Hello. I'm Yeonsook Park, the owner of Lorris Pizza. We opened in May 2018. It all started quite by accident, actually. About twenty years ago, I was running a small LP bar, but I stepped away to focus more on my children. After that, I was looking for a job with reasonable hours. I worked at a company for a while, got my real estate license, and did some property work. My real estate office happened to be right here in this Raemian building, where Lorris Pizza is located. At the time, the commercial units were just being put on sale, and the space where we are now wasn't moving. It was close to the restrooms, had glass on two sides so it felt open, and yet it just wasn't selling. I couldn't figure it out. That's when I thought, why not try it myself? And so I jumped back into running my own business.

After closing the LP bar, I always had this dream that if I ever went back into business, I wanted to do food seriously. I'd thought about all kinds of menus over the years. I have two daughters, and they've loved pizza since they were small. So whenever we went out to eat, or on any special occasion, it was always pizza. It seemed only natural: if I ever opened another place, it would be a pizza restaurant, the kind my girls loved. Wood-fired pizza was a personal choice. I've always preferred clean, simple flavors.

"Lorris" comes from my father's English name. My father served in the military with the UN, and after his discharge, he worked on a U.S. military base. He spoke English well and was good with his hands, so he worked as an engineer, and apparently, everyone called him Lorris. When I was young, my father would bring home ham, canned beans, and cheese from the base and bake it all on dough for us. Looking back now, I think that must have been the first pizza I ever tasted. I named the restaurant Lorris Pizza in memory of him, and of the special food he used to make for us. For the menu names, I wanted them to be memorable, so I had fun with them. There's Spice Girl for that classic pizza taste, Hot Pepe loaded with pepperoni, Aloha for our sweet Hawaiian, Cheese Lorris made with our own cheese blend, Mad Shrimp piled high with prawns, New Yorker for a taste of New York, Queens Garden full of fresh arugula, and Rock 'n' Roll with sausage and pineapple. I put thought into every name.

For me, it really comes down to the classics. Hot Pepe and Cheese Lorris are the closest to traditional pizza, and those are my two favorites. But then Spice Girl is lovely for its simplicity, and I'm fond of Mad Shrimp and New Yorker too. Now that I'm talking about them, I want to recommend everything. First-time guests often ask which one's the signature, and the answer is, they all are. (laughs) We have nine different pizzas, pastas, and Playground craft beers, something for every taste, so please do visit.

That's true. Fresh ingredients depend on good ingredient turnover, so early on, I quickly cut any menu items that weren't selling. The menu we have now is the result of keeping only what our guests truly responded to. I've developed new items over the years, but in the end, people always come back to the familiar ones.

We use the unit next door as an annex. We direct guests there when things get busy, and we sometimes take private reservations. Some come for that privacy, and others walk in with a cap pulled low, eating like any regular customer, and then I recognize them and ask for an autograph. I'm sure it's the same for other restaurants along Hangang-daero. Yongsan CGV hosts many film events, and many celebrities live in Yongsan, so we see them fairly often. In the early days, we even had an idol music video filmed here. The neighborhood brings all kinds of fun surprises.

When we first opened, there wasn't a single other wood-fired pizza place in the area. There were only pizza delivery places and oven-baked spots back then, but as Yongsan has become a destination, all sorts of distinctive restaurants have opened. In those early days, you could search 'Yongsan pizza' or 'Shinyongsan pizza' on Naver, and we'd come right up. But since we don't do paid advertising, these days it's mostly regulars who keep us going. The places doing well these days tend to advertise heavily. I've stubbornly chosen to put that money into better ingredients instead. It may not pay off in the short term, but I believe it's what keeps you going for the long haul. On the other hand, as Yongridan-gil has taken off, we've seen more and more young guests from other parts of Seoul coming on weekends specifically to visit. With all the attention Hangang-daero has been getting, there are upsides and pressures.

