Where to Eat in Seoul?

If you are in Seoul there is NO way you are going to be hungry, food can be found everywhere!, from a Fancy Restaurant, to Street stalls to a MiniMarket where you can grab some Kimbap or a canned Coffee...

But there are some places you might don't want to miss!

The 1st one I would like to talk about is "Bulgogi Brothers" 

Pic source: bulgogibros.com

Type: Korean Restaurant
Location: Seoul Finance Center
1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. Basement
Website: http://bulgogibros.com

I had one of the biggest dinners at Bulgogi Brother's, it was a never ending feast, the staff is very attentive, the meat we ate was top quality (as everything else) and out waiter even cut the meat for us^^

We ate Beef, Ribs, Mandu, Salad, Banchan, Cold noodles, Corn and pretty much whatever they brought to our table, we spent over 2 hours eating, if you visit Seoul you might not want to miss this place to have your share of Bulgogi!


My 2nd recomendation is "The Place Dining"

Pic source: www.nseoultower.co.kr

Type: Italian
Location: N Seoul Tower 2F
Website: http://www.nseoultower.co.kr/eng/visit/restaurant3.asp

Even though this is not a place to go get your Korean Food and most people would recoment HanCook (also located at the Tower) this is restaurant serves excellent food and an AMAZING view, just for the view you'll know this place is worth it, it won't matter if you go by Day or Night, Spring, Autumn or Winter you'll have Seoul as your background, this place is ideal for a romantic date.

Pic source: www.nseoultower.co.kr

And my 3rd recommendation of the day is "Hwanghu Samgyetang-황후삼계탕"

Type: Korean/Samgyetang
Location: Seoul-si Jongno-gu.  Insadong 10-gil 5
Website: N/A

Samgyetang is Chicken Gingseng soup, this soup is cooked slowly with 19 medicinal herbs... You know this is good for you if it has 19 herbs, right?, when I visited this restaurant I had the “Insadong Samgyetang" due to its slow cooking method the soup is cooked for several hours and it makes the chicken very tender so you can just tear it in half and find it to be filled with rice, this food is served in the summer for its nutrients to replace those nutrients lost through sweating during the hot summers in Korea. 

So, there you have it, 3 different options to eat in Korea, you can choose between a MUST bulgogi restaurant, a place with THE view or the Healthy choice, I hope you get to try one of these places and ejoy it as much as I did!



-Gisela V. 

2012 WKB Tour - Day 1

Hi everyone!, as you know last week I traveled to Korea for a tour among other WKB bloggers,  first I would like to thank KOCIS (KoreaNet) for inviting us on this wonderful trip and for recognizing our work as bloggers :)

A special thanks to Suh, Jeong Sun (Director – Global Command Contents), Han Jeon, Cathy and Grace for such a warm welcome!

I had a great time in Korea, remember I posted about Expectation/Reality?, well for a moment I turned into this Kpop fan and wanted to escape to stalk GD lol…but I’m glad I didn’t, I just got my CD and walked out of that Hallyusphere to enjoy what would be one THE BEST trips ever, I honestly wasn't expecting to have as much fun as I did and Since we did quite a LOT I’m going to have to make separate posts about the trip.

Schipol Airport - Amsterdam

My journey started on September 17^th at 10 pm, I took a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam and after a transfer time of 3 hours I took my final flight to Seoul, this time I flew with KLM and I’m glad I did because they offer great service J, my transfer time went by very quickly, after wondering around the Airport stores for a bit I went to my departure Gate and met 2 Peruvian guys who were traveling to Korea to go to an Electronics convention in Gwangju, this was also their 2^nd time in Korea. We were moved to another gate to prepare for boarding and there I met what I thought was a Korean Student, turns out he works for Samsung and was on a business trip, poor guy he got a book at the Airport and they gave it to him in Dutch instead of English and they didn't want to change it for him :(, we exchanged business cards (I feel so professional lol) and then it was time to board!... 10 hours later we landed at Incheon 40 minutes earlier than scheduled and I was ready to go, everything looked different this time, 2 years ago I went on winter and I was on my own at the airport, so I was very focused in getting into the right bus plus I was freezing. This time the weather was really nice, and there was a driver waiting for me already, we walked to the parking lot and in that short walk I realized how different this trip would be….

