Our breakfast hunt the next day brought us to Kalguksu Noodles & Dumplings Shop. Their menu was limited to four specialties: Kalguksu (knife noodle soup), Bibimguksu (spicy noodles), Mandu (Korean dumplings), and Kongguksu (cold soybean soup). Each noodle bowl was hugeeee, and we love how silky the knife noodles are. The bibimguksu, on the other hand, really lived up to the name. It was cold, and perhaps the spiciest dish we had in Korea. We could polish off the kimchi at every meal, but try as we might, the four of us couldn't tackle this one bowl of spicy noodles.
Main: 29 Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul (Myeong-dong 2-ga)
Branch: 33-4 2-ga, Myeong-dong Jung-gu, Seoul
Bib Gourmand, 2018
The upside of traveling to Seoul in October is the season: autumn is chilly enough to make walking around - no matter the distance - a comfortable journey, and the warm autumn colors are gorgeous in Seoul.
Myeongdong's Cathedral is the first parish church in Korea, and a designated historic site..It's also one of the first churches built in the Gothic style in Korea. Photogenically perched atop a hill, even the overcast sky couldn't dull the warm hues of shrubbery colours.
Tucked at the bottom of the cathedral is the exceptional Coffee Libre, which serves coffee as good as any I've had in Melbourne. Squared away within the cathedral itself, it's a small cozy joint with a quiet relaxing atmosphere. We watched the model-esque baristas pulled three perfect cups of lattes. After one taste, we couldn't resist buying a bag of their roasted beans.
Coffee Libre
Just a few train stops away from Coffee Libre is Ewha Womans University, the largest female-only institution in the world, and one of the most prestigious university in Korea. Cherry blossoms bloom in spring; and, in autumn, the canopy turns into warm shades of yellow and orange. Students and tourists alike mill around in the setting sun (a day is so short in October!), and watching the sunset over the steps of the university was a sight to see.
An ecosystem of clothing stores and cafes lines the streets surrounding the university. Hidden in an alcove is Greek Day, selling Greek yogurt drizzled with honey and topped with granola and fruits. Despite how hidden the store was, they enjoy a steady stream of locals hopping in and out of the store. You know it's a local favourite when the store assistants can't speak English, and we had to point and grunt to get what we wanted.
Isaac toast is also just around a street corner. It's white bread liberally spread with butter, then pan-fried to a crisp and smeared with generous amounts of sauces and meat. We split one. It's nice in small quantities, but the thought of eating one by myself makes me a little queasy.
Because everyone could use more fried chicken in their lives, we wrapped up our purchases at Ewha and hunted down BHC Fried Chicken... which finally turned out to be located just a short walk down from O'sulloc Tea House in Myeongdong. There's a few fried chicken chains side-by-side, but BHC enjoys the longest queue in the area. We liked it so much, we went twice. Their soy chicken and sprinkle chicken is delicious, and the best part of the meal is the low low price of beer. A tower of 2.7L beer goes only for 18000 won!
It's too early to turn in for the night, and we headed for Lotte Mart after. It's the regional hyper-mart, and well-stocked with what appears to be the entire spectrum of Korean snacks. Night-time shopping fills me with an inexplicable joy, and coming to Lotte Mart is no different. Coming here at 10pm, we met fellow like-minded people (turns out that there were a ton of us!), all out in the wee-hours to do some shopping. Lotte Mart is a lot like Costco, where everything is sold in jumbo-sizes. Before coming here, we sampled snacks from 7-11 and other stores, because who wants to end up with a bunch of duds? Most of the Korean snacks mentioned online do have some sort of an acquired taste, and can be a bit of a hit-and-miss. One thing which we loved was the Korean grapes; the skin can be bitter, but the flesh was sweet as candy. We couldn't resist buying an entire crate's worth.
Korea's efforts at cutting down plastic consumption is remarkable - instead of plastic bags, everybody heads over to the packing area, where they pack their stuff up in empty boxes empty cartons and packing material to organise their purchases. It's an elegant method of reducing both paper and plastic use.
Lotte Mart
Station: Seoul Station Exit 1 (Seoul Subway Line 1, 4)
By the time we left Lotte Mart, the trains had stopped running and we had to leg it to Numdaemun Market, boxes and all. It actually isn't a night market, unlike what this website is claiming (sad face). It's a regular market with regular opening hours, and most of the stores had closed by the time we reached. The trip wasn't entirely a waste of time, as we chanced upon Won Children's Wear, a building complex specialising in children's clothing and accessories, similar to Guangzhou's style of shopping. And get this, it's open all night too! We managed to squeeze in another couple of hours' worth of shopping before calling it quits (those heavy boxes were starting to get to us...), and walked back to the hotel.
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Hongdae is an area known for shopping as well as its flourishing arts scene, a reputation cemented by Hongdik University's renowned arts programmes. Se7en's famous Andong Chicken has moved location (to who knows where, the change in location wasn't reflected in their website or on Google), so we went to Yoogane instead. It serves stir-fry meat and vegetables, with gorgeous amounts of melted cheese mixed in. It's an easy concept, and delicious in its simplicity. It's a hearty meal all round, and we enjoyed both their spicy and non-spicy versions.
