Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 15 - Went for a ₩5,000 Korean Meal

Mar had a workshop today and it basically took the entire first half of our day. When we came back from the workshop, it was during mid-afternoon and we both were pretty spent. She was tired from learning all the new stuff from the workshop and I was tired from translating the stuff she was learning during the workshop. So, we decided to have a break/nap time before going out again for dinner.

After Mar woke up from her nap, we went out to look around the restaurants around the neighborhood. We weren’t really sure what we want to have for dinner to be honest but when we passed by this one restaurant that has meals with rice, soup and banchan (백반) on their menu, we wanted to try it. Well, I’m always down for eating rice and soup and Mar wanted to try it mainly because of the cheap price of the meal. I mean, getting all the things pictured on the banner in front of the restaurant for just ₩5,000 (≈$4) per person is a pretty good deal.

So we went in and was eager to order and eat (especially since we haven’t had any proper lunch yet and it was like 5 pm in the afternoon, so we’re pretty hungry). But then when we went in, nobody was there. The lights and TV were on and everything but not one person was in sight. We even waited for 5 minutes or so hoping that the owner or the server of the restaurant would appear but nobody showed up. So after a while, we left and decided to look for another place to eat.

Mar was suggesting that we should go get Naengmyeon (냉면) near the restaurant we went to with our friends the first day we were here. But neither of us remembered what the restaurant name was and how to get there. After walking around for a while and saw nothing that really interest us, we decided to go back to the first restaurant and try our luck the second time. And what do you know. This time, the owner was inside and we can finally have our meal.

We ordered 2 servings of the sundubu (순두부찌개) and they came with two bowls of rice, two pieces of fried fish and 12 different banchan that you can ask for more if you want seconds. The ahjumma gave us free fried eggs too which was really nice of her. We also got to talk with her for a bit when we were having our meal. She was wondering what are foreigners like us doing in this neighborhood since the area is not exactly a tourist spot. I told her that we’re visiting our friends who live around here and she nodded in understanding at that.

Anyway, for ₩5,000, I’d say this was a pretty good meal. The food tasted like a home-cooked meal for sure and it was really fulfilling. We even ended up walking around for a while after our meal because we were so stuffed before finally going back home.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 14 - Easter Sunday at Garosugil

We had a pretty chill day at Garosugil for Easter Sunday. We went for Sunday service and then decided to just hang out at Basilur, a cafe that sold mainly teas and desserts. It's actually one of my favorite spot in Garosugil because their milk teas and desserts were good. The cafe was also pretty spacious and occupied the second and third floor of a building with big windows that overlook the intersection in front of the Village 11 Factory shop. It's like the perfect spot for afternoon tea while you people watch. (Sadly the place has now closed due to the pandemic.)

After the sun has set, we made our way back to the subway station. We stopped by a kimbap place to buy some to take away for our dinner and then finally headed home.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 13 - Samcheongdong & Birthday Surprise

Travel Vertical Vlog

The first stop of our Samcheongdong (삼청동) exploration the next day was Milkcow In Boots, a bread shop that seemed to be popular at the time. The picture of their bread frequently popped up on my Instagram so we decided to check the place out since we happened to pass it by. There was already a line forming in front of the shop and we joined in to wait for our turn. We bought two of their cube bread and a bottle of milk. They also gave us mini cube bread as freebies which Mar immediately tried and said it was just alright (see the vlog for her reaction). And I have to agree with her. I also think it was just alright after I tried the bread when we got home. Not really worth they hype.

After the bread shop, we walked around the area and stopped by a flower stall and decided to buy a small bouquet of flowers for Eun-gyo’s unnie because it was her birthday. We were planning to surprise her with a cake when she gets home from work so birthday cake was the other thing on the list that we needed to buy. Before that could happen though, we passed by Granhand on our way back to the subway station and with Mar being a fan of all things scent related, we naturally stopped by.

Granhand is probably one of my favorite perfume store. They have a wide selection of nice scents and all their stores and products are well-designed. The branch we visited was Granhand Sogyeok (그랑핸드 소격), a small store in one of Samcheongdong’s alleyways. Mar ended up purchasing a bottle of perfume and got her name stamped on the bottle. It’s a complimentary service that they have for customers who want to customize the label of their newly purchased perfume.