Incheon Airport

We got on the car and I just enjoyed the view and the smell; this time Korea had a smell…I don’t think the 1^st time I noticed a smell but this time definitely had it and it was a combination of Korean food and something in the air, we passed the 63 Building and the Noryangjin fish market (I've always wanted to go there for some fresh food), I recognized some buildings and street, somehow I just felt at home (is that weird?~~I think it is...) 

It took almost 1 hour driving to arrive at the hotel…the IP Boutique Hotel in Itaewon (Seoul), an area full of Coffee Shops, Bars and Clubs, the hotel is very nice and modern, the restaurant has an outdoor area and the lobby has SWINGS!!!!!! The rooms are pretty cool, each one is different as they all have something painted in the wall, the 1^st room I was in had a giant Strawberry and the 2nd one had a pair of Converse, when I arrived Maria from Indonesia was already at the room (we were roomies!), she went out with Grace (Our Tour Guide for the trip) to buy some books while I took a much needed shower and got ready to go out for some sightseeing, around 14:30 I met my friend Jeannette who works for BrandKorea and we went to Caffe Bene for Coffee duh! (this coffee shop is really popular as I saw like 30 the 5 days I was in Korea O_O) and at 3 we went back to the hotel to meet with Maria and Grace.

IP Boutique Hotel - Room 1 (top) - Room 2 (bottom)

The 1^st thing we’ll do was visiting COEX to go to the Kimchi Museum and I’m glad we did because we passed by a Records store and I got to buy my GDragon CD ~One of a Kind~ and I got a free poster…I felt like such a k-pop fan lol

The Kimchi museum is actually pretty small, but they have all kinds of Kimchi, there are seasonal Kimchis, you can pretty much Kimchify (I know that’s not a word) everything, there’s Kimchi fish O_O who knew??...I was taking a video of this place and we found a cute kid in there, he asked Jeannette to take his picture and then explained he was there because he was something like the Kimchi Ambassador of his school and knows way too much about Kimchi…He was really sweet and even thanked me for blogging about Korea (awww!!!), he then took me to the Kimchi Tasting room and made me taste 8 different kind of Kimchis….ahhh that was some GOOD kimchi, he said that his grandma makes the Kimchi for his family and explained something to me but in Korean...so...I don't really know what he said :( (Sorry Kid!!). If you want to visit the Museum, you can also take a class and make your own Kimchi, just go to the museum’s website and check out the activities!

Seasonal Kimchi

When we were done with the Kimchi museum we decided to take walk to the Temple across Coex, it’s the same temple I visited 2 years ago(remember how I lost all those pics?), it’s the Bongeunsa Temple, well….this time I didn’t lose my pictures, this place is very special for me, the 1^st time I visited it I decided I wanted to take my mom there on my next visit to Korea…. I never thought she would not be with us when that happened….I just miss her so much and even though she (somehow) was with me on this trip, it was just sooo hard not to think about her when I was there…*I miss you, moomin*

Bongeunsa Temple near COEX

Namsam Tower

Right after the temple it was time to go, we had to go back to the Hotel to pick up Ema and Annabel from London to go visit the N Seoul Tower, they write the blog Korean Class Massive and both of them are pretty funny…. Anyway, we went to the N Seoul Tower and took the Namsam Cable Car….yup yup, like Kim Sam Soon (My name is Kim Sam Soon) and Goo Yoon Pyo/Gum Yan Di (BBF), the view was AMAZING!! But the cable car was way too crowded for my liking so I couldn’t take nice pictures :(, we went upstairs and enjoyed the view while waiting for our table to have dinner at Hancook, a Korean restaurant located inside of the tower, but turns out the place was packed and we had to wait 50minutes to get a table…and it was time we didn’t really have so we had to eat dinner at The Place Dining by the tower, although Italian food would not be my 1^st choice for my very 1^st dinner in Korea it was a very nice, especially if you go with the one you love as the place has a very romantic atmosphere and the place was filled with couples having Champagne and pretty cakes :)

After dinner we rushed back to the Hotel to meet Han Jeonand Cathy who visited us to prepare us for what would be expecting us the next day.