Dessert was at Tarr Tarr, an established tart cafe. We like the ambiance, it's classy and peaceful (one woman on the adjourning table brought out a book to read!), but despite their picture-perfect presentation, we didn't enjoy the tarts too much. One tart was clearly much fresher than the other, and the stale one was the one we tried first, which kind of killed our enthusiasm for the desserts. Their rigid service wasn't endearing either: we ordered two tarts, so we can only have two forks. Full stop.
We had much more success with Felt Coffee. It's located away from the city bustle in one of the quieter areas of Hongdae. To get here, we had to walk about half an hour to the residential area where all the locals are. The cafe is so minimally decorated, there isn't even a signboard nor a name on the outside. The store front is a pure unadorned white, with unfinished white walls and and polished wooden table tops on the inside. Antique vinyl records and speakers sit between benches, playing soft Korean ballads. Still, the store's coffee prowess is easily seen: the store still enjoys a steady stream of locals popping by for a cuppa at regular intervals even up to closing.
Piggy Bank Stone Grill Korean BBQ was our dinner place of choice - it was too early for dinner, and we too stuffed, but we somehow managed to wolf down several of their meat dishes.
Each table's a little on the small side, but somehow, we managed to juggle our individual rice bowl, bowls of soup and side dishes, the meat cooking on the giant grill and the raw meat on the side. Unlike regular-o Korean BBQ, the BBQ here uses heated stones to cook the meats.
We topped off our sojourn to Hongdae with Injeolmi Ice Cream at Sobok Cafe. Now that is a dessert worth writing about. This ice cream dessert is both picturesque and delicious, even on such a cold night. I was wild for the rice ball flavored ice cream, which was so delightful, we bought extra of those icy, chewy injeolmi dessert balls that go alongside the ice cream.
We tried our darnest to fit more food in one day. We really did! We couldn't pass by the opportunity for Kyochon Fried Chicken, and we simply had to order some. We have heard it told that it was the best fried chicken in Korea, but ... I guess the chef was having an off-day when we went. We definitely preferred BHC more (and truthfully, almost every other Korean fried chicken restaurant in Singapore or Melbourne would beat the chicken we had here hands-down.)
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Migabon 味加本 (미가본) in Myeongdong serves simple bowls of porridge, and perfect for breakfast in the colder seasons. Surprisingly, it's located just above Sinseon Seolnongtang, the oxtail soup place. Whichever time you go, there's invariably a big line stretching from the store entrance. (Well, actually two, one for each restaurant.)
It's hearty and filling, but don't expect the porridge to be spectacular. At $10+ a pop, it isn't particularly cheap breakfast option, but they're certainly generous with the portions and sides.
One thing you don't want to do after a substantial breakfast is clothes fitting, but when putting on loose hanboks, we don't feel at all bad about indulging over the last few days! Gyeongbokgung is toted as the largest and the most spectacular of the five palaces in Korea. If you're wearing a hanbok, (and most people do!), you get free entry into any of the palaces.
There's a few good shots to be taken within the palace grounds, but the inner chambers of the palaces are strictly off-limits, and when compared with the royal structures in other countries, can seem a little more austere. But in autumn, the seasonal colors add warmth to the palace gardens, and the red leaves were particularly entrancing in the backdrop.
Gyeongbokgung 161, Sajik-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
A late Ginseng chicken lunch at the charming Tosokchon Samgyetang (토속촌 삼계탕) brought a little bit of pep back into our steps. Each person gets one whole chicken stewed in ginseng soup, to which you can add more ginseng roots and liquor to booster the flavor. Pull the tender chicken apart to reveal the glutinous rice and dates packed tightly within the chicken.
We had time to spare between our activities, and we headed over to Enter6 Park Avenue for their Marvel Collection Store, which unfortunately had relocated. Pinocchio, the 2014 Korean drama featuring Park Shin Hye, was shot here, but it's not really a tourist attraction, just a regular mall that caters to the locals. Checking out local supermarkets is one of my favourite things to do when traveling overseas, and we did spent a joyful hour at E-Mart going shopping for local products.
Enter6 Park Avenue 241 wangsimni-ro, seongdong-gu seoul
Wangsimni Station
N Seoul is an observatory tower perched in the highlands of Seoul. The actual tower itself was a snooze; the event was billed as a great way to see the nighttime landscape of Seoul, but the interior of the tower was lit up so well from all the stores selling candy or tourist momentos, it's hard to get a good picture of the landscape. It's a 20-minute wait to get to the lift each way, and pretty much a tourist trap.
We enjoyed walking the area around the tower, and the free parts was much more enjoyable than the Tower. We prebooked tickets online to a tune of $6+ per person, whereas buying on the spot is $10. Man, I'll be pissed if I had to spend $10 . Next time I'll rather save the money, and walk around N Seoul Tower instead.
After our unfruitful trip to N Seoul Tower, we went to BHC [HYPERLINK] for a much-needed pick-me-up. We put away a tower of Cass beer and a plate of fried chicken, and honestly, it was the best part of the night.
