Its Saturday! Wowie plans have certainly changed a few dozen times!
Finally, we were able to lock in some plans. Mr. B’s friend was in Korea for work a short time too! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take him around. Off to Seoul we go.
First, we went to Namdaumun market. We walked around and let Bog experience some of the korean marketplace craziness. You know..yelling, getting body checked by teeny tiny ajumas, trying the kings beard candy, eat hoddeok, and check out the tourist goodies.
After walking around a bit we hailed a cab and told the cab driver to take us to Dongdaemun. Once inside he basically laughed and said that we needed to walk because it was only a few blocks away. So we got back out and walked a few blocks down and arrived. More shops and sights to see…and crowds to fight!
By now it was time for dinner. Again, hailed a cab. This time successful! Headed to the Maple Tree House (Danpungnamujip) located right behind the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.
This was the first time we ate at the Maple Tree House. However, this was not the first time we Bees tried to find this restaurant. Ha Ha! Longgggg story.
After a nice dinner we walked back around the Hamilton Hotel in search of some dessert. We all agreed Paris Baguette. Ahhh!! In other words…heaven! Mr. B’s friend treated us to scrumptious Vanilla lattes and cookie cream puffs.
What a perfect way to end our Saturday night! We eagerly look forward to Mr. B’s visit again to Korea sometime soon!!
There are a few holidays and days to observe in the month of February…
There is Valentine’s Day, where we celebrates love, romance and your significant other. AWE! Yes, how cute! However, not the day we are referring to.
Then there is President Day. No, we are not talking killer sales ladies. Presidents’ Day is intended to honor all the American presidents, but most significantly George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. No, no, no..we are not talking about Presidents Day either.
That’s right folks, we are talking about February 18th. February 18th is National drink wine day. Yes, you read that correctly. This day marks the celebration of a beverage we have been enjoying for thousands of years!
Whether you prefer the red, white, dry or the sparkling variety, today is dedicated to all things, everything wine. It’s National Drink Wine Day! Hooray!
We Bees celebrated with a cheap bottle of sweet red wine from the Barefoot label and stir fry. Yum-o!!!
This weekend we were invited to grab a bite to eat in New City with some of our friends.
Of course we forgot the camera….sorry! However we were able to snap a few pictures with the good ole iPhone.
Our friends took us to a restaurant we haven’t tried out yet. We were pretty excited!
Sorry we also do not know the proper name for the restaurant…maybe some help from our Korean friends? 😉 the location is in very close proximity to the jihaeng station in new city. Look for the 7 gram coffee shop and directly across from it you will see the place.
(Inside. Floor and table dining available).
(oops…forgot to get a shot of the start to the meal. We will leave you with the dinner aftermath).
The night was still young, we went for drinks. Especially when our friends found out that we still haven’t tried Soju. Yes! You read that correctly!
Where does one go for some drinks? Miller Time, of course! Haha! Also a first for the Bees!
The bar was actually alot of fun! Great atmosphere. We REALLY enjoyed the cherry Soju. Lordy, that drink is seriously dangerous! You’ve got to try it out!
The bar features a nice selection of your typical bar foods.
Bonus….Engrish spotted!
You know Mr. B had a fint or two… 😉
The bar keeps you munching on popcorn as you order drinks. They even brought out a free plate of tasty French fries. Score!
So now I’m sure you are intrigued by the fortunes, right? Well, the bar serves you fortune cookies with your first round of drinks. You match the pictures on the back of your fortune with the ones they have posted on the board. Free drink!!
Well, our group didn’t have a match.
But…
We did get to watch a group of Korean girls get completely annihilated celebrating a birthday. Fun times!! No, really! It was comical!!
To Songtan that is. We left Friday night after work, loaded up the car, and headed south for the weekend.
One of Mr.B’s scuba friends had a birthday dinner planned. We couldn’t imagine not going as some of these people have become like extended family.
We arrived just in time for dinner. We headed directly to the restaurant called Churrascaria Rio Grill. This place was a Brazil steakhouse and we were eager to try it out as we didn’t have the best experiences with a Dongducheon Brazil Steakhouse.
