Cafe Porn, Part 2: Sangsu

Service with a smile. I do enjoy my food anthropomorphized.

I actually consider the districts of Sangsu, Hongdae, and Hapjeong all the general “Hongdae Coolness Area,” but for post organizational reasons, I guess I’ll separate them. Sangsu is the more southerly, easterly side of the area. It has shops and is home to some of the clubs in the area, and as my friend pointed out, a whole bunch of makkeoli places. A nice place to get lost in on a sunny Sunday afternoon, or even a slightly damp but warmer Monday night. And yes, there are cafes. Lately I have been trying to cut my cafe habit, because I’ve been trying not to digest my paycheck every month, but sometimes, I can’t resist.

The said line.

But first– a ramen interlude.

Tonight, I went with a few friends to Sangsu to check out this Japanese ramen place in an alleyway. You might have seen it– every time you go in this particular alley (it’s near the university park on the university side of the street– there’s a bunch of graffiti leading to the alley, look for the graffiti depicting multiple cartoon animals and the rather sad slogan of “NO SEX. ANYWHERE” on the side). The ramen broth was quite good, the pork tender, and the noodles were the best ramen noodles I’ve had in Korea. I guess there’s a reason there’s a line. Though, I’m not sure it’s better than the place in Nonhyeon– perhaps because I’m easily swayed by fixings. You can compare:

Anyway, being in Sangsu gave me a chance to revisit one of my old cafe loves from last year: Hoho Myoll. It really is the most exemplary example of a Korean cute cafe: vintage kitsch (including an entire VW van from which lattes are made), a theme (outdoor camping seems to be it), lots of photo albums and polaroid coffee table books, good GTLs (green tea lattes– my obsession and the measuring stick that I measure all my cafes), and amazing muffins and cakes (chocolate/banana muffins chocolate/earl grey cake– to use a phrase from Animaniacs, were FABOOOOOOOO). Here are a few photos:

Apparently there is curry and paninis and other food served. I want to try it!

Oh but soon I won’t be able to indulge so much. I’m going to the Korean Eastern Medicine doctor tomorrow to find out my chejil– or body type, and seeing which foods are good or bad for me. Yikes!

Hongdae @ Night

I’m one of those people who prefer their alcohol served with a side of whimsy, so here are two of my faves.

One is sort of a highly dangerous for the drunken, plaster wonderland, that is sort of how igloos would look like if they were envisioned by Dr. Seuss. I go there a lot, I don’t know why I haven’t written about it before. Oi Bar (O.I. I think, or if it’s not, it would sound strangely like “Cucumber Bar” in Korean). It’s on the third floor of a building that’s next to the big giant blue giraffe on the street that’s adjacent to the children’s park.

And the second, is a take-out cocktail place (please remember, there are no open container laws) that give you booze in snazzy plastic bags and has a giant robot out front.

Television!

So I went over to my co-workers apartment and indulged in one of my forgotten pastimes: yelling at a television. So basically, Korean television mostly consists of celebrities doing ridiculous things. On Star King, I watched as a girl in short shorts proclaimed that she had $100,000 dollars worth of shoes, bought with money she earned teaching English (WTF?!) and scoffed at her attempts to teach me how to pronounce the words TIT-AN-IC and MAN-HATTAAAAAN. I was kind of pissed. Then I sat amazed as a man stacked 16 empty styrofoam boxes and carried them… I can’t help but feel that this is sort of a metaphor for my life. I don’t know how. When I figure it out, I’ll tell you.

Here is a clip of Star King featuring my new favorite member of Shinee (he’s so pretty!) getting hypnotized:

Also featured on Korean television: We Got Married! (where celebrities pretend to get married with one another to live in a fake-reality show marriage), and Gold Miss, where 30-something year old female celebrities compete for dates with equally successful men. Daniel Henney and Hugh Jackman were featured on the show.

Um. I guess that’s what’s been going on lately. My knitting has been going well. If you want a hunter green knitted armband, let me know. Today I forgot a cupcake in my pocket and next week, I once again brave the screams of small children.

Pretty exciting.

춥네요!!!!!

This is not a “snow angel” because the person who made it didn’t make wings– but what is it then? I can’t really call it a “snow man” can I?

The title of this post, pronounced chum ne yo, according to Russell, means, “Golly! It’s cold!” or the more-fun-translation “Gee Wilickers, it’s freezing!” (How do you spell “gee wilickers” the proper way, anyway? Did I get it right?).

And it is. Last week, a record-breaking amount of snow fell upon unsuspecting Seoul, resulting in my first ever snow day. I ventured out to buy some food (I keep my refrigerator sparse like my um -a clever comparison to be inserted here at a later date-) and took some photos:

This is when I decided to invest in some 20,000 won snow boots.

Anyway, yeah it’s cold, I’ve slipped down icy roads more often that I would care to remember, I wear five layers of pants/leggings/stockings/socks on my legs, I fear death every time I get out of bed in the morning and the heater is off– but hey, I figured how to make a hot shower in my apartment (after many tear-inducing lukewarm showers), so I’m taking it all in stride. It could be worse. And now I have an excuse to wear my fuzzy earmuffs!

Though, I do wish Christmas were a bit later in winter. Now I feel like all this suffering is for nothing, except for of course, the promise of spring. But that feels so far away!

