Category Archives: Restaurant Reviews

Newly Found

2012_03_04 Grilled Chicken Korean RestaurantMar 3, 2012Photos: 26

Yes! A new restaurant to add to our will go positively go back to list!

We enjoyed dinner with some great friends and their cute little baby boy. Well, he’s not as little any more. We can’t believe how much he’s grown just in the short amount of time we have known them. Children really put life into perspective, don’t they? Yes, a constant reminder just how fast life goes by.

Okay, enough of the mushy stuff. Back to the real focus here! We Bees have walked past this place numerous times on our weekly walks and 7 Gram Cafe drop in. Each time we pass we look in and both say, “We should try this place”. Tonight we did just that!

We totally went into this meal blind. No recommendations, no idea what the menu consisted of. Little did we know we were in for such a treat. This place grills chicken! Yes!!

We asked the waitress what the most popular items were. The three suggestions consisted of the spicy chicken, the bbq chicken, and beef. We opted for the spicy chicken and the beef.

Oh GOODNESS! We cannot express how tasty this chicken was! Like we said… we WILL be going back again very soon! We think next time we will try the BBQ chicken along with the spicy of course. Stay tuned for feedback.

After dinner we went right next door to 7 Gram. Big surprise! ha ha.. No, really, The P’s suggested! We swear!!

We all sipped on drinks chatting. Then…we were introduced to the Humongous honey bread. Folks, this bread just melts in your mouth. Talk about dangerous! It was truly a wonderful way to end the meal. THANKS MR. P! Our bellies thank you, but our waistline hates you!

So, how brave are you when it comes to trying a new place out? Would you have went in and braved it? Or, are you more of a wait and see what everyone else has to say type?

Well, whatever the case, we hope you enjoyed dinner!

Until next time….

Grab the map coordinates here.

Seoul-Some Saturday!

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.

2012_02_25 Bog Visit KoreaFeb 25, 2012Photos: 21

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!!

Presidents Day Weekend

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!!

THANKS GUYS!! Until next time 🙂 🙂

Okonomiyaki

I know we have said this before…but in all seriousness… We THINK we have found our favorite place to grab a bite to eat near the Osan Airbase.

Yes, we buzzed south again for the extended weekend so Mr. B could get in more scuba training.

Here are some of our drool worthy pictures from dinner on Sunday night.

The restaurant is called Okonomiyaki. Curious, we googled to see what the word Okonomiyaki stood for. Good old Wikipedia states, “Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き o-konomi-yaki?) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki meaning “grilled” or “cooked” (cf. yakitori and yakisoba.” (who say’s Wikipidia isn’t a viable source? LOL!)

2012_01_15 OkonomiyaJan 15, 2012Photos: 28

Hope you all have a wonderful day off! Happy Birthday, Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!

Cluck-Cluck We Spotted the Chicken Rotisserie Truck!

Just another reason we love Korea…

We have rotisserie chicken trucks on the side of the street!

We love passing this truck on our many night walks after work. We often said in the past we were going to stop and pick one up but always forgot or just ate dinner and were way to full to think about food at that point.

However, tonight we did it! Yes! We bought a chicken from the rotisserie truck!

We have to tell you the smell the chicken puts out is just torturously amazingggg and it’s only 7000 won for the whole chicken! They stuff them with a bit of Korean rice and garlic. Plus for free he throws in a nice little pack of water kimchi too.

So, now you are most likely asking yourself, what did we bees make with our chicken?…glad you asked! Actually keeping up with our healthy meal choices we opted for…

Chicken, neutari mushrooms (느타리버섯) and Wild Rice Soup!

Here’s the recipe we modified and threw together tonight.

1 tbsp butter
1 small onion
1 tbsp flour
8 cups (64 oz) fat free low sodium chicken broth
1 cups water
2 large korean chopped carrots (you can use any carrot)
3 garlic cloves
2 celery stalks
1 small cooked chicken
1 4.5 box of Long Grain & Wild Rice mix
1/2 cup Korean white rice
4 oz. neutari mushrooms sliced (you can use shiitake or button mushrooms)
salt and fresh pepper
**(optional) 2 tbsp light sour cream

First, Melt the butter in a large stock pot on medium heat, throw in the onions, sauté until soft but not browned. Next add in the flour and sauté about a minute.