I think it's the consistency of the taste. Since I'm not an owner-chef, we do go through chef changes from time to time. When a new chef comes in, they always want to put their own stamp on things, but I ask them, as much as possible, to preserve our existing recipes and flavors. I believe that even guests who only come once a year carry a memory of how it tastes. If they come back after a long time, carrying that good memory, and find the taste has changed, that would be such a disappointment. Even our pickles — I revised that recipe thirty times in the early days, always pushing for the best possible version. That's why I'm so attached to those recipes, and why I stress that to every chef who joins us. And our guests feel that.

You have to hold the center. If I get pulled in different directions, the taste will drift. I believe you have to hold your own standards with unwavering conviction if you want to last. We're closed on Mondays. In an office district like this, many places close on Sundays, but I deliberately chose to take Mondays off instead for our Sunday guests. Parking is difficult around Hangang-daero, but we have free parking, so we get a lot of group reservations on Sundays, families and friends getting together. Office workers who can't make it on Mondays come on other weekdays, so I decided there was no reason to be greedy: Monday rest it is. And if the neighboring businesses pick up a few more guests on the Mondays we're closed, that's a good thing too. Those quiet Mondays are when I see my grandchildren, run errands, and recharge myself.

Thank you, that means a lot. It's probably just the low lighting in here. (laughs) My daughter, the one who loved pizza so much, grew up, had a child of her own, and now works alongside me. I'm endlessly grateful to her.

Of course. How could there not be? The COVID period was the hardest for us. With import prices spiking at the same time, it was a double burden. Keeping the food clean and healthy means investing in quality ingredients, which come at a higher cost. We can't pass every price increase on to our guests, so maintaining that quality took real strain. On top of that, new competitors were opening all around us, and without advertising, we were slipping in Naver search rankings. It was a difficult time on multiple fronts. The after-work dining culture has almost disappeared, too. People used to come for pizza and beer after company dinners, those second and third rounds out, but that's rare now. Honestly, I'm still fighting hard. But I run this place without grand ambitions. The reward is giving the guests who remember our flavors a genuinely good meal in a space I'm proud to work in.

Our restaurant has low lighting and a cozy feel, so it's become a popular spot for first dates. In the evenings and on weekends, you often spot couples who are clearly meeting for the first time. Some of those couples have since gotten married, and a few have even come back to share the news of a pregnancy. Some have returned with their young children. We've taken photos together to mark those moments, and knowing that this place has been part of such joyful journeys in people's lives is something I'm deeply grateful for. It moves me every time. In those moments, I think: this is what you get from staying in one place, for a long time. Running a small business isn't easy these days, but the sense that I'm growing alongside my guests is what keeps me going.

I'm of a certain age, so I actually remember Amorepacific back in its days as 'Pacific,' with the ABC logo, long before the current name even existed. Amorepacific has been a familiar presence in my life for as long as I can remember. Running this restaurant, I've noticed that Amorepacific employees have an air of polish and self-care about them; you can see it at a glance. It makes sense, coming from a company devoted to beauty. During COVID, things were very hard for me too, and when I heard the cosmetics and beauty market was struggling, I genuinely worried about Amorepacific. But watching them strengthen their domestic foundation and expand all the way to North America, I found their staying power inspiring. It gave me the feeling that if they can do it, so can I. When employees choose our restaurant for something as meaningful as a wedding announcement gathering, I'm truly touched and proud. I hope we can continue being good neighbors for a long time to come.

We don't do delivery. During COVID, we tried delivering a few menu items to help with ingredient turnover, but there were instances when the quality didn't hold up during the journey. Lorris Pizza is made with the belief that food should be good for you, so we want you to come and enjoy it the way it's meant to be eaten. Free parking is available, and since we're in the building's basement, you can enjoy a comfortable meal regardless of the weather outside. Please come and see us. There's a saying that out of every hundred restaurants that open, only one is still standing ten years later. Lorris Pizza is determined to be that one. We may not be flashy, but we'll keep staying true to the same consistent taste, familiar and special at the same time. See you often.