Itaewon at night

Later that night I went out to find a payphone to call my friends JoAnna and SangHyun and just explore the area a little bit and I ran into Ema and Annabel, we ended upwalking around Itaewon and found a “very” interesting street with several Love Motels O_o. After our short walk we went back to the hotel and that was it for our 1^st day in Seoul….

See?? We did a bunch of things in just 1/2 day...God, I miss Korea u_u

-Gisela V. 

SeOUL Searching

Soul searching.... Yup I HAD to make the typicall post of Seoul/Soul Searching (haha!)

Here I am asking myself once and again "What's next?", what's the plan, where do I see myself in a couple of years... This is something I don't know and feel like I can not do any planning at the moment, the only thing I'm sure of right now is Korea... I want to go back to Korea, I want to explore Seoul, go to all those places I read on the blogs I follow, meet new people, travel through the country and try to find the right path for me, whatever it is, maybe I'll end up baking somewhere in the Globe :) 

While I was going through my photos of Seoul I realized I want to go back SO BAD!, I try not to see my pictures so often since they make me want to buy a one way ticket to Korea and don't look back hehe. 

Why don't I show you some of those random pictures that make me wish I was there every day.

    

-Gisela V

N Seoul Tower

Who hasn't heard of the N Seoul Tower?

Morning View / Evening View

Talking about the N Seoul Tower is like talking about Mexico's Zocalo it's Mexico's landmark, I saw the Namsam cable car in My Name is Kim Sam Soon and of course it was a part of my "To Do" list while in Seoul.

Seoul Tower, also called Namsan Tower or, more recently, N Seoul Tower, is located in the centre of Seoul on Mount Namsan. Seoul Tower was opened to the public for the first time on the 15th of October 1980. Namsan Tower is 236.7 metres high and, because it stands on top of the Namsam Mount.

Rising 777 feet (237 metres) above the summit of Mount Namsan, a beautiful mountain in the centre of the city, at a height of 480 metres above sea level, the Tower is the most conspicuous of Seoul's landmarks.

It serves as an integrated telecom tower from which TV and FM radio signals are transmitted for the metropolitan area. In 30 seconds two express elevators ascend to a height of 135 metres to the Observation Platform.
Architect: Jong Youl Chang

There are different ways to get to the Tower.

1.- By Cable car. You can get to the cable car station by getting off at Myeongdong Station (Line n. 4, exit 3) and walking for ten minutes from the subway station.
Hours of operation: 10:00-23:00 (3-minute ride to N Seoul Tower) 
Fare: Round-trip - ages 13+ 7,500 won, ages 4-12 5,000 won
          One-way - ages 13+ 6,000 won, ages 4-12 3,500 won

You can take a bus at Chungmuro Station (line n. 3 or 4) or at Dongguk University Station (line 3), which will take you to the parking area of N Seoul Tower or you can do it on foot by walking 30 minutes from exit 3 of Myeongdong subway station (Line n. 4).

Inside the tower you can find the Teddy Bear Museum (8,000 won), restaurants, shops, cafés can also be found on the inside.

The Tower admission fee is  8,000 won, I believe you can get a discount if you buy tickets for the Tower and the Teddy Bear Museum (I don't remember very well...)

See? Mexico City on the Top and Seoul's view on the bottom

I went to the Tower and the Teddy Bear Museum (TBM) twice, first I went by myself when I took the Seoul Tour Bus, it was a Tuesday so it wasn't really crowded, I 1st pass the Tower by day but decided not to get off the bus on that stop and came back in the afternoon (aroun 5-6) so it was getting darker and I must say, the view is better at that time. On my 1st visit I only checked the outside of the Tower since it was a perfect time to take pictures and visited the Teddy Bear Museum since it was getting darker and colder I decided to take the 8pm bus back.





My second visit was in the Morning, this time I did go up to the Tower and enjoyed a lil bit of the view, we (This time I was with a group) also re-visited the TBM but we were in a hurry so we only spent like 1:30hrs in the Museum and Tower, the only regret I have is that I didn't get to take the Namsam Cable Car..I wanted to do that so badly :( but I guess I'll do it on my next visit to Seoul.

On the outside of the tower there's a Roof Terrace well known for the"Locks of Love", apparently it was shown in a TV show, where the main character attached a lock to the fence, ever since thousands of couples go there an attach their Lock of love with their names and a loving promise. On the inside of the tower you can find something like this, instead of locks there are tiles, you can buy them at the Gift shop, add a picture and just write whatever you feel like it.