Pour in the chicken broth and water. Throw in the carrots, garlic, celery, and cooked chicken. Cover stock pot and let simmer about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, add in the box of wild rice mix along with it’s seasoning and white rice too. Throw in your mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste and continue to let simmer on low, covered another 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

** Optional: add in sour cream and more water if too thick, add to taste salt and pepper and serve!

(Remember the long soup sits with rice it will thicken up)

Hope you enjoy as much as we did tonight 🙂 If you are in Korea, get adventurous and try it out! We know you are going to love it!

You Know What They Say…

2011_12_10 Afternoon Kintex Expo and 2nd Work Party Korea House, SeoulDec 10, 2011Photos: 83

We Bee’s woke up and had plans to go to the Korea International Exhibition Center, also known as the KINTEX Convention Center, to check out our friends Scuba Diving booth along with some others at the 9th Annual Gyeonggi Tourism Expo. Not quite knowing what to expect from the Expo, we still were excited for a new adventure!

The drive was a little under an hour from our place in Dongducheon. The time really just flew by and the next thing we knew, we were already coming up the Ilsan exit.

Driving into Ilsan we could see this massive building structure. We could make out the letter on the building pretty easily and were fairly positive that this was the place we were looking for. WOW! This place is just ginormous and has a really crazy wave-like shape to it.

The KINTEX Center opened in 2005 and spans 224,795 m. There are five exhibition halls that span 53.975 m. plus just this year they expanded into a second exhibition center that provides the building with 54.508 m of extra exhibition space! The KINTEX website says, “that with the combined exhibition areas of 100,000 m from the first and second Centers, KINTEX is Asia’s 5th largest and world’s 34th largest exhibition and convention center. Go big or go home, huh?

When entered into the building we were still just amazing at the size of the Center. There were tons of booths set up as far as the eye could see. The first booth that we saw was a facial stand. Surrounding booths were make-up, hair, skin care, etc. Pretty cool!

We walked around the expo with Mr. B’s friend and checked out different countries like Egypt, India, Japan, etc. Each booth had something different to offer, whether it was informational or free gifts, all geared towards getting you to go visit and travel their country.

We were handed all sorts of materials. We looked at a bunch of different booths on Scuba diving, drank various teas, mashed soybeans, Facebook LIKED Korea tourism’s site, ate rice cakes, sipped Gyeonggi Rice Makgolli, bought Yakgwa (Korean Fried Honey Cookies), and snapped some fun pictures. We had a blast!

The Center is located at Daehwa-dong Ilsan-seoug, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. For more information on upcoming events at the KINTEX Convention Center visit www.kintex.com, plus there is an English site too!

The fun had to end. We were on a time crunch to get back to our place to get changed and catch the train to Seoul. Tonight was Mrs. B’s second work party just with the ladies that she works directly with. The reservations were at the Korea House for a traditional Korean dinner and show.

Well, we missed the first train by minutes because of a wardrobe malfunction. We caught the second train twenty minutes later and were off. We transferred from line one to line four. We got off at Chungmuro Station Exit 3. The restaurant was incredibly easy to find! As soon as you come up the steps from exit 3 look to your right and you will see a gas station and the Korea House sign right behind it up on a building. Bam! You are there!

We had a wonderful time at the Restaurant with all of the dinner guests. We learned some new Korean foods and how to serve and prepare them as well. We also really enjoyed the show afterwards. The music was beautiful and the cast had incredible singing voices. (We included some photos of the cast in the attached album).

The address for the Korea House is, Seoul-si Jung-gu Pildong 2(i)-ga 80-2. To make reservations or find out more information about the restaurant or shows you can check out the website here.

Korea House Show Guide

Korea House Tickets

After the show we decided to grab some drinks at place nearby in the Myeong-Dong area at Bier Halle. We had so much fun just laughing, drinking, and eating. We thought it was very comical that Mrs. B’s co-workers were using chopsticks to eat nachos. You know what they say… only in Korea! Ha-ha!