After the perfume shopping is done, we encountered a couple of buskers who were singing on the side of the road. I always feel that the buskers at different neighborhoods in Seoul sing or cover different genres of music. While the performances in Hongdae are more well known for its K-pop influence and the ones in Sinchon tend to be on the pop acoustic ballad side (imho), British rock seemed to be the theme in Samcheongdong judging from the ones we encountered tonight. The first singer we saw was singing Sting’s ‘Shape of My Heart’ and the second singer was singing Coldplay’s ‘In My Place’ and ‘The Scientist’. In a sense, it’s nice because you feel, hear and experience different vibes in every neighborhood.

We finally stopped Paris Croissant (파리크라상) to buy the birthday cake for Eun-gyo unnie’s surprise birthday celebration later that night. We were looking at the cake selections on display while discussing in Indonesian which one we should get for her. Suddenly, from behind the counter somebody said, ‘This cake is pretty popular amongst the customers.’ in Indonesian. Of course both of us were super surprised. Not because we met another fellow Indonesian (there were plenty of Indonesian tourists at the time in Seoul), but because we met a fellow Indonesian who works at a Korean store. Even when I was living in Seoul, I don‘t think I’ve ever met an Indonesian who works at a Korean company.

Following her recommendation, we settled on the Strawberry Crepe (딸기 크레이프). She helped us out with our order and we ended up chatting for a bit before I asked her for her Kakao info, suggesting we should hang out sometimes. We did end up hanging out together during my next trip to Seoul and found out that we actually have mutual friends back home in Jakarta. I also later found out that the story of our first encounter at Paris Croissant somehow ended up circulating amongst her coworkers. But instead of the actual incident, the story evolved to another scenario where a guy customer (I guess my short hair could be the reason for the false assumption) asked for her for her contact info because he’s interested in her. It’s so funny and we had a good laugh about it. Anyway, we ended up becoming friends and I hung out with her every time I’m in town, and we still do until today. And that’s the story how I met my friend Winny. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’re probably familiar with her face from my instastories.

After we got home, we quickly set up the cake, candles and cameras and get ready to surprise Eun-gyo unnie when she got home. I was constantly checking my Kakao because Deok-chun oppa was going to text me when they’re close by so we can match the timing. Don’t know why, but both of us were ridiculously nervous for no apparent reason when that text came in and they were about to arrive. But anyway, she came home and we immediately sang (slightly off tune) ‘Happy Birthday’ to her when she walked in. Candles were blown, flowers were given, cake was cut and she was thoroughly surprised and didn’t suspect a thing. So the surprise was a success.

Eun-sa unnie later came over and we ordered jjajangmyeong (짜장면) and Nene Chicken (네네치킨) delivery for our super late dinner/supper birthday celebration. And of course we had the birthday cake for desserts afterwards. It was a fun night and Happy Birthday Eun-gyo unnie! :)

Places:

Granhand Sogyeok • 그랑핸드 소격
Address: 서울 종로구 율곡로3길 69
Telephone: 02-333-6525
Hours: Sunday -Thursday 11:30-20:30 | Friday & Saturday 12:00-21:00
Instagram: @granhand_official

Update:
Milkcow In Boots has now closed permanently.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 12 - Night Hangout in Sinchon

Travel Vertical Vlog

After staying up really late last night, Mar and I slept in the next day and woke up around lunch time. It was Eun-gyo unnie’s day off and she has cooked lunch for us. The menu was Korean purple rice (흑미밥) with soybean paste stew (된장찌개), omelette, some leftover curry and salad, and kimchi and seaweed for the banchan. Mar also cooked a cup of Jin Ramyeon because she was craving it. Eating a home-cooked meal is always special to me. I don’t really cook so even when I was living in Seoul, I usually just eat out or do take-outs. And as a tourist, unless you’re staying at an Airbnb that gives you the option of sharing the property with your host and meals are included in your stay, home-cooked meal is probably not an option either. So every time my friends cook for me, it always feels like a special experience. And this is not strictly speaking only when I’m in Seoul actually. It applies to wherever my friends are since most of them live in different parts of the world.

By the time we’re done getting ready to go out, it’s already dinner time. Our plan that night was just to meet up with Ken in Sinchon. He texted me earlier that week saying that he’s going to be in Seoul and asked if I want to meet up. So we planned to meet up over dinner before he had to head back home. What’s funny though, when we arrived at the red pipe where we agreed to meet, I immediately laughed out loud when I saw him walking over. For some odd reason, we ended up wearing the same color outfit that day. Green jacket, black pants, black backpack and even our shoes were matching! It was funny because we totally didn’t plan this at all. We had a good laugh about it before I asked Mar to take a picture of us for memories.