Locks of Love / Lover's Message Tiles

On the inside of the Tower (before the Ticket booth) there's another shop, it's all about Kpop, I don't know much about Kpop so I just snaped a few shots of the merchandise (Shh! don't tell anyone because pictures there wasn't allowed!), I guess next time at least I'll know a couple of those groups :P

 

Kpop Merchandise / Me with a Huge Teddy Bear

-Gisela V.

Day 4, Seoul City Tour Bus

 

Day 4 was to be spend on the Seoul City Tour Bus!, I was really excited about this ever since I found out about it, probably because I love taking this Tour Buses here in Mexico (Turibus), I found about it HERE , so Tuesday I got up around 7am to say goodbye  to Jeff who was leaving Seoul to go on a business trip, after he left the house I packed my backpack with  water, maps, the info he printed for me and a pocket book "Korean at a Glance) I got at Bandinlunis @ the COEX Mall the day before, after getting ready I left the house around 9:00am and went to Euljiro4ga station, took line 5 and 2 stops later I found myself in Gwanghwamun. The Bus Terminal is infront of Dongwha Duty Free Shop in Gwanghwamun, right on the corner! (Subway Line 5, Gwanghwamun station exit 6) be careful with the exits!! I took Exit 8 and I ended up on a diferent street lol. There are 2 kinds of Buses

My bus with the super nice driver n_n

Single Decker Bus - Downtown Tour - First 9:00am / Last 19:00 (every 30mins) $10,000 KRW Adult/ $8,000 Under 18years old

Double Decker Bus - Palace - Cheonggye Tour First 10:00am / Last 17:00 (every 1hour) $12,000 KRW Adult/ $8,000 Under 18years old
//Both have a Night Tour that leaves at 20:00//

My tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicket!

There is a 5% Discount for T-Money Card Customers (I ofcourse payed with mine and got my discount...yay!!) I took the DownTown Tour, this tour consist on 27th Stops, since I was pretty much sure of what I wanted to  see I decided to take the whole tour 1st and see if there was something else I was interested in, and Off I went!.... The only downside is the buss is like a regular bus, not one of those top less buses (not even the Double decker!!), but anyway it was comfy, warm and not very crowded :), I obviously got the 1 day pass and cost only $9,500 KRW because of the T-Money Discount and the actual ticket comes with another 15th Discount cupons for Museums, Theater and other amusements....

Anyway I took the 2 hours bus ride and just relaxed while I listened to the guide explaining each of the stops,
I was really excited to go to the N Seoul Tower, despite it was also one of the visits we had schedules for the
Tour I had already organized for a few days later, but It wasn't going to be the same... and you know what...I'm glad I got to see a bunch of things twice beacuse 1.- Most of those things are very Cool/Entretaining, 2.-Is something you will enjoy better with Company or 3.- You didn't have enough time to see enjoy it, so when we got to the N Seoul tower the driver said we could hop off for 8 minuts (Yup, not 5 or 10,,,8 minutes!!) so I took off and got my sis' Nikon Camera just because the Tower and the view were Totally Worth it!!, it was around 10:30/11:00am and chilly, I thought about going to the tower (the bus stopped below bcs cars are not allowed to go all the way up), but I didn't...and it was better (i'll let you know WHY later), so when the driver went back to the bus I followed him and waited for him to sit in order to find a nice sit, I don't know if I had a condused face or what, but the driver was really nice and was telling me something that I ofcourse didn't understand and then he gave me a Chocolate candy...yay!!!, the Tower is step #13 and I still haven't decided what I wanted to do, so I continued on the same bus and finally decided I was going to get off at the Changdeok Palace (Stop 27).