It was getting late and we still had to take the train back to Dongducheon. We all left and ventured back home.

What did you do on your Saturday?

Happy December!

2011_12_03 Seoul Trip Christmas Shopping

Ah! We are already well into the first weekend in December. Yikes! That means only 21 days left until Christmas.

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Seoul for Mrs. B’s work Christmas party. We made reservations at a nearby hotel, so that we could take the rest of the day and night to finish up our Christmas gift shopping.

We ate a nice meal with Mrs. B’s co-workers that consisted of a nice dinner buffet spread. We had a fabulous time chatting with everyone and getting to put some faces with the voice that had been on the other end of the line. You must to know that when any sort of party is planned in Korea, karaoke is an absolute must. What a sight to see! Many of Mrs. B’s co-workers had excellent voices! Mr. B hid from the microphone, saying that he had already flexed his pipes and filled his quota already this year.

While we were there a Korean women working the party at the restaurant approached Mrs. B wanting to see the back of her haircut. After chatting for only a brief moment she immediately grabbed her side and kept saying how thin and tall she was. This led right into the question, “how often do you go to the bathroom?”. Baffled we both had to have had this look on our faces, did she really just ask that?? Mrs. B, trying not to laugh and be rude, answered the best way possible, “I think as much as a normal person goes”. Something’s like this experience truly remind us were not in the US anymore…it’s Korea.. there is no personal or private questions here. She continued well into the next 10 minutes with probing questions about eating habits and using the bathroom. Yikes!

After the party we headed to our hotel, checked in, dropped off our overnight bags, caught a cab and started our shopping adventures. The first stop was to the Namdaemun marketplace where Mrs. B’s had visited the weekend prior. Mrs. B was super excited to share the experience again with someone new.

We haggled, shopped and met some very interesting characters, ha ha ha! You have to check out the photos if you haven’t already done so.

After the marketplace we headed off to Hello Kitty to pick up A good friends daughter something little. Mrs. B was in absolute hello kitty heaven!

Walking back to the marketplace we came across a street vendor selling egg bread known as, Gyeran Bbang 계란 빵, that Mrs. B had been looking for. It was soo yummy! With the cooler weather setting in you will find more and more of these warm treats being served up by the street vendors. So how can we describe Gyeran Bbang? Well, it sort of reminds you of french toast but with more egg. There is a slight sweet taste to this street snack but it’s very light. Yey! Another item to cross of her Korea to do list.

We decided to try to hail a cab to head back to the hotel to drop off our bags. We weren’t very successful at first we decided to take a break after being totally passed over by various impatient Koreans. We spotted Holly’s Coffee. The beans were pretty strong, just enough to pep us up and go back outside and give it a go again.

Much better this time. We got a cab! We headed back to the hotel and dropped off the bags. While Mrs. B waited on Mr. B, she played around with her camera and took various shots of the Seoul tower at night. We had a breathtaking view from our hotel of the tower light up.

The Greek souvlaki restaurant, known as Santorini is located in the alley behind Hamilton Hotel. Santorini is just a tiny piece of Greece located in the middle of Seoul. The owner is Greek and offers a traditional Greek menu.

Mr. B ordered the pork souvlaki (YUM!) and Mrs. B ordered the Moussaka. Appetizers cost between 8,000 to 15,000 Won, meat souvlaki dishes cost around 18,000 to 20,000.

Contact: 02-790-3474

Directions: From the Itaewon subway station exit #1, Look for KFC on your right, Make a right, walk uphill and make a left at Bliss. While walking keep looking for Santorini on your left, it’s located on the 2nd floor. It’s very easy to locate!

After dinner we were both pretty beat from the adventurous day. We originally had plans to grab some drinks at the various pubs and eat “the most amazing hot dogs ever”. However, our bodies suggested otherwise.

We walked back to the hotel. Along the way we saw some very interesting advertisements. Yes! Only acceptable in a foreign country, Ha ha! Check out our attached photos to see what we talking about.

We got back to the hotel and had to snap some cheesy Christmas photos in the hotel lobby. You know, just because! Besides, the lobby was decorated so beautifully and we Bee’s decided not to have a tree this year because we were not going be home to actually enjoy and admire it.