What a treat! This place we actually pretty good! The meat was great, service great, and dessert….mmm…Perfecto!
We had all sorts of meats. We learned that Churrasco is a style of grilling meat over a fire pit, that originated in southern Brazil. At Rio Grill, various cuts of meat are put on a skewer and slow roasted over hot coals to mouth watering perfection. Tonight we had choices of, picanha steak, alcatra steak, frango chicken leg, linguica sausage, baby beef, and custelao rib.
We were so busy engorged in our food that we completely forgot to snap any good food or restaurant pictures to share. Yes, folks it was that good! Well…I did manage to pry my fork from my fingers and mouth while switching for my spoon to eat dessert and snapped a quick pic with the iPhone.
Amazing, right?!
It was vanilla ice-cream with like a bananas foster sauce. Trust me, order it!
After dinner we were getting ready to go check into our hotel when I decided I really needed to bite the bullet and purchase my very first pair of long underwear. Yes, you read That statement right. Korea’s winter is no joking matter. The temperature plunges well into the 20’s and the wind just whips against your body. So yes, it was a total necessity to survive this winter without turning into frosty the snowwoman.
With my newly purchased knickers in hand, we went to the hotel and checked in. It was around 11pm and after the drive we decided to relax.
The next morning we woke up, grabbed breakfast, headed out and about to do some errands. We had fun walking to the Ville area where all the shops are located.
Nothing real eventful to report. We ate lunch for the first time at Blue Opera. Overall, a pretty neat atmosphere inside the restaurant. The tables are cozy, all seated with small love seats. The lunch menu was pretty westernized with a nice selection of teas and adult beverages. Food consisted of soups, salads, pastas, rice, etc. the cherry tea caught my eye so of course I had to order a cup.
Hmm… It tasted like they put a few sugar packets into the maraschino cherry juice jar and served it piping hot. it was awesome, at first. Then after commenting how I’ve never met my match where I’ve ate or drank something that I considered to sweet. Well, I spoke much to soon. This drink made me eat my words. I ended up with a slight stomachache because I drank half of the drink and it was just too sweet. Guess I now know the feeling that normal people have towards my candy corn and super sugary icing.
Cherry Tea
After lunch on the way back we froze out little butts off because the wind was no long at our backs. Brrrrr! Korea you are so cold!
We got back to the hotel, warmed up, and suddenly there was a wrapped gift sitting on the bed. Mr. B told me to open it. He laughed and said quickly it was the book I had been searching for over the past few weeks. I of course did not believe him because we just came from the bookstore together where they did not have my book. What a sneak! Also I have to point out that Mr. B didn’t keep his word. We agreed no gifts because we were going to the Philippines for Christmas and we had agreed that was our gift to each other. Some days I just have no idea how I got so blessed to be married to this sweet man. I love him to the moon and back, even if he is a little sneak ;).
Mr.B was tired and wanted to take a quick nap. I had big plans to finish my book and play with my new gift. We got our act together in time for our next dinner meet up, 6 PM. Mexican at La Casa Del Mexicano! Woot-Woot! We headed back to the Mexican restaurant we snapped pictures of a few weeks ago when we last visited Songtan.
I changed my order up from the last we had been here and was daring enough to order fajitas diablo. A tad bit spicy, guess the two little peppers pictured beside the dish should have been a good indicator. I still loved it! Mr. B ordered the something he had last time. No cilantro for this man. We all had birthday celebration drinks consisting of beers, frozen mango margaritas, and regular margaritas. We topped everything off with a delicious light Korean cake from Paris Baguette. What a fantastically fun dinner. The birthday boys wife gave everyone potted plants with a beautiful hand panted flower (she painted) on the pot. How amazingly sweet are these people?
After dinner was over we grabbed drinks with some new friends at a little Irish Pub called Muddy Murphy’s. This place is small but boast with plenty of comfy character. We enjoyed getting some drinks, laughing, and chatting. Eventually our new friends had to get back on the road and get home. We parted ways but decided we have to meet up again very soon after the holiday madness settled down.