Afterwards, we went to Izawa for dinner and to catch up. Mar ordered their Steak Don (스테이시동) this time because she already tried their Gyukatsu (규카츠) the last time we were there and Ken and I ordered the Gyukatsu (규카츠). It was a good fulfilling meal. Ken left after we finished dinner and we decided to walked around for a bit. Since it’s a Friday, there were more people in Sinchon. There were also a lot of buskers who occupied different spots in the area so it’s fun to just walk around and watch the performances. The first guy we watched was a frequent performer in Sinchon who’s standing at his usual spot near the subway station exit jamming with his guitar. I’ve seen him for a good couple of years now, usually by himself. But there were times where he was performing with his friends who played the guitar and saxophones. They were good. One of the unique thing about this guy is he looks western right? He’d usually start singing English songs and when he greet the audience, he would speak in fluent Korean, earning shocked gasps from the crowd who’s not familiar with him. I was amongst those people too when I first watched him. Really wasn’t expecting him to be that good in speaking Korean but you can never judge a book by its cover right?

The second performance that we watched was in front of the red pipe in front of U-plex. Two guys were singing one of South Korea’s spring anthem, ‘What the Spring’ by 10cm, a song that you probably hear a lot if you’re in South Korea during spring. It’s like one of the official soundtrack for spring season. The other one being ‘Cherry Blossom Ending’ by Busker Busker I would say. What’s funny about it though, unlike ‘Cherry Blossom Ending’ where the lyrics are talking about walking together with your significant other under the scattering cherry blossom petals, ‘What the Spring’ actually takes playful jabs on couples who like the spring season (because I guess it’s like the perfect dating season) from a single person’s perspective. The two songs are the total opposite, but they both have very spring-like melodies. The two guys who were singing sounded pretty good, even interacting and joking around with the a couple in the audience, relaying the sentiment of the song in a playful way (watch their performance on the vlog).

We then walked around some more and passed by a shop that has claw machines inside. Of course we ended up going in because Mar wanted to try her luck again with these machines. 15 minutes and many coins later, she finally gave up after her multiple failed attempts at trying to win a stuffed doll. It was fun watching her try though. I had a good laugh. Before we headed home, we stopped by Gimgane (김가네), a chain gimbap place and bought some to take home because Mar was once again craving gimbap, even after the meal we had earlier. She ended up ordering Spicy Anchovy Gimbap (멸추김밥) to try because we never had one before. Turns out it was good. And that’s how we ended our Friday night.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 11.2 - Bao Dinner & Sashimi Party

After we finished with our errands at Garosugil, we decided to head to Hannamdong (한남동) to get dinner. We walked around for a while to see what’s there since we didn’t really plan on it and weren’t really sure what our options are. After exploring the area for quite a while, because of Mar’s constant whining about being hungry (to be fair, she only had milk since this morning and I hadn’t eaten anything all day so both of us were really, really hungry and have ran out of energy at this point), we finally decided on having bao for our super late lunch/early dinner.

We ended up at Bao 27, a small restaurant with an open kitchen that was run by 2 chefs. We got there before the dinner rush so the place was pretty empty. There were only two other people beside us who were dining at the restaurant. We took our seats at the bar to see the chefs in action and ordered Truffle French Fries and their Pork & Shrimp Bao to share. They were all good. The baos you definitely need to eat with your hand though, if you want to get everything in one bite. For dessert, we ordered the Sweet Potato which is a steamed and deep-fried sweet potato drenched in honey and whipped cream, sprinkled with pistachio and flower petals on top. The presentation is a bit messy, but it tasted so good. After I took my first spoonful of the sweet potato, the combination of textures surprised me in a delightful way. Mar also liked the dessert and we finished it in no time.

After dinner, we stopped by at Pied (피에) to buy some cakes and macaroons for dessert because we’re planning to have a late dinner/supper at home with my friends. Soo Zee and Leigh actually introduced me to Pied. It’s their favorite macaroon shop and I can understand why because their macaroons are delicious. Too bad that they have now closed.

Later that evening, we had a sashimi party at home. Eun Sa unnie came over. Deok Chun oppa and Eun Gyo unnie prepared salmon sashimi for all of us with the salmon they bought at Costco as well as home made salad that goes with it. We ended the night by eating the macaroons and cakes for desserts while chatting about random things.

Read the first part of our day here.

Update: Bao 27 has now closed permanently.

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