Lying in bed we started to talk about the holidays and how different it would be this year because we were both abroad. Mr. B is quite used to being away from family. Mrs. B on the other hand has never had these experiences. With that being said Mrs. B decided that Christmas does not have to mean a trillion lights and over-organized parties, or spending until your wallet cries out (unless, of course, you want to…that’s fine too). No, Christmas and the holidays should be about starting your own sort of traditions, your own ways of celebrating the way you want and that includes with the people you want to celebrate it with. It should be the time of year when you give everyone an extra hug, or tip the waiters more than usual, or spend quality time with your loved ones and close friends during the weekends, just because! Whatever you end up doing during the holiday season, do it with joy in your heart and everyone around you will brighter because they are in the presence of a joyful person.

Happy December everyone!

Don’t Knock It Until You Try It – Sunday

Last night we went to dinner with Mr. B’s Scuba instructor and his wife. We wanted to take them out to eat because we couldn’t say thank you enough for helping to find Mr. B’s scuba-cam. They are such a fun couple! I also have to tell you that they introduced us to a Thai restaurant called Sawatdee. Ooooh man, we may have a new favorite!

Sawatdee is a pretty tiny place, but don’t let the size of the restaurant fool you! This place packs some really large portioned flavorful dishes. We all ended up getting drunken noodles. Mr. B had opted for beef while I opted for tofu. It was outstanding! We really liked that you could adjust the spice factor of your dish when you ordered. If you learn anything about us when it comes to food, it’s that we LOVE spice! We both ordered a level (2) it was perfect-o! So yes, you can say we were in food heaven, I swear this dish was laced with crack because we couldn’t stop eating it. Bonus, we got to wash it all down with a Thai-tea. Of all the times I had eaten Thai food, I never had a Thai-tea. Again, I can’t think of any other word to use but outstanding!

After dinner we were all pretty beat. HA-HA! You know I had a hard day walking around eating and shopping all day. The temperature took a major dip so we were ready to get back to the hotel and get cozy for the night.

Sunday morning came bright and early for Mr. B., 6AM to be exact! What a ~~crazy~~ dedicated man! I however slept until 8AM. I was so happy to see that the sun was out and shining this early.

I got up, went down to the coffee shop in the hotel, grabbed a bowl of special K with berries and a banana and rushed back to our room. I had a date! A Skype date with one of my best friends from childhood. I always look forward to being able to Skype with my family and friends. It really makes me feel that we are only a few states away instead of 6798 or so miles.

(Hope she doesn’t kill me!)

After Skyping I headed back to the Songtan Marketplace area. Brrrr!!! When did South Korea get so cold?! I feel like we went from summer straight into winter! My teeth were a bit chattery! Okay, okay, I may be doing a bit of over-exaggerating… but it was still COLD!

Just looking at this picture makes me feel cold! Brrr!

At this point you should already know that I had totally mapped out where I was going to be grabbing lunch. MmmmHmmmm… Mexican at a restaurant called La Casa Del Mexicano.

Plus I heard it was actually authentic Mexican! WOOT-WOOT! No Korean fusion. Killing time walking around, Mr. B called me and let me know that his testing was over for the day. He asked me if I had grabbed lunch yet. I hadn’t, however Mr. B really is not a fan of Mexican. I have to let it be known that he wanted to join me and was going to actually eat Mexican! This was a monumental moment, of course I snapped some pictures of our lunch as proof. Lets hope that they hold the cilantro in their dishes.

We just love us some good salsa and chips!

Final verdict – We BOTH enjoyed our lunch at La Casa Del Mexicano! Add it to the list of places we would return back to in the area.

After lunch we walked around a bit, stumbled upon a new coffee shop called Camel Expresso. Of course Mr. B couldn’t pass up a nice hot caramel macchiato. I am glad we went in because it gave me an excuse to check the place out. The interior was pretty modern and sleek. The staff was very serious about the product they were selling and offered a nice variety of hot tea and coffee drinks.