How was your weekend? Anything eventful to recap that makes you smile when reminiscing?
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism”. Erma Bombeck
We are truly thankful that we are free to enjoy family and close friends picnics, watch our children do flips in the pool, take time to spend a day at the park and conclude the day of festivity by watching the dark night sky light up with a beautiful display of fireworks. This is all because of brave men and women who believe in in and love America so much that they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our individual FREEDOM. While we are enjoying our freedom these individuals are protecting us all in the name of FREEDOM. We hope you take a few moments to reflect on the meaning of the 4th of July and what it means to you…
With that being said, we hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend this 4th of July. We sure did! We ended up heading down to Songtan where the Air-force base located. Mr. B had his mind made up that he wanted to purchase a custom tailored sport coat from a place called V.I.P Tailor that we had heard and seen amazing suits from.
Mr. B ended up picking out a beige linen material that looked really sharp! The quality was really impressive! HA-HA! I even ended up breaking out of my non-spending money shell and got measured for a suit jacket with matching skirt and pants.
We highly recommend the V.I.P Tailor to anyone looking for a suit or business attire. Due to the weather our photos and video are a bit grainy because we decided to only carry our iPhones. We did capture a short video of the owner Song Ji Yun showing customers the difference in spotting quality hand stitched and pressed clothing from that of bad quality and glued and pressed ones (will post and share later). Once we learned we were pretty impressed and now are always looking to see what the tailors are selling.
Now we must tell you that Miss Yuns personality is a bit much at times but she does know her stuff and her customers are always repeating and referring others.
After we accomplished ordering the suit, we had the entire weekend to do whatever without a set schedule or plan and that really felt nice!
As we said the weather wasn’t the most ideal but we made the most of it. The rain showers went and came all weekend so at times we didn’t need to carry around an umbrella and we did get lucky enough to go check out Asan Bay. The bay is located about 20 minutes away and has a nice little boardwalk that runs parallel with the water. When we say boardwalk we don’t mean the boardwalk like at the beach loaded with all sorts of vendors and eateries. There are some vendors and there are plenty of seafood eateries to pick from but it’s on a much sporadic level. We decided after snapping some pictures and walking around that we would like to come back and eat at the one restaurant.
So next we have to tell you about our Dr. Fish experience! We have reviewed a few blogs that suggested restaurants and things to see and do while in Songtan and a few talked about Dr. Fish. Dr. Fish is the
Garra Rufa fish. The fish is a small species of freshwater fish that was originally found in the North and Central Middle East (we were told most commonly, Turkey).
Dr. Fish is commonly used for treatment of skin patients with problems such as psoriasis and eczema. What the Doctor Fish does is gentle nibbles and sucks on dead skin leaving soft skin underneath (these fish only nibble on the dead skin). As the fish nibble away at your dead skin it releases an enzyme secretion and Dithranol which helps skin regenerate faster. So basically it’s like a natural exfoliate.
Once we found the place and got there we all had thoughts of, “What do you mean the fish eat your skin? Are you serious? Does it hurt?!” soon enough our questions would all be answered.
First you scrub and rinse your little toesies off, roll up your pant legs and find a spot to sit around a hot tub shaped soaking pool (that is filled with cool water and the little fishies)…That’s it!!!
Next put your feet in the water and relax…You might giggle, scream, tense up, it all depends on how you react.
Mr. B laughed at first and said it felt like teeny bubbles, I thought it was a little weird for the first minute and sort of didn’t know what to think, but then it was quite relaxing (after getting past the fish sucking fast to my feet). Doris didn’t like the fish on the bottom of her feet and would say “get out of there!” and move her feet slightly. Hector was the same as me and didn’t quite know how to react.
We took some video with pictures to share our crazy experience. Again, we apologize for the quality.
The Nail Shop is called Escape Spa; the phone number is 031 – 665 – 9751. The staff members speak excellent English and are extremely helpful and professional. We only paid 6,000 Won per person for the Dr. Fish treatment (typically lasting 10-15 minutes) however our toesies were in the tub for a good half hour.
