Will Shilla reopen Korean restaurant?

Whether Shilla Hotel Seoul will reopen its Korean restaurant is drawing keen attention from the hotel industry. / Courtesy of Shilla Hotel

By Bae Ji-sook

Will the Shilla Hotel Seoul, an affiliate of the nation’s largest conglomerate Samsung, bow to growing demands from the government to reopen its Korean restaurant? That’s a question haunting the industry despite the hotel’s constant denials.

Industry insiders are saying that the hotel might give in at the last minute due to the Lee Myung-bak government’s enthusiasm for five-star-hotels’ role in pushing its “Globalization of Hansik” (Korean food) campaign.

According to sources, Shilla has been pressured to open its restaurant “Seorabeol,” which it shut down in 2005 after 26 years of operations. Politicians as well as opinion leaders have constantly hit the hotel for being stingy in keeping and promoting Korean traditions through high-end dining, they said.

Because Shilla is associated with the country’s largest business group and recorded more than 1 trillion won in sales in 2009, it has become a target, the sources said.

The hotel has recently renovated its buffet restaurant, Yeong Bin Gwan, and is planning more refurbishment.

“The government, which has poured more than 12 billion won a year into establishing the infrastructure to promote Korean food, has been quite upset that Shilla is showing no willingness to join the drive,” a source said. “When preparing for the G20 Summit, the government hoped the hotel accommodating China’s President would have had a good Korean restaurant to appeal to the delegations.”

After rival Lotte renovated its Korean restaurant “Mugunghwa,” promoting Korean cuisine experiments cuisine on its sky lounge floor, the pressure has become stronger than ever.

“The Shilla might not be interested in operating the restaurant for a long time, but to please the current powers that be, it will have to reopen the restaurant in the near future,” an industry insider said.

Shilla runs a Korean restaurant at its Jeju branch, and also operates a research team on hansik.

But the hotel has been adamant in denying that it will reopen the Korean restaurant. “I don’t know where that rumor came from. It constantly comes around but I can assure you that no decision has been made regarding the opening of the restaurant,” a spokeswoman from the hotel said. “When the hotel chose to shut it down years ago, there was a good reason. The issue will need much more discussion,” she said.

The five-star-hotel’s negligence toward Korean food has long been an issue here.

Ruling Grand National Party Rep. Choung Hae-gul has slammed five-star-hotels here for being reluctant to invest in Korean dining.
“Only 19 percent of the five-star-hotels in the country have Korean restaurants. In Seoul, out of 17, only 4 are running such diners,” he said.

Currently, the hotels with a Korean restaurant in Seoul are the Renaissance, Lotte, Mayfield and Walkerhill Grande.

On the other hand, some hotel industry officials are sympathetic with the Shilla. In the 1990s, the government forced hotels to operate Korean restaurants or scrapped their license.

However, nowadays, Korean restaurants are considered “costly.”

“All ingredients need careful caring from the bottom up, and recipes are much more complicated than Western cuisine, which take up even more time. The manpower also outnumbers any other cuisines,” a promoter of a hotel, which has also shutdown a Korean restaurant, said.

“This is a business and we aim to make profits. I can understand the problem the Shilla faces,” he said.

신라호텔 한식당 다시 열릴까?

국내 최대 기업 삼성 소유의 신라호텔이 과연 정부와 국민이 간절히 원하는 대로 한식당을 다시 운영하게 될까? 신라가 누누이 부정함에도 불구하고 이 질문은 그 동안 호텔업계를 괴롭혀왔다.

업계에 따르면 신라는26년 동안 운영해왔던 한식당 ‘서라벌’을 2005년 문을 닫은 후 정부와 국민으로부터 다시 열어달라고 압박을 가해왔다. 정치인들과 여론 형성층은 신라가 한국의 전통문화를 고급식당을 통해 유지시키고 널리 알리는 일에 인색하다는 부정적인 평을 해왔다. 신라가 주 표적이 된 이유는 삼성의 자회사로 2009년 매출이 1조원이 넘었기 때문이다. 신라는 최근 뷔페식당 ‘영빈관’을 수리했으며 다른 식당들도 수리에 들어갈 것이라고 밝혔다.

한 소식통은 “정부가 1년에 120억 원을 한국 음식 기반 확립과 홍보에 투자하고 있는 와중에 신라가 이 같은 노력에 동참하지 않는 것에 불만을 갖고 있다” 며 “G20 정상회담을 준비하면서 서울에서 열릴 때 중국 후진타오 주석이 머무는 신라가 수준 높은 한식당을 보유해 각 대표단들에게 좋은 인상을 남기고 싶어했다”고 말했다.

특히, 라이벌 롯데가 최근에 한식당 ‘무궁화’를 수리하며 스카이라운지에서 한식의 새로운 맛을 선보이고 있는 바 그 압박의 강도는 최고로 높을 때이다.

그러나 신라는 이 같은 소문을 강하게 부정했다. 호텔 관계자는 “소문이 어디서 왔는지 모르겠다. 그 동안 계속 그런 말이 있었는데 한식당 오픈에 대해서는 아무런 결정도 나지 않는 상태다. 몇 년 전 식당을 닫은 마땅할 이유가 있었으며, 그에 대해 더 이상 할 말은 없다” 고 말했다. “국내의 모든 5성 호텔 중 19%만 한식당을 운영하고 있다. 서울에도 17군데 중 4곳만이 운영한다". 르네상스, 롯데, 메이필드와 워커힐이다.

요즘 한식당 운명은 매우 비싸다. 한식당 문을 닫은 또 다른 호텔의 관계자는 “모든 재료는 조심스럽게 관리를 해줘야 하고 서양식보다 요리과정이 복잡하기 때문에 시간도 많이 소요된다. 인력도 다른 지역의 요리보다 더 많이 요구된다”라며 신라의 입장을 이해했다.