North Korean Restaurant?

[Jet Gorgon]

North Korea has no food. How can they have a restaurant?

[lothda]

I just read a fasinating article about a North Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh, complete with NK Music and NK waitresses. As a long time student of Kim Jung Il's wacky world, I was super excited when I read that there was also a branch in Bangkok!

My research only reveals that it is close to the NK Embassy in Pattanakarn district. (where is that?)

What can you tell me about this place? Any info is appreciated especially an address or phone number.

I must say that I am desperate to visit as I will be returning to farangland for an extended period of time on April 20th.

Thank you for any information you can give me!

Update: a link to find it on Google Earth:

North_Korean_Restaurant.kmz

Edited August 5, 2009 by lothda

[Ulysses G.]

How were the sawdust patties?

[bonobo]

The restaurant in Phnom Pehn closed this year. I was there on the last night, and all the waitresses/entertainers were crying copiously.

I used to love going to the place. The many, mnay South Korean buisnessmen in PP liked it, and most seemed determined to pick up on the waitresses, who they believed were sexier and prettier than their South Korean sisters.

The food was so-so, but the shows were a step back into Stalin's USSR, albeit in Korean.

[DP25]

Apparently the Bangkok one is closed too. A shame, I never got around to going there.

[fxm88]

This article from March 2010 says there's one in Bangkok and one in Pattaya and that they're open again:

"A year ago, the Pyongyang restaurants in Cambodia and Thailand suddenly closed their doors, only to reopen again after a six-month hiatus. Lintner cited an Asian diplomat in Bangkok saying the restaurants, like all "capitalist" enterprises, were hit hard by the global economic crisis, but locals familiar with the establishment in Phnom Penh offered another explanation. One worker at a nearby business said Pyongyang closed after a dispute with a Cambodian customer who tried to take one of its North Korean waitresses out for "drinks" after dinner."

http://www.slate.com/id/2247402/