“I love the feeling of being anonymous in a city I’ve never been before”—Unknown

That probably sums up what I felt on my first morning in Seoul. Since this is my first time exploring the city, I’m pretty excited about it.

We left the hotel around 9 and headed to Tosokchon (토속촌) for breakfast. Tosokchon is known for its signature Samgyetang 삼계탕 (chicken ginseng soup) made with glutinous rice, gingko nuts, ginseng, garlic and jujube, medicinal herbs and grains. From what I read, since the place is very popular, especially among tourists, the line could get pretty crazy. So we’re trying to get there right when they open—which is 10 am—before they got busy with the lunch hour.

The ahjumma who sitted us at the table quickly asked what we want to order, even before we sat down and look at the menu. From what I heard, this is pretty common in Korea. Nevertheless, we took our time and ask for the menu. There are only 3 items on the menu and we decided to try one each and just share them since it’s still morning and we don’t want to get too full on our first meal.

All in all, the Samgyetang were delicious and tasty.

On our way back to the subway station, we passed by this cute little coffee shop—Café Mr. Minsuk (카페 민석씨)—and decided to stopped by for a bit just because the cafe seems to be really nice and cozy. There seems to be a couple of interesting places around this area. Check out this article to find out more.

Next, we passed by a Twosome Place (투썸플레이스) after we got off the subway and decided to make another pit stop. The sun was up and the weather is getting hotter by the hour. We saw the sign for Patbingsu (팥빙수), a popular shaved ice dessert in Korea, and it sounds like a really good at the time to stop by and get something cold to cool us down.