BA-HA-HA! Caught an addict in the act

Snapped a menu shot for you, sorry about the post being all iphone picture quality.

We finished the rest of our Sunday purchasing some Christmas toys for a local orphanage in Dongducheon. Eventually we got on the road and headed back home for the upcoming work week.

Snapped a picture of us cheese-doodles on our way home! Mr. B with his driving game face : )

Remember November = Kimchi making month for most Korean families. We were behind this trunk hauling a heaping mound of the record breaking cabbage. Entertainment for at least 5 seconds.

YEY! Almost home again!!

Ugh! I jinks us! We hit the typical traffic in Uijeongbu. Although it wasn’t terrible and we were still getting home close to dinner time. Dinner?! Eeek! We didn’t even stop to think about what to make for dinner.

Dinner…yes, hmmm… What to make? What to eat? Well, we decided that we would get home unpack, visit with Miss Bean cat and walk to the new pizza shop that opened up near our place. Secretly this was an item on my Korean list that I wanted to do while living in Korea. I know what you are thinking! Don’t judge me. Take a look at these pictures below! Who wouldn’t be curious about the Korean take on a pizza. Hey, don’t knock it until you try it!

See the little twisty bread bite crust? It totally fooled us! We thought it was cheese! Wrong, it was filled with sweet potato. Note the yellow specks? Not yellow peppers, it’s corn! Now you know what we mean when we say Korean fusion.

We have to admit, even with the odd choices of toppings, we really liked the pizza and will order there again. We took our pizza to go because the shop is fairly small and only has two tables inside. The atmosphere reminded us of Papa-Johns or something like that located Stateside. They even wrap the pizza package up with red ribbon for easier carryout back to your place, gosh they are ever so thoughtful here. They tape sprinkle Parmesan cheese and a garlic sauce on top of the box. Oh, and it gets better! They serve little containers with sweet pickles! Who knew pickles went with pizza? Whatever, it works and we loved it!

Pictures from inside 59 Pizza located in Dongducheon

Finders Keepers

Sunday happenings.

Yes, I tend to take the steps occasionally even if our place has an elevator…Mr. B thinks I’m an oddball.

I got the chance to meet up with my dear friend Mary. I have to say thank you again to her husband for letting her get out while he stayed with their twins. 🙂 We decided to give a shabu shabu restaurant located in New City a try.

Wow! This place is totally a finders keepers! With the weather getting cooler and cooler this place will be souper!

The restaurant is called Farmrich, Located on the 8th floor, and just a few steps from the Jihang station.

This was my first experience with shabu shabu. Mr. B recommended it because he had ate here when he first arrived in South Korea. Thanks Mr. B!

The dish is a Japanese variant of hot pot. The word translates into “swish swish”. This is the sound of cooking the meat or seafood in the pot. At this restaurant we were provided the pot of broth and were able to pick anything we wanted to add in from an excellent spread of a buffet. There was thinly sliced meat, various seafoods, and tons of vegetables. Mmm!!! We opted for a veggie, seafood, noodle concoction.

Oh yes we did! Squid, clams, octopus, and shrimp!

Have you ever had Shabu shabu? If you haven’t do you think you would try it?

Sweet Korean Fall Finds

Anyone living or visiting Korea ever tried Bungeoppang (붕어빵) ? When Mrs B arrived in March she immediately started to compile a list of things she wanted to do or try before she ever left Korea. You guessed it, these delightful little fish pastries made the list.

We Bee’s were out an about on Sunday afternoon and we found a vendor selling them! Plus they give you three for 1000 won, STEAL!

So what is Bungeoppang? As you can probably see from the above picture, the outer layer is a batter consistency that has been cooked in a metal fish-shaped iron. The outer layer taste much like a pancake or waffle. Now what you cannot see by looking at the picture is what bungeoppang is filled with. The center is sweet red bean paste, come on… this is Korea…what else would it be filled with? It’s funny to say “sweet” because it’s really not a sickening sweet taste, but rather a mild sweetness. (Struggling to describe the experience in exact words).

YEY! We get to cross another item off the list 🙂 If you are out and about and see a vendor selling these, try it out! Let us know what you think.