 

I got off and the day was sunny but REALLY cold and windy, went to the ticket booth and got my $3,000 KRW ticket :D, right on the entrance I found a big tourist group with a guide, too bad the guide was in Chinese lol... otherwise it would've been Perfect timing! hahaha, the palace looks BIG from the outside but it's actually... HUGE because it's also "connected" to another palace, I was there for about 2 hours, most of the times I was surounded by other people, but there was one time I was taking pics of the back side and sudenly everything went quiet and chilly, I could only listen to the sound of the wind.. O_O it felt...weird like when on a movie something like that happens and then the scene transform into a scene of what happen hundreds of years back...well it was something sort of like that and I got a tiny bit scared lol... then there was no more wind and sudenly I could heard people talking again PHEW!!! after walking around and taking 100's of pictures decided it was time to take the bus back so I went to catch the 1:45pm bus, by NOW I was really hungry and all I had on my stomach was water and the candy the bus drive me gave me earlier,

Isn't this place awesome?

once on the bus I had to wait for another 15-20 mins to start the tour again, my next stop was Namdaemun Market (Stop 3) to do some shopping, exchange money and get something to eat... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the weird vibe place...

 

Sam Sook

I got off and cruzed the avenue where the Seoul's Great South Gate was located (I say was because it was destroyed by a Fire on February 11th, 2008 by an elder man because he had a grievance over a decade-old land dispute.... sorry but WTF!!!, by the way he also had been arrested in 2006 for trying to start a fire at the city's Changgyeong palace over the same grievance...) it was there when it HIT ME,,,I was in SEOUL! all by myself!!, have you seen Resident Evil (the last one...)?? there's a scene of an Avenue in tokyo and under this avenue is where the "bad guys" hide...well... I felt like being there only it was South Korea instead of Tokyo lol... I just stood there for a bit thinking how amazing it was to be there finally!!, then my stomach reminded me I was really hungry and went straight to Namdaemun Market, the place is CROWDED, you can buy from food, candies, hats, clothes, bags, make up, gloves, chopsticks!, Kpop stuff and more, at first I was looking for a Hat for my aunt but then I got distracted by this stuffed pig (The one they carry around @ My Name is Kim Sam Soon), I've been wanting to get one since I saw the show and now THERE IT WAS!! OMG!! I got a small one because it wasn't very cheap, the small one cost $10,000 KRW (witch now that I think about it it's expensive for a small stuffed animal, but I was blinded by the excitement hahaha), after getting my Piggy aka Sam Sook i got a few gifts for the family and ofcourse for me, then I went to MISSHA because if you really know me, you know I LOVE Missha make up and as always people were  staring at me O_o of course you are a foreigner!, the sales girl @ Missha was following me around the store and let me tell you,,,it's a SMALL store, and when I was going to pay she finally decided to say something.. "Where are you from?", Mexico I said and she started "WOW-ing" as most of the people that dared to ask me where was I from and since she seemed to speak english I asked where was the nearest bank to exchange money but she didn't understand but thanks to my handbook and a few words in Korean she finally undertood and told me where to go :) (Thanks Missha Girl!), I went to the bank and the...umm the guy that opened the door asked me to wait and then took me with another girl

Good sunset, isnt it?

Who wouldn't want to live there?

Inside the bathroom lol

I really like this pic....