We ended up trying out the Meat House restaurant. Another suggested restaurant on numerous bloggers places to try. We all really enjoyed it! Priced at 12,000 won per person, all you could grill and eat meat, Korean foods, and choices of beer, wine, cider, and soda. What wasn’t to like?! We all agreed we would go back. However next time we found an authentic German restaurant that we will give a shot.
We want to end this blog post on a sweeter note. We found a quaint coffee cafe located in the tucked away streets of the Ville area in Songtan. The cafe is called From in. The space boast a rugged and cool feel with unfinished cement floors, walls, and celling.
The menu is hung high on a chalk-board with tons of drink choices that could appeal to anyone stopping in. Plus From in features delectable mini dessert pies, mini cheesecakes, and tiramisu.
Seating is a hodgepodge of cute wooden and wicker tables and chairs with pillows for extra comfort. When we were there for the first time at night the sliding glass doors were propped open to let in the cooled summer night air. The music that filled the air was a perfect fit with cafe mixed songs like unchained melody, fly me to the moon, and Ricky don’t lose that number.
Mr. B the coffee aficionado ordered a shot of espresso, and a caramel macchiato. He said that they were done perfectly and would go back. Of course we did end up going back the very next day. We much rather would give business to this little mom and pop shop than Starbucks any day. I ordered a hot vanilla Chai tea and I’d rank it the best one I have ever had.
We got to know the owners daughter after chatting with her a bit. She spoke fluent English and Korean. She told us that she is an American citizen but was only born there and lived there until the age of two. Her father is American and her mother is Korean.
She was so accommodating! She even told us how she made the Chai taste so good! We got a card and told her we wanted to give her a shout out on our blog. Please see below. (We will have to snap better pictures next time because the ones we have on our phones doesn’t give it justice)
That is exactly what we did tonight. If you are familiar with our past blog posts you know that we really enjoyed the food and experience at the Dino Meat Restaurant the last time we went. The past two weeks have been a bit of a blur with travel, trips, anniversaries, birthdays, and new ventures to come. To officially kick of the weekend we dined at Dino Meats with some great friends!
We were sat towards the back of the restaurant due to it being a busy Friday night. We ended up in a section that had tables reserved for a large party. We basically had the entire back part of the restaurant to ourselves until the large party came towards the end of our meal. We loved it! We had plenty of room to stretch out and just enjoy ourselves.
The large party consisted of various aged Korean’s celebrating with a lot of grilled meat and a lot of soju. We loved to watch the ladies as they all started with their hair down but as they continued to drink the soju they would pull it back into a ponytail. Each time they would take a shot of the soju their cheeks and faces would take on a rosier shade. It was incredible to watch how they effortlessly shoved the different types of meats wrapped in lettuce and other sides into their mouths. We all got a kick out of it because no matter how hard we would tried to shovel leaves into our mouths the same way it never quite worked out. Although this time I was prepared with a tide-stick just in case.
We ended up selecting some new types of meat this time. Doris and I were on a search mission for meat that we had loved the last time we were here. It was thinly sliced meat that reminded us of a cheese-steak minus the cheese from the states. There was much debate around who thought what meat it was. In the end everything was amazing and we left with our bellies very full.
After dinner everyone came back to our place to enjoy some coffee and strawberry shortcake. We ended up calling it a night before eleven because we knew we had to get up bright and early the next morning for the DMZ Tour.
We have to tell you about our dinner at Wawoori located in the New City area, Dongducheon, jihaengdong 684-4, South Korea. This place was DELISH!
We were told a good rule of thumb to follow here in Korea is if we are unsure of how the food is at a Korean restaurant look to see how busy they are around dinner time. It was almost 20:00 and this place is packed.
As soon as we hit the door to the restaurant we could smell all the good things we were about to order up. We were quickly greeted and invited into the restaurant and led to our seats by our waitress. We took notice that the restaurant featured traditional Korean style dining on the floor off to the right through an archway, as well as a section with large tables and chairs directly when you enter the restaurant.
