Chef Meili Delicatessen

I’ve found my new place to get my Western food fix. It’s Chef Meili‘s Delicatessen in Itaewon. Exit the subway at the Itaewon Market. Take a right down the street behind Gecko’s (the same street of the popular Sultan Turkish Kebabs). Down the hill, underneath The Wolfhound, is this new Austrian deli.

UPDATE: The Delicatessen is now located underneath the Chef Meili restaurant.

If you’ve been in Itaewon lately, you may have noticed the Chef Meili name around. Don’t confuse it with the new Austrian restaurant behind Gecko’s that has replaced the dour German restaurant Memories.

Chef Christian Meilinger owns both. His wife runs the deli while he supervises the restaurant. I have been to both, but I want to return to the Chef Meili’s restaurant before giving a proper review (with better pictures than the ones I have now).

I have been to the deli a few times and have scored some great swag. Many of the sausages, bread and fixin’s are made on site. The sausages cover Austria, Bavaria, Germany, Italy–much of Europe.

If you’re not sure about buying a whole sausage or cold cuts right away the deli is a proper deli. It has a sandwich menu with choices from the meat case.

All the sausages I have had from there, so far, have been good. The Munchenwurst reminds me of the Bratwurst I used to live off of in Germany. The Blutwurst reminds me of Black Pudding from my trip to London. And I was even able to score this.

Yes, my friends, that’s an actual lobe of foie gras–right here in Korea. I believe we’ll need to have a dinner party sometime (maybe Thanksgiving). Any takers?

In the meantime, I had made a good Chuseok holiday Teutonic lunch of Blutwurst, Sauerkraut (also from Meili’s), grilled garlic baguette and Korean Schnitzel with crumbled cheese on top.

Oh man, that was so hearty I skipped dinner.