(probably because she speak English), I exchanged my money and went out because it was time to eat something...I was worried because 1.- I don't like eating alone, 2.- I don't speak Korean and 3.- I'm SHY!, so I was looking for a not-so-crowded-but-pics-menu place to eat, and I went into an alley with a bunch of small restaurants, I went back and forward until I saw a small one with 2 Halmonis eating... turns out they were the owners of the place and as soon as I got in they stood up and started runing aroung getting me water, a heater, rice and the usuall Panchan...they didn't have an English Menu nor one with pictures so it was sort of complicated to comunicate but also very funny, I had my lil book/dictionary and it has a special section of "Food terms", they managed to say FISH FISH FISH!!, and me being so hungry accepted the Fish, it was a black caserole with what I think it was Gochujang (a hot paste made of chilli peppers) and 2 pieces of Fish, so I had sticky rice, seaweed sheets, water, the Fish, Pajeon (Korean Pancake with onions and veggies), Kimchi Ofcourse!! and other side dishes...when Halmoni #1 brought the Fish caserole and I was about to dig in she decided to feed me... O_O ..funny isn't it?? I bet I was all red  because as I said before... I'm SHY!!! so she comes and puts some rice on a seaweed sheet, roll it and put it  in my mouth.. it was Good but I was ready to eat on my own,,,hehehe after a bowl of rice, kimchi, 1 piece of  fish, a yummy Pajeon and water I was full, but she kept saying "more?, more!!!, more!!" but it was more than enough for me and it was time to pay since I wanted to catch the 4:45 bus to go to the N Seoul Tower, when I payed ($6,000 KRW) my-new-Halmoni (lol) asked to stay for some Coffee (I assume because she was only saying.. Kuhpi!! Kuhpi!! Kuhpi!! ) but I had just enought time to catch the next bus so I had to decline the Kuhpi hehe, while I was waiting for the delayed-bus I decided to call my CouchSurfer #3 and just when we were talking about when and where to meet my bus came and I had to hang up yelling "Call you back!!".. I feel so sorry for hanging up on her :$ ..so I took the 5:00 bus because it was time to go to the N Seoul Tower and the OMG-I'm-Inlove-Teddy Bear Museum, we got there around 5:30 (thanks Traffic!!, you rock as always), and before going up to the Tower I had to go to the bathroom...again if you know me you know this is a MUST for me lol (so I was really excited to see you can find a pretty decent bathrooms and bathroom signs EVERYWHERE!!!, most of them are pretty clean, have cute decorations and some even play Classical music...lol), after my quick visit to the bathrooms it was time to climb.. (ha! climb!! as if it was too much), it's not a LONG way but it's inclined and I was tired u_u when I made it to the top it was getting dark!, so I had to hurry to catch the sunset and have a nice view of Seoul... I asked where was the teddy bear ticket booth and they sent me to the "top" part...but it WASN'T there!... at least I made it to the viewer and got some nice sunset pics :), when it was DARK I decided to go to the museum since my night-pics are not goot (You'll see....) and went to the "basement" where I got my ticket for the museum...$8,000 KRW for the Teddy Museum and $12,000 if you wish to include the Observatory (but I didn't do it)

Teddy Bear Museum Entrance

Aw look at the cute bear painting the wall

The Teddy Bear Museum is....well all about Teddy Bears and History, it's actually a very good way to make (People) Kids understand some of the Korean History, on the Hall 1, you are 1st welcomed by a very cute-looking teddy bear and then you can find the story of Dangun Wanggeom ho found the Joseon Kingdom.
Hall 2 is Present-Time-Korea, there's a tunel with a video of seoul and some teddy bears are just walking
around...aww super cute! lol, then you can find the K-pop Teddy Bears, Nanta Bears, The Blue House, and a bunch of bears representing the current Korean-day to day-life...I fell inlove with all of this bears, and after a  quick visit to the gift shop I had to take off to catch the last bus because I was TIRED... at the bus I realized I had lost my bottle of water, where? that remains a mistery to me hahaha, I saw a couple speaking spanish and made me miss my family (weird, huh?), I had to talk to them and asked them for their map (because I lost mine so it seemed like a good excuse!), since it was dark and I was tired after walking for many HOURS, It was time to head home (ok ok ,,,Jeff's home), I got off at Gwanghwamun and was going to take a Taxi (can you see I was tired?) but I walked towards the subway O_O don't know why....so bleh!, I took the subway, it was only 2 stations while I was there I decided to call my CS #3 (again) and we agreed to meet the next day at Euljiro4ga at 7:30pm :),  then I walked to Jeff's appartment, when I got there I was really excited to see all the things I had bought!!! and so I did, after watching a bit of TV (impossible to see more if you don't speak Korean, and I actually tried to watch something that s

It's blurry because you are not allowed to take pics at the gift shop

Bears Bboying O_o

OMG NANTA!!!

See? told you my night pics are blurry

Bears  @ The Blue House

K-Pop Bears...Rock on!!!!!!!!! lol

eemed to be a Gossip Show but I didn't recognize anyone there, so I turn it off and went to "my" room, I went on msn but it was 5am in Mexico, so there was no point on staying online...I watched a few videos on youtube and fall asleep... Let me tell you...this day was a LONG day, I did alot of things and I feel like this post dosn't do justice to my day lol, I had a great time and really enjoyed it... My day 5 had nothing planned, I just wanted to take it easy because the "real" Tour was scheduled to star on the 16th (Day 6) very early.

For more pics go to my FB :)

-Gisela V.

Working on it!!!!!!!!!!

-Gisela V.