The menu was easy to navigate because it features both pictures of the dish as well as the Korean and English version of what it is. Our waitress was so sweet! She spoke broken English but was so helpful and kept checking to see how we were doing with our grill and drinks and food.
Larry and I came for the duck and that is what we decided to order. We chose a platter that cost about $35,000w but really could have fed four people. The platter consisted of duck, pork belly (reminded me of juicy thick bacon), ribs, and some very good sausage, and a delicious sweet potato. The platter also comes with sides of kimchi, Jalapeños, onions, a Korean version of potatoes/pasta salad, and another side that we were not completely sure of.
Larry and I were both so glad that we walked to the restaurant because we ate so much food! Although, Mmmm… now just thinking about how amazingly juicy and tender everything was at this very second makes my mouth water! We will definitely be making a few trips back to get our duck-fix.
Please feel free to check out our pictures and comment. The restaurant is a chain and has a website however, it is in Korean www.wawoori.com.
On our walk back home we stopped by 7gram a coffee shop. Larry ordered his usual and I tried out a sweet potato pumpkin latte. My latte was actually very good! I think this might become my regular drink of choice at 7gram.
Of course we had to check out Itaewon while we were spending our weekend in Seoul. Yes, yes, we know that Itaewon is a major tourist section of the city catering directly to foreigners. We do respect this section of the city for that purpose and know that it is not a true representation of Korea. However it was close to our hotel and we wanted to go see what it was really all about.
Itaewon’s shopping area is 1.4 km in length, it stretches from the U.S. 8th Army Base eastwards towards Hannam-dong and has over 1,000 different little stores. The area is known for its night life scene with many bars and nightclubs to choose from. We noticed there are many street vendors selling shirts, jackets, and caps, scarfs, food, etc. trying to capture the late night buyer’s fancy.
While in Itaewon we checked out a few Irish pubs, grabbed a bite to eat, and strolled along the main street as well as some tucked away alleys, checked out various street vendors and little shops. We snapped a few pictures of the places that we were near or checked out and though we would share with all of you.
First stop Buddha’s Belly for dinner. It was Friday night and we were starving! We started out trying to find a restaurant called the Maple Leaf restaurant that was said to serve traditional Korean food (we are sure more Americanized) but after walking around and around for 20 minutes we figured it must have went out of business. Our bellies finally did the talking and screamed feed me when we were standing out in front of a place called Buddha’s Belly. Buddha’s Belly is located just above Ushmania restaurant (2nd floor) 673 Itaewon 2 Dong, Seoul, Korea; it’s located in the Hamilton Hotel Alley. In this area you can also find Indian, Italian, Korean, American, French, Greek and other nice ethnic foods.
The menu is Thai and the chef is actually from Thailand. We still noted a bit of Korean flair in the dishes we ordered but were really impressed with the overall meal.
We didn’t capture any pictures to share as the atmosphere consists of a smaller private sized dimly lit room. The décor had a sexy-sleek appeal to it. The entrees are rather reasonably priced and cost on average 12,000-18,000 won. The service was really speedy and we enjoyed that because we were both starving!
We started off with some chicken skewers that had a peanut dipping sauce. We both ordered dishes of Pad-See-Ew and a glass of wine. Each dish at Buddha’s Belly Thai restaurant is accompanied by pots of wet and dry hot chilies and Thai fish sauce so you can season your food to taste.
Overall we both agreed that we would go back to this place if we had to.
After dinner we went grabbed a coffee at Paris Baguette (The Korean comparison to Starbucks – well if Starbucks served up tons of delicious baked goods) due to the fact that Buddha’s Belly doesn’t serve coffee on the menu. We then continued to Stoll the alley’s and found ourselves in front of the Wolfhound Irish Pub.
The Wolfhound Irish Pub is located in another small alley down from the Gecko’s Terrace. Sorry bloggers we don’t have the address to provide on this one. We will continue to research for a more direct location. We were able to capture a few pictures of the place for others reference.
We enjoyed the Irish Pub atmosphere. It didn’t feel like we were still in South Korea while inside. The crowd consisted of military, teachers, and tourist in the area. The bar has two levels and features a selection of draft beer as well as mixed drinks and foods.
