Catie: What is a toasty sandwich?

After Ben mentioned that the top Ewha sticker prize was a toasty sandwich (or is it 5,000 W.. I don't remember), my mom asked what that was.  And, instead of just replying in the comments, I thought I'd give you a few pictures of these, erm, tasty.. cabbage-y... egg-and-cheese sandwiches.

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This is your typical toasty sandwich from Isaac Toast, probably the most well known toasty chain in Korea.

And People Baking Toast is one our favorites.



These ones are all over Daejeon.  There's one right outside Ewha and I'm pretty sure they make the prized toasty sandwiches Ben mentioned.

There are also loads of little independent toasty shops, too.  We have one called TOAST about two blocks away from our apartment.

These places have all kinds of sandwiches, but most seem the same to me.  All of them feature a fried egg and American cheese, and almost all feature shredded cabbage, corn (often fried inside the egg part) and pickles and/or some sort of sweet sauce.  Many locations carry several flavors of these sweet sauces.  I know Isaac has their own "Isaac sauce" and I'm sure People Baking Toast probably does, too.  A few sandwiches will have different meats: bacon, ham, Korean sausages, etc..

It might sound a lot worse than it actually is.  I know the thought of eating cabbage on things was not just a little repulsive to me when we first got here, but now it hardly fazes either of us.  It's really not as awful as it sounds, although, at the same time, it's not something we're dying to have.  Maybe it's the sweet sauce that puts it over the edge..

If you think about it, though, this must seem to the children like Jesus came and a made a perfect Korean combination.

Corn: on EVERYTHING.

Eggs: on everything ELSE.

And Cabbage: on ALMOST everything.

So, I guess they just kind of took all the things that go on everything and made a sandwich.  It probably seemed like a brilliant plan and I'm sure questioning the ingredient choices would be met with a sort of, "duh, eggs, corn and cabbage are the perfect combination," kind of response.

To Koreans, they truly are.

What is funny, to me, is that Isaac Toast just opened a location in California: Korea’s Isaac Toast Sandwich Shop–First U.S. Location Now Open in Westwood–First Impressions


Head on down to California for an American Toasty Sandwich...


You may notice the wheat bread, the delicious looking tomatoes and crispy bacon.  Note that none of those are typical of a REAL toasty sandwich.

Here, you will find yellow-pink, slushy (yes, slushy) tomatoes, pure white 1950's style white bread and limp, pink -- not red or brown -- bacon that neither breaks nor crunches when you bite it.

This sandwich, by comparison, actually looks pretty durn delicious.

For a look at The Real Korean Toasty Sandwich Experience, check out this blog post: Isaac Toast: The Korean Version of the Ramly Burger .

I don't know what a Ramly burger is, but THIS is toasty sammies at their best.

Or.. worst, after seeing the American picture.

Scroll down to the last picture on the blog post and you'll see the kind of bacon I mean.

Yummy, yummy.

...sorry if I made you hungry.    : - |