Simple food takes many forms in this world. Presentation can be fairly humble and even, to some, lacklustre, but one thing remains: regardless of the cuisine, there’s something remarkable and medicinal about simplicity and solitude in hearty dining. On an oft-dusty Street 155, just a few blocks down from the heat of the Russian Market and tucked back through a neatly groomed rock garden, is one of a handful of small Korean eateries, this one called Broom Tree.
Passing by a small cashier’s counter, you’re welcomed into a quiet world of clean white walls and black chairs, with white sheers on the large front windows. The stereo above plays a nice range of quiet classical music and the odd hymn as the patrons drink glasses of tea and cold water.
On my many trips here the greeting has always been warm, welcoming, so quiet is this tiny retreat. This is a place to collect your thoughts, have a simple hot meal, hydrate (bottles of cold water are on each table) and take a break from the blare and glare of the street outside. What always strikes me most about Broom Tree, speaking as someone who gladly takes the majority of her meals in solitary for the sake of her own mental health and yours, is how the personality of this café makes it a wonderful place to bring a book, study long division, or have a long conversation with yourself.
There is a feeling of no pity in being one’s own favourite dinner guest; there is a consistency and sobriety in the mood. This is a place to talk to yourself about that move back home to Toledo; what to do about this or that, or just be left politely to be and be comfortable while doing it.
The menu is small and precise, with a range of soups and something called a ‘Korean General Lunch’ which consists of about five dishes including kimchee and sweet pickles, a nice fish, a lovely pork belly dish and the standard rice. For less than five dollars this meal is fit for any general, Korean or otherwise, and to be frank could probably feed an entire platoon.
My favourite dish has to be fried pork cutlet, or as it’s called in my neck of the woods ‘a chicken fried pork chop with brown onion gravy’. The portion is also quite ample and, at four bucks, well worth it. When I put my mind to it I can eat like a half-starved lumberjack, but this dish is daunting: the other half usually ends up being hauled home. Like all good home-cooking, the pork cutlet is a blessed occasion when it arrives fresh and hot with a side of rice, a variety of pickles and really tasty coleslaw, but reaches its full saintly promise the next day in the company of two pieces of bread. This quiet lunch spot, though a bit out of the way, is something to warmly welcome in a town that keeps getting bigger, smaller and faster as the months go by.
Broom Tree, #55c Street 155, Toul Tom Pong I.