We enjoyed ourselves, had some drinks and decided to continue checking out what else Itaewon had to offer.
We found ourselves at Baby Guinness and Sam Ryan’s Sports Bar and a hot dog vendor (mmmmm…that tasted more like Kielbasa) before we decided to call it a night.
The next day we headed to Gyeongbok Palace. The palace was one of the first places that Larry got to check out when he first moved to Korea. He was really eager to share the experience with me so we thought with the beautiful weather this weekend we should take a tour and snap some pictures along the way. The address to go see the Palace for yourself is Seoul-si Jongno-gu Sejong-ro 1-1.
The term “Gyeongbokgung” means palace greatly blessed by Heaven. We took an English speaking tour lead by a Korean college student. We captured the beginning intro of the tour for you to try to hear some of the facts she provided us with.
The palace was actually constructed in 1395, but was destroyed in the 1500’s during the Japanese invasion. However in the late 1800’s into the 1900’s the palace was completely restored. We couldn’t even imagine living here as a King and Queen the grounds are absolutely massive! Consisting of more than 300 buildings, 6000 rooms, and more than 4 million square feet and sits in one of the busiest sections of Seoul.
When we arrived to Gyeongbok Palace we entered in the gate (Kwangha-mun) protecting the palace from Seoul. We were able to get a picture with the guards that stand there.
Another interesting fact that we learned was that Sejong the Great was the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, and ruled from 1418 – 1450 during this time he created the 28 letter system of the Korean Hangul alphabet. Today however the Korean alphabet consists of 24 letters.
Overall we had an amazing time with a very good tour of the palace.
After walking the palace we decided to needed to hail a cab and head to N Seoul Tower. N Seoul Tower is also known as Namsan Tower because it’s located on Namsan Mountain at Seoul-si Yongsan-gu Yongsandong 2-ga San 1-3. Private automobiles have been stopped from entering the mountain since the year 2005 so that they could more easily preserve the area. You really have three ways to get up to the tower and each does involve some form of walking. One, take a cab or bus but note that you can only go up so far with the cab or bus and then you will get dropped off and have to walk up a pretty steep paved road. Two, take the cable car up from the bottom of the mountain. Please note you will have to climb steps up from the cable car drop off point to get to the tower. Whatever you decide we think it’s worth it while you are visiting or living in Seoul.
N Seoul Tower stands 237 meters high, standing atop 243-meter Mt Namsan. It was remodeled in 2005, and has a rotating Western-style restaurant on top that we plan to possibly check out at night next time we visit.
Below is what each floor consists of:
1st Floor
– Olive Young (supermarket / convenience store)
– Coffee Shop
– Eatery with indoor and outdoor seating
– Food Court
– Gift Shop
– Ticket Counter
2nd Floor
– Viewing Platform
– Restaurant (relatively inexpensive with great view)
Basement
– Elevator Entrance
– Tous Les Jour (bakery)
– Ticket Counter
– Exhibition Area
Observatory Gallery
(360m altitude, reached by express elevator)
1/F : Hancook Restaurant
2/F : Sky Cafe
3/F : Observatory platform
4/F : Observatory platform
5/F : N Grill by Vips (revolving restaurant)
Tickets to get inside of Seoul tower observatory for two adults cost us 14,000 won.
We snapped pictures of the locks and tiles at N Seoul Tower. The locks are “Locks of love” and can be found on the fence outside of the tower. They symbolize lovers’ promise that they will never separate. The message tiles of love inside are something you could purchase to write a little love note on and then it is displayed on a wall within the tower.
The last day we were there we checked out Myeongdong still located within seoul for some shopping.
Myungdong is a selection of shops, like Zara, UniQlo, Forever21, ABC Mart but also features all sorts of street vendors selling shoes, scarfs, jewelry, food, etc.
We enjoyed some green tea ice cream and found a vendor who sells King’s Beard Candy. We were able to quick capture the vendor making the candy and bought some to try after we had heard great things about it. Final consensus….we LOVED it!
