A weekend in Seoul (Part II)

On a Sunday morning, we decided to visit Samcheong-dong, at the northern part of the city, which was famed for its cafes, art galleries as well as the "hanok" (old traditional houses) on the hilltop (at Bukchon). It was really quiet and pleasant early on a Sunday, and a stroll through the Bukchon area was soothing and contemplative. Over the old rooftops, the large skyscrapers of the city could be seen not far in the distance, which brought into stark contrast the old and new in Seoul.

We stumbled upon a delightful cafe, Slow Garden, which was located almost at the end of the tourist strip of Samcheong-dong. It was interesting to find an country-side American lodge-style diner in the midst of the old part of the city.

This was essentially a breakfast place and had great waffles and eggs. This is where we had our breakfast for the day in a very relaxed environment.

At lunch, we ate at SoSeongJae, which was excellent Korean 'kaiseki', and continued to walk up and down the main Samchongdong street window shopping while the crowd started coming in. From a sleepy and leafy neighbourhood in the morning, the area turned into a bustling place in the afternoon, full of tourists and locals alike.

We sought out a cafe which we had read about, W.e. Cafe, which is just off the main street. 

This place specialised in flavoured lattes and dessert. The vanilla and pumpkin lattes we had were delicious but halfway through started to be very filling (perhaps as we had just had a large lunch).

The banana hotcakes we had were very good. The bananas were grilled to a nice smokiness and the hotcakes were fluffy without being too starchy.

The next day, we explored the Agpujeong area in Gangnam (south of the river, on the side where our hotel was). This area is an upscale neighbourhood with many restaurants and high-end boutiques. It is also sprouting with chic cafes and small dessert shops. We had come here for dinner at the impressive Jungsik (which was tucked in one of the small narrow streets) the previous night.

When we arrived here, the first place we looked for was a renowed 'Galbi' restaurant in Cheongdam (the area adjacent to Agpujeong-dong), called Pakdaemamne. It's address was listed as 124-3 Cheongdam-dong at Cheongdam intersection, which sounded easy enough to find. In the end we ended up walking around for almost an hour, asking for directions unsuccessfully going through all the narrow alleys in and around the area, before making one full circle, ending up where we started and giving up our search. At this point, after we had just given up, a passerby who we asked for help for one last time pointed up to the second floor of a shophouse right in front of where we were standing. There it was. The restaurant was exactly at the spot right along the main road meters away from the Cheongdam intersection where our taxi had dropped us of when we got here! It was the second time on this trip where we had searched for a long time for a restaurant, given up and stumbling upon the place almost immediately after.

This was a traditional Korean BBQ place, where it was floor seating and hot charcoal was placed in the pot on the table when we were seated. Open for 24 hours, it seemed very popular with the locals even during lunch time. Making orders was easy, as the waitress could speak Chinese.

We ordered some wagyu beef which was accompanied by mushrooms, and were served some salads, kimchi and other pickled vegetables.

Each table had a pull down suction hood to take in all the BBQ fumes, which was amazingly effective as the restaurant did not smell smoky despite every table having their own BBQ party. It was a very satisfying lunch.

After lunch, we came across a cafe at the Arario Gallery (serving Paul Bassett coffee), a small art gallery which reminded us of the Whitney Museum in New York. The espresso here was pulled perfectly and it was a nice place to people-watch, as there were the well-heeled tai tais taking a break from their shopping and the arty sorts who were there for the museum.

And at night, we had one last indulgence - a late night 'Galbi' snack at a traditional Korean BBQ house. See Byuk Jib was at 129-10 Chung Dam-dong at the other end of the street from Cheongdam-dong where we were earlier in the day, and was, as we have been told by many of our Korean friends, one of the best 'Galbi' places in Seoul. Good thing they were open for 24 hours then.    

We really went a bit crazy here. Despite having a full dinner earlier in the evening, we ordered plates after plates of the marinated beef rib (which we discovered we liked a lot more than the unmarinated wagyu steaks) as well as other foods like the soup and the fried rice.

We ended up getting curious stares from the locals in neighbouring tables as well as knowing smiles from the waitresses as they watched us woof a tremendous amount of food within a really short time, at midnight. The food, in particular, the beef, was fantastic.