Lavender – a great little Italian restaurant in Andong

July 12, 2008

Italian, pasta, restaurant, vegetarian, vegetarian food

Outside the entrance to Lavender.

We loved Korea. We loved the people. We loved the sights. We loved how clean everything is. We loved how organized everything is. And so… we tried to like Korean food. We really did. And while we did enjoy the sushi from the little carts in the street, and the potato/onion pancakes, when it came to dinner we were really done with kimchi by the time we got to Andong. So we thought we’d give Italian a try. To be fair, I’m vegetarian, and so have eaten Italian food in LOTS of places all over the world (thank you Italians for blanketing the globe in veggie-friendly pasta and pizza!). While veggie food was pretty easy to find in Korea, it seemed be largely vegetables. Which doesn’t really hit the spot after a long day on your feet.

Inside the restaurant.: Inside the restaurant.

And so, we headed off to Lavender, in the downtown pedestrian area of Andong, for some good ol’ pasta. The restaurant is right downtown, so it was very convenient to the love hotel we were staying at. The prices are reasonable, and the meals all come with garlic bread, salad and coffee. They even serve wine. The air conditioning was a welcome relief from the heat, and the service was great as usual, with our waiter trying very, very hard to understand us. I had the mushroom pasta with cream sauce and Ian had something with meat… It wasn’t an Italian meal in Italy, but it was a very welcome change. So much so that we went back the next night!