The Great Love of Establishing Chongnyu Restaurant as the Service Base of Traditional Dishes

Chongnyu Restaurant situated along the bank of the Pothong River in Pyongyang, is widely known throughout the DPRK as the service base of the traditional dishes thanks to the benevolent care of President Kim Il Sung, Chairman Kim Jong Il and the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

Chongnyu Restaurant furnished with modeling and artistic features of the interior of the building on a high level, equipped with updated service facilities and conditions of convenience for working people to meet the mission of the service base of traditional dishes, conveys the endless love of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il towards the people who always paid attention to serve working people with distinguished traditional dishes.

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"Active encouragement and development of the traditional national dishes created by our ancestors in the course of long history is of great significance in improving the diet of our people, including service personnel, and preserving and sustaining the Juche character and national identity."

In 1980's when he was so busy dealing with every affair of the country, President Kim Il Sung paid deep attention to bring about a service revolution in the sectors of commerce, public catering and accommodation and gave an instruction to build a modern service base for the people in Pyongyang City.

Upholding the high intention of President Kim Il Sung, Chairman Kim Jong Il mapped out a great scheme to build Chongnyu Restaurant, a service base of traditional dishes for the people along the bank of the Pothong River under the construction of Changgwang Health Complex.

He personally came to the spot and appointed the site for Chongnyu Restaurant and gave detailed instructions on style and content of the building to ensure it's highest level while examining the blueprint and designs.

Thus, Chongnyu Restaurant, the service base of traditional cuisine has been built as a modern and gigantic building within a short span of time with 12,000 square meters in total area and a thousand seats inside and outside, admired by the people.

After the completion, the employees hastened to prepare various dishes and improve their cooking skills, counting the opening day on their fingers.

On the 6th of December Juche 70(1981), Chairman Kim Jong Il came to the restaurant again with President Kim Il Sung.

President Kim Il Sung, saying that the restaurant was well built on the bank of the Pothong River and named newly built restaurant Chongnyugwan, of which 3 letters of Chong(clear), Ryu(flow) and Gwan(house) meets our own style and tempts customers.

That day, looking around the dining rooms furnished in conformity with national sentiments and lifestyle and looking at lots of national dishes and food, the President said that various traditional dishes such as noodle should be cooked very well in Chongnyu Restaurant.

Telling the origin of tray noodle he looked at the traditional dishes such as rice-cakes, soybean sprout, bracken which has been handed down among our people for a long time and emphasized on training cooks well as traditional cuisine needed high skill.

Looking at national confections and beverages with strong national scent such as sweet cake, pop rice cake, small cakes and fruit punches, he continued to say that national confections and beverages were very good.

Saying that even banquets at state level could be held in Chongnyu Restaurant and casseroles and sinsollo should be served, he told about the origin of dog meat soup.

Looking around every dining room there, President Kim Il Sung sat down on a bench in the corridor to have a talk about the issue of material supply on Chongnyu Restaurant and gave detailed instructions of directions and methods for erecting supply bases.

That day President Kim Il Sung taught one by one the solution of the various problems arising in the management of Chongnyu Restaurant for a long time.

Keeping the teachings of the President deep in his mind the Chairman pointed out specialized dishes for service one after another saying that Chongnyu Restaurant should specialize the Korean dishes as taught by the President and established a new supply system of raw and other materials for it.

Chairman Kim Jong Il endlessly devoted his all to make Chongnyu Restaurant in favorable condition the wealth of people, a public catering base, like parents caring about their baby who starts to walk.

Making full use of every opportunity, the Chairman taught how to run the restaurant in detail while he selected and appointed skilled chefs and sent cookery books personally for the chefs to have better skill of cooking.

Under the benevolent love of Chairman Kim Jong Il who always concerned about our people to have a better taste of traditional food, Chongnyu Restaurant has been loved by our people as a comprehensive service base for traditional dishes and a favorite restaurant for everyone for its good public service, which specializes in national dishes and food such as sinsollo, Pyongyang cold noodle, sweet meat soup and beef stew.

Chairman Kim Jong Il who found his pleasure in the happiness of people for all his life, sparing nothing for people, had Chongnyu Restaurant furnished to the highest level in conformity with the demands of the new century.

On the 5th, June, Juche 97(2008), the Chairman visited better-rebuilt Chongnyu Restaurant and asked why the space between the pillars in the main entrance was opened.

He said the people who dined in the public hall should not be seen as many guests came and went through the main entrance, so that the space should be glass-blocked.

That day, the Chairman satisfied with glass partition board next to the entrance, shaking the boards in the corridor and dining room, and looking at the door of the dining room he said to fit it with opal glass and even cared about the temperature of the dining hall.

The officials were deeply moved by the devotion of the Chairman who considered carefully people's trifle inconvenience.

Under the energetic leadership of the great general, Chongnyu Restaurant has developed not as an ordinary service center for profit but as a service base of traditional dishes which satisfies our people with the national dishes of its own fragrance.

Indeed, every dish in Chongnyu Restaurant reflects the noble intention of the President and the Chairman to make traditional dishes better fit with the taste of people and add luster to them.

Today, the noble wishes of President and Chairman to provide our people with delicious traditional dishes is in full bloom under the wise leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.