Birthday Conspiracy

It's my flatmate Dani's birthday. Dinner at Cho Dang Gol, a Korean BBQ place recommended by the birthday girl herself. Actually, she told us it was recommended in the Michelin guide. How very Dani.

The interior is well designed, giving an actual Korean cozy pocha vibe. Dimly lit with fairy lights and lanterns; the walls painted brownish red like clay, framed in wood. They actually say the color red enhances appetite, so no wonder all the menu made my mouth water. The menu photos were all edited and saturated in that palette too. I ordered a dolsot bibimbap; spicy pork on hot stone.

Dani and her cousin Ray is chit chatting, catching up with life. We're sitting by the window side, and there's a random dude dancing outside on the street (a New York staple), Ray calls him a "crazy guy". It's not a particularly wide street, so the pedestrians and the cars kind of just rush past each other, all of them seemingly busy to get somewhere. Except for the crazy guy.

Here we are, sitting in a cozy pocha for a friend's birthday, where behind the coziness is a busy and elaborate scheme to maximize appetite and profit, both by the establishment and a tire company; 5 steps outside the window are nonstop flow of people and cars, all busily heading somewhere in this city of profit; elevator jazz is playing in the back, and the crazy guy dances to it.