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51 charlie feels resTauranTs seT TheMselves up for failure By going for coMplicaTed iTeMs wiThouT geTTing The Basics down righT. he wanTs The new BaTTered sole To creaTe siMple food, BuT To do iT properly. tastes too much like booze.” On tap they’ll have two types of Bull- dog (a Scottish beer from Aberdeen) and a cider, all alongside up to 100 single-malt scotches to cater to what Griffiths calls the “single-malt wave” sweeping Korea. “That’ll be exciting for us, be- cause we’ll be able to educate people about the different flavors and the different areas in Scotland where they’re from,” Griffiths says. He thinks it’s great that Koreans are getting into whiskey. “We want to encourage that as much as we can,” he says. In spite of this range, the team is confident they can still keep things affordable. The boys are focused on cost; they say too many foreign restaurants are overpriced, and they’re determined that Battered Sole won’t be. “We’re making sure our prices are very, very reasonable,” Griffiths says, “so that people can afford to come regularly. A lot of the other restaurants — they’re good, they’re very good — but you would never go there on a weekly or biweekly basis, because you could never afford it. A lot of this food is the food of the coal miner, but no coal miner could pay what some other restaurants are charging for their meals.” But under their roof, main dishes will go for between 12,000 and 16,000 won, cocktails and draft beers between 7,000 and 8,000, house wine 30,000 to 40,000 a bottle and whiskeys from 7,000 up to 40,000 won a glass. Griffiths says Battered Sole began in order to improve on some of the problems with the U.K. fish and chips industry, but here, in Korea. “We want to be flag-bearers for British cuisine, because we think British cuisine, when done properly, is as good as any other country’s food in the world.” With the new restaurant, they will take on an entire island of British food — and see how Korea likes it. GEttING tHERE c Itaewon station, exit 1. Walk straight down the street, take the third right and walk up the hill, passing OKitchen on your left and Bastille on your right. Battered Sole is located just beyond the intersection on the left-hand side. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter (@BatteredSole) for up-to-date info on hours and opening specials.