Sindang - Ddeokbokki

Sindang is known as the ddeokbokki neighborhood which I thought implied that it was going to filled with a lot of vendors and people buzzing around but it was pretty dead. There were only a handful of restaurants opened and we ventured into this restaurant (totally forgot to take a picture of the name) but like many of the restaurants in Sindang they offer only ddeokbokki which was good since we only had to tell them we wanted four orders. No language barriers there. Throw up four fingers and you're good to go!

I secretly think they made it less spicy since we were foreigners but it was still yummy. It was filled with ramen noodles, cellophane noodles, cabbage, eggs, fish cakes, onions, deok (rice cakes), gojuchang, and red pepper powder. Definitely the type of food that goes great with some maekchu (beer)! And very cheap. It was like 3,000 won per person!

Itaewon - Helio's Pub and Grill

I'm trying to blog with restaurants with little pictures so I can get rid of them faster. :)

                   

For a friend's birthday, we went to Helio's in Itaewon. If I remember correctly before 10 P.M. it's a restaurant but after 10 it becomes a bar/dance club. The food here is a little pricey but it's Itaewon so you shouldn't expect any less. The British Burger (I think that's what I ordered. It's the burger with the egg in it.) was to die for! It's the best burger I've ever had in my life and you can quote me on that. It was definitely a Koreanized burger. The patty had a nice spicy kick to. Though, it reminded me a little bit of bulgogi marinade but I'm not complaining. It was topped off with a fried egg and the standard lettuce, tomato, and ketchup. I wasn't a big fan of the fries. It was a little stale and reminiscent of our friend Ore-Ida but all-in-all if I ever the chance, definitely coming back for the burgers!

Atmosphere: Pretty chill. Looked like typical bars in the States. The bar/dance club was pretty lame since it consisted of a bunch of middle-aged ex-pats watching young girls dance from the sidelines. If you're into that then sure why not? But we booked pretty early and ended up at Daddy J's in Anam for some banana vodka. (I will post more about the crazy nights at Daddy J's.)

Verdict: I'd go back for the food not the club.

Update.

This blog will not be dead. Just took a very long hiatus before I really start. I will try to slowly pick this up again. There's a lot of things that I wished I had written down, my memory has been a little foggy but bear with me, 'kay? I'm no longer in the great city of Seoul but back to the very humble city of Boston so hopefully, my blog will consist of the two worlds and the other worlds that I will visit in the future. Until then, I bid thee adieu.

-Christine

Anamdong - Random Korean Restaurant

                                

                                

So, we decided to order sin wui ju jeong sik. No idea if that's the right spelling (I only had four classes of Korean) or if that's even what the dish was called but we ended up picking a random Korean restaurant and ordering what looked the best on the menu. I'm not sure what was in it but it had a bunch of pork and soondae in it. I had expected it to be better but it had a strong smell. I thought pork but some people said fish so it's up in the air but that's the stock though. The pork itself was really good. Soondae is an experience itself, though. Still waiting to actually appreciate it. ..

Insadong - Sanchon

                                


                                

The pictures are blurry due to poor camera quality and poor lighting, apologies.

Sanchon is a vegetarian restaurant that deals with Buddhist-style cooking so be prepared. I had semi-high expectations since the Buddhist food I have eaten prior to this experience had been amazing but the food here was interesting -- to say the least. I feel like you have to really like burdock root and REAL Korean food to enjoy this place. I'm not one for the root so all the dishes that were in a circle were out of the picture and I can deal with Korean food but the mung bean soup and kimchi soup were -__-'' . It was an interesting experience. The place felt like a sanctuary. It was dimly lighted and decorated like one of those sageuk (historic) dramas but even though, the food was not to my liking, I had a really fun time there experiencing something that was truly Korean.

Verdict: If you're into the vegetarian, then you should come for the experience and food. The price was about 22, 000 won per person for lunch and you get all the food pictured. You don't get to choose, it's a set meal and it varies all the time. There were people who came after us who had a different menu so just be open-minded about eating everything.

Insadong - Teastory

Sorry, the picture of the tea shop isn't too lovely but this place would've been hard to find if it weren't for the ginormous sign next to it announcing 'BEAUTIFUL TEA MUSEUM,' or some derivative of that. Insadong is one of the more touristy places here so the tea shop offered a change of pace. It was very relaxing and calming but I was kind of disappointed there wasn't a real museum there. Go figure. 

We had milk tea and assam iced-tea. I don't know much about tea so no comment. My sweet potato rice cake, however, tasted more like sponge and less like sweet potato or cake but the green tea niblet since the picture makes it look bigger was good. The place was kinda pricey but I don't know what the average tea shop price is so ... I think we spent like 22, 000 won? 

Verdict: I'd come back for the atmosphere and to try their extensive list of different teas. 

Garosugil - Cafe 7 Gram

Nope, I'm not missing an "s" at the end of Gram. I have noticed a lack of pluralization here when it comes to English but don't let that fool you, the waffle here was delicious! It was my first time eating the infamous "wappull," and as an anti-fan of waffles, I have reconsidered my stance on it. Waffles are treated as dessert here and the one we had was decked out with vanilla and chocolate gelato, kiwi, peaches, banana, and a big dollop of fresh whipped cream. The batter is a little sweeter than the typical American waffle and they added crushed walnuts into the waffle and that totally just upped the ante. It was very fulling.  For about 9, 000 won, it was definitely worth it. I shared it with a friend and we barely finished.

Verdict: I love waffles! Be on the look out, there will be more waffle updates. Cafe 7 Gram was pretty amazing. The atmosphere was really nice and I can see myself hanging out there and studying except it's pretty far from my dorm. -_-'' Prices are decent. I'd probably come back if I find one closer to campus.