancing. Don’t expect good old North Korean songs praising the wisdom of The Great Leader, however, as the usual sets consist of whatever pop songs happen to be in vogue at the time. Also, the waitresses aren’t hired for their talents at singing, dancing or playing music, just for their ability to speak the regional language, so don’t expect performances that will knock your socks off.
The only thing missing from the Pyongyang restaurants is the presence of North Korean propaganda. No doubt they wanted to create a more universal appeal, so aside from a few North Korean flags, you won’t find anything praising the glory of the DPRK. Some of the locations do keep in line with the North Korean love of censorship, however, and prohibit photography.
Of course, not everything is roses at the Pyongyang. Waitresses have been known to try to escape and defect, resulting in the shutting down of some of the Chinese franchises. There has also been the little problem of the North Korean government using many of its outside businesses as fronts for money laundering.
But if this tiny look into the window of the hermit kingdom sounds like something you’d want to see, you can find Pyongyang franchises along the Chinese/North Korean border as well as in other East Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos. There was even one in Amsterdam for a time, but a bit of a conflict ended up shutting that one down.
Pyongyang Waitresses courtesy of youropi.com
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