We can only describe King’s beard candy as a small fuzzy white sweet treat with a chewy inside and a crispy outer layer that just melts in your mouth. It’s so fun to watch the vendor create 16.000 honey strings in two minutes! They act as they are doing it too counting in English as well as Korean. Next time we see this vendor we will try to capture better video because it is really entertaining!
The last night we were there we decided to go back to Itaewon and check out Zelen’s for dinner.Zelen’s is a Bulgarian restaurant owned and operated by Bulgarians. The location yet another strange place – the same alley we were in when at Buddha’s Belly. It’s the alley right behind the Hamilton Hotel. The address is the second floor, 116-14 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan District.
Talk about amazing food! We had no idea this place was going to be this fantastic! Get ready…you know we are going to rave about it in our blog now. In the land of red pepper paste and kimchi it’s nice to experience something different once and awhile.
Once you take the steps up to Zelen’s from the alley you open the door into the second floor restaurant where you quickly see a garden-esque room that is candlelit and features an open kitchen where you can see the chefs preparing the delish dishes.
The menu is quite extensive and it’s great because the meals are detailed and named in both English and Korean. We had a chance to grab the owner Mikhal Ashminov and ask him what he recommended. We were so pleased that we had done so because he turned our decisions to the stuffed peppers that were amazing.
We ordered stuffed mushrooms and the stuffed peppers for appetizers to our meals. (You can view all of our meal and pictures of the restaurant within this blog)
Larry’s main course was pork tenderloin stuffed with smoked Gouda, green onions, bacon and tangy pickles. The dish was plenty big and we think next time we will order this dish and another and split it up to try something new.
Sarah’s main course was the vegetarian moussaka. The dish was oven-baked layers of vegetables and cheese topped with homemade yogurt. The dish really reminded us of almost a shepherd’s pie but meatless. The dish was served alongside a small rustic salad, for 14,000 won.
We were so pleased with both of our dishes that we both agreed that we will be taking friends back there for dinner.
After we ate dinner at Zelen’s we headed to the Cheonggyecheon River Walk . We learned that this river walk is fairly new to the city. It was constructed in 2005 where previously it was just concrete roadways running through the center of Seoul. The address for the river walk is, 31, Taepyeongno 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
One word for this place…calming! Once you are on the river walk path you slowly forget that you are located in the center of a huge bustling city. The walk features small waterfalls, various colors of lighting, stepping stones to cross from one side of the walk to the other, and amply amounts of greenery. We loved that we got to check this place out at night because the last time Larry visited he said it was during the day and people were everywhere!
We met three young Korean adults that were trying to snap a picture together but were not achieving the shot they wanted. We took notice of this and asked if they wanted us to get a shot of them so that they could all be in the picture together. They graciously accepted and kept thanking us! We asked if they would mind returning the favor so that we could also have a shot of the two of us. Of course they replied they were glad to do so. (Feel free to check out our various pictures of experiencing the Cheonggyecheon River Walk).
Once we got back home we looked through all the pictures we snapped and kept talking about how much fun we had on our weekend adventures.
If anyone else has suggestions on places to see or eat at please feel free to share with us!
We have had many request from Mrs. Sylar’s class and friends to show them pictures of various things such as, what local schools look like, Korean houses/ apartment buildings, the local markets on a busy day, Miss Bean, what the area looks like, etc. Enjoy the various snapshots and feel free to request somethings that you might like us to capture.
Ohhhhh and I almost forgot – We found a pretty neat little coffee and tea spot in downtown Dongducheon too! At first I am thinking hmmm coffee and hotdogs(look at the sign)?? However, Koreans really love their hotdogs and we thought we would just try the place out.
Check out the Cafe. at pictures located in the 04-05-2011 “Walk through Market and Dongducheon”. They have a really nice coffee bean roaster located in the front window of the cafe, seating inside and out, and just a really neat and inviting atmosphere! Everything offered on the little menu above the cash register was really reasonably priced. What’s the verdict on the place and most importantly how’s the coffee? Mr. B really liked his coffee and I enjoyed a green tea latte. We Bee’s will be definitely making this one of our regular stops on our walks.
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