We opened the door and entered the restaurant, which was flowing with the music, "Secret Garden." The restaurant looked warm and the yellow wallpaper was painted with birds and a garden scene, so we felt as if we had entered a real secret garden.

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
"Secret Garden"

     The "Secret Garden" restaurant is located near to KNU. When you go to the South Gate and cross the street, there is a police office. Opposite the police office, you can find the restaurant on the second floor. At lunch time, many students go there to have lunch, and you can see a lot of students waiting for their orders. Although the restaurant only opened recently, it is already known to many students. Shall we take a look inside?

     From the moment you walk up the stairs to the restaurant, you can see that it is out of the ordinary. Have you heard of stenciling? Stenciling uses pieces of paper, plastic, or metal which have designs cut out of them. You place the stencil on a surface and paint over it so that the paint goes through the holes and leaves the design on the painted surface. Well, the wall of the restaurant is decorated with stencils, and when you enter through the door, under the small sign saying 'Secret Garden,' hanging above the entrance, you can see that the inside is full of stencils, which give the place a clean and elegant atmosphere. There were also many accessories and dolls when we visited, along with many floral decorations. So it was different from other restaurants. Red flowers were placed on all sides, giving a mellow and lively atmosphere to the restaurant.

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
piano and some decoration

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
decoration of wall

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
decoration of ceiling

     We looked around the restaurant and sat on the seats. Confectionery and fresh cream were put on the table. While waiting for lunch, you can just eat some sweet, and salty snacks. The main menu is rice-based, and you can find some items on the menu that you can not taste elsewhere. In many restaurants around KNU, the main menu item is breaded pork cutlet or spaghetti. In contrast, this restaurant has garlic rice and herbal chicken rice. We ordered the two menu items along with shrimp rice, and then we interviewed two students about this restaurant.

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
stenciling of wall

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
stencilin of wall; secret garden

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
floral decoration

     Kim, Si-in (Department of English language and literature) and Lee, Eun-ji (Department of Chinese literature) were the interviewees. Asked about the atmosphere of this restaurant, they said that most women like this kind of atmosphere. Also the menu was unique, which they said it was a merit. As for the service, they felt that the host couldn't give much attention to the customers, because the restaurant was so busy at meal times. However, their overall evaluation of the restaurant was good.

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
Kim, Si-in and Lee, Eun-ji

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
Lee, Enu-ji

     After the interview, we tasted the food. First, there were whole chickens in herbal rice and the fragrance of herbs was very sweet, stimulating our appetite. The sauce wasn't very strong and the amount of the food was good. Second, the garlic rice did not have its own scent and we had good parched garlic and rice. Whenever people think about garlic, they think of an unpleasant smell. But the scent of garlic in the rice wasn't strong. The quantity of garlic was small, but that was not a big problem. Although shrimp rice is a common food that we can easily eat at other restaurants, the rice was nicely full of shrimps, and the taste was good. And the rice was parched but we felt that the taste wasn't greasy.

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
herbal chicken rice

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
garlic rice

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
shrimp rice

     There were various items for desert: we chose cherryade (cherry soda) and lemonade. You could take out the dessert, so we thought that this would be convenient for students. When we ate the dessert, the host came to us, and asked, "What do you think about the taste of food?" And she added that they sell cakes and doughnuts in winter. At the counter, the owner stamps her mark on a coupon. When there are ten marks, we can eat a cake or a doughnut for free. In conclusion, if you want to eat some unique meals, we recommend the Secret Garden restaurant.

* photo by Heo, Soo-jeong
desert; cake and sodas