[wcfields]

My experience echos this but on a smaller scale, I’ve visited the NK run restaurant in Bangkok in 2019 and found it to be basically any average nondescript very dated East Asian / Korean restaurant, but odd. It was smaller, maybe seating 60-75 tops?

The food was fine, and they played NK music (the kind you’d hear on Korean Central Television) while we ate. The unique thing I recall on the menu was the Pyongyang Cold Noodles which I did not get.

Unfortunately the waitresses did not do karaoke which I heard was the entertainment and the whole experience was notable but not like “holy crap”.

When asked about takeaways they did offer to sell me NK cigarettes and Soju.

[eleveriven]

It sounds like you had a pretty similar vibe to what I imagine these places are like... kinda surreal but not mind-blowing in the "holy crap" sense

[tpm]

Naengmyeon is worth trying, not only in NK restaurants.