Seoul Searching Food - October 2013 & May 2015
One of the places I make sure I go back to in Seoul and one reason why I stay so close to the centre of Myeongdong, is because of Myeongdong's night street-food market! One of my favourite foods is the 'Tornado Potato', which is a potato that has been spiralled onto a long stick, fried and then dipped in either onion powder or cheese powder; I am onion-powder all the way. Another favourite is 'Gyerangbbang' or egg bread which is bread and egg that have been baked together. I also like to get a fresh juice, some stalls you can actually see them making it fresh for you. There is so much on offer you will be spoilt for choice. On my 2nd visit to Seoul I discovered Kwangjang Market which was only 10 minutes walk from my hotel, it was there that I tried 'Bindaetteok' or mung-bean pancake. I never thought much of it before but since I was there and a lot of the stalls were selling it I decided to go for it and now I understand, this pancake is packed full of flavour. If the weather was not so hot, I would have eaten much more.
Eat: If you know me, you will know that I am mad for matcha so when I was researching for places to visit in Seoul, I found O'Sulloc. Their selling point is that their tea is all grown and cultivated in Jeju. This place is matcha-heaven; the ice-cream is smooth, the matcha flavour strong but sweet. If you are thinking of buying the teas and matcha powder gifts to take home, some of them can be quite pricey but I tried the 'Tangerine Flower Blending Tea' last time and really liked it; I was mentally kicking myself for not buying more to take home. O'Sulloc has many branches across South Korea.
Woori Garden is a Korean BBQ restaurant in Myeongdong who offer a 10% discount coupon on their website, which you will need to print it out. The staff were very friendly, you get a lot of side dishes and our waiter was nice enough to tell us which side dishes goes well with which meat. You also get a free bottle of water with your coupon! We ordered the mixed option which had different cuts of pork and beef (there was more to come besides the meat shown below).
Gimgane in Myeongdong offers many different 'gimbap' or seaweed rice rolls. I actually went to get a takeaway but I liked the gimbap so much that I went back another day and dined in, to try their bibimbap too.
The next place I can not see an English name or remember what area it was from, I'm sorry, but I tried the spicy cold noodles there and I do not think I have eaten anything so spicy in my life, I had to add water to the noodles but I soldiered through it! They also have Korean BBQ too.
Sapporo Ramen is located on the 6th floor of the I'Park Mall in Yongsan, there are a lot of other restaurants in the mall and also Yongsan Electronics Market. The ramen was okay but it was not the best that I have ever had.
Meet Fresh Myeongdong, is another dessert cafe which does bingsu. I ordered the mango bingsu and again it is a big portion. I also tried the taro milk tea which tasted more of just milk than taro but the shaved ice itself was smooth and the mango was fresh.
The next place I can not see an English name or remember what area it was from, I'm sorry, but I tried the spicy cold noodles there and I do not think I have eaten anything so spicy in my life, I had to add water to the noodles but I soldiered through it! They also have Korean BBQ too.
Before I went to Seoul I did not realise the extent of the
coffee culture here, literally everywhere you walk there will be a coffee shop and
if it is not to your taste then walk another 5 minutes to the next one. Usually
I get a green tea frappacino from Starbucks but I decided to try the ice green
tea latte at YG Teddy's Twosome Coffee and
I was addicted, it was refreshing and light but still had a strong matcha
taste. We also ordered a bloomer which tasted like pizza, a red velvet cake and
macarons however I would not recommend the latter. The café is about 5 minutes’
walk away from Hongik University.
Hello Kitty Cafe Myeongdong is the second branch to open in Seoul, the first one being in Hongik University. I did not set out to find the cafe but upon my strolls in Myeongdong I saw a lot of pink from afar and then a lady standing outside wearing a Hello Kitty headband, handing out leaflets. It is a novelty place to visit, if you like Hello Kitty and you love pink then it is worth visiting for photos and a drink.
Baskin
Robbins use to be a really popular ice-cream
joint so I was expecting to see them everywhere, however later I learned that a
lot of them have either closed down or merged with ‘Dunkin’ Donuts’ but I did
see one branch just outside of COEX Mall. If you are
getting the 'bingsu' or shaved ice, the portions are massive so you will need to
share. I was actually quite disappointed with the matcha ice-cream, it tasted
of that fake perfume matcha but take the scoop away and the shaved ice
underneath with the matcha sauce drizzled over it, was good. Also their
ice-cream cakes look so cute! I vow to try one next time, celebration or not.
That is all from my visits to Seoul! (。・ω・。)ノ♡
0 comments