GOOGLE the Korean word Chingu and you will get a peek into the deeper side of this culture that is enjoying a massive fan base in the Philippines.
In an entry in quora.com by Josh Mortensen who describes himself as a husband, dad, and explorer poet, Chingu is a Korean word for friend, but not just any friend.
"A big difference in Western & Eastern cultures plays out in this simple word. In Western cultures you can be friends with someone of any age and call them your friend without any confusion," he wrote.
Thus, Chingu only refers to friends of your age. Friends who are older or younger than you are referred to by different words. Now, the word "ne" generally means "yes", but not just any yes. It can be "Yes", "I agree", "really?", "awww", "okay", "let’s do it", and a lot of other variations. A longer "ne" is regarded as more polite. Liek "neee". given that, I'd rather not try to unravel what this restaurant's name really means.
The place is called Chingu Ne, but all you can read from the outside is Korean Restaurant, not unless you read Korean characters. It's in that space that used to house Ola Espana in Damosa (beside Microtel) in Lanang and later became a Korean restaurant with a different name -- Da Niri.
There were three of us that night of friends but not quite Chingu as we have age differences.
Outlook are similar, however, so I wouldn't dare explore this similarities among friends in a language as complex as Korean.
Let's just talk about the food. It's good. Except that we cannot explore much because Deng has very low tolerance to hot and spicy food, and Korean food is generally hot and spicy.
We had the haemul panjeon, the samgeopsal, and the doenjang jiggae. Everything tasted as they should, so you're not getting any violent reaction from me. Given this growing fanhood over anything Korean, this new restaurant is always a welcome addition.
Like all other Korean restaurants hereabouts, the prices are around P250 to P300 for the usual dishes. There are other more specialized but of bigger servings that can reach up to P1,000. But that's impractical when you're just a tiny group of three.
As it was, we were already stuffed with just the three that we had. So, is it worth a visit? Definitely, especially when you're as hooked as I am on Korean. But only if you're somewhere out north. Otherwise, there are other Korean restaurants closer downtown for the downtown dwellers.