I do avoid going out of my neighborhood nowadays, but I’ve taken up some hobbies. Some of these things I’m a bit embarrassed to share: knitting under two blankets and listening to Boyz II Men (um! hey and also Blur’s Think Tank– which I rediscovered– after I got over my nostalgia for “sexy” 90’s R&B), learning Korean through a hot pink children’s notebook, avoiding large tomes of literature, wearing fuzzy red santa socks.

But since I work in Hannam-dong, I’m always up for a during or after work meal at Hannam Bugokguk (sp?) especially when they have manduguk or maeun-galbi (with octopus on top, which I normally dislike– but this is fresh without squirming and tender, unlike the rubber eraser like textures of most octopus).

Also another Hannam-hangout is this new bakery Guillaume which imports everything from France (but acknowledges that French bread might not be the best, but this bread is the Frenchiest bread you’ll get in Korea, or something like that). A bit on the pricey side, but also more than a little bit delicious and rich and pretty:

A tiny macaroon! So adorable! It’s like a macaroon for a fairy!

Six Word Restaurant Reviews

I had time off for most of the weekend and well, what am I to do for most of my free time! Why, eat my brains out, of course! Over the course of these past few days, I’ve had multiple food adventures, most of them were introducing others to familiar territory (Tartine, again, Petra Palace, again— though I want to go to Petra the original sometime. Maybe for a classy evening out? I shall wear my best sequined evening gown). I did discover a few new places though. But frankly, I’m too exhausted to write extensive writeups (I’ll link to some, perhaps)– so I thought I’d Hemmingway it up, with a few six word restaurant reviews.

1. Taco Rico, in Gangnam:

Holy guacamole! Makes an LA-er proud.

2. Egg and Spoon Race, in Edae.

Brunch. All dishes were the favorites.

3. Salam Bakery, in Itaewon.

Baklava. Kilograms from box to body.

4. Lucycato, in Edae.

Chocolate plus diamonds. Fancy. Fancy. Fancy.

Also, visited: The tteokbokki town in Sindang-dong (fun to say!), not as fun to go. Can be summed up with a “meh.”

2010!

I sincerely wish I was this awesome.

I don’t really like to make blog entries about my nighttime debaucheries (because, of course, there are none, Mother), but New Years’ Eve was really fun! We got a table at Club Mansion and watched my favorite Korean electro group, EE and danced to the music of this hot shot Ed Banger DJ– Busy P? Anyway– when did DJs become rock stars? There was an absurd amount of bowing to the turn tables and scrambling for burned cds at the end of the set. I guess this is the time we live in. Also, I don’t understand girls who wear skimpy outfits outside in the winter, but what I understand less is girls who wear heavy duty winter gear inside clubs, so it looks like they’re dancing to the music inside sleeping bags.

Here’s another EE video. Happy New Year! Welcome to 1987–err 2010!

Sokcho and Such

So I spent Christmas at a cabin with a bunch of friends. I won’t elaborate on my weekend, as it is too full of inside jokes, the kind when you spend 72+ hours with a group of ten people. I will say that I visited Waterpia, Sokcho’s water park, which contains an outdoor hot springs! Nice, huh? It’s kind of weird to enter a place in full on winter gear and then run out of it, with only your swimsuit on (even if you’re jumping into 40 degree Celsius water). Since I didn’t have my camera obviously, I drew a picture.

Once, I aspired to write a webcomic about my Korean adventures. As you can see, the truth caught up with me, I actually cannot draw. Sorry for forgetting your arms, Jung.

On the way back it started to snow. It was a five hour bus trip in total, though I was kind of perplexed when three and a half hours had passed and we had just got to Seorak mountain… especially since Seorak is in Sokcho (or close enough near it). About an hour later we were in Seoul. I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Obligatory wilderness picture.

In other news, it snowed shitloads over the weekend. How much April, you ask? Why, up a soju bottle label’s worth!

I also like this picture because it conveys the deep seated existential bleakness of an urban winter. Oh and the LOLs it brings.

Happy New Year, folks!

Now on Twitter.

Yeah– I know, I already have a twitter at @aprilangelica, but as you can see, I have made it private. Nothing personal, it’s just that that account is, well, personal. But, no fear, my adoring public, I can now be found at:

http://www.twitter.com/bunchabanchan

Breaking Up with Mr. Kebab

Sigh, I never got around to writing a post about how much I liked the place, but I’m here to say, Mr. Kebab, I shall never go to you again, spending lunches with a novel at your White Stripes-colored establishment. Well, that’s probably a lie, I will probably get too lazy to cross the street sometimes– but yeah, we’re over. I have ignored your sad microwaved potato wedges for far too long. I know, I know we all lionize our firsts, but I’ve moved on to better things, in terms of quickie shawarma joints– mainly Petra Palace, whose fries are crispy… and well… a host of other reasons, which I have conveniently enumerated:

1) Thick, just toasted pita bread— not the, “is this a tortilla?” shit, I’ve grown accustomed to.

2) Hummus. Hummus. Hummus.

3) Falafel. Falafel. Falafel. Falafel. Falafel. (side story: a friend of mine came by and the guys said, “You look familiar.” She answered, “Well, sometimes I come here with my friend.” They answered, “Oh, does your friend like falafel?” Ugh. I have become Falafel Girl. As much as I hate to be associated with a food most famous for Bill O’Reilly’s sexual/linguistic faux pas– which you can google for yourself, I’m not going to be responsible to linking you to that, if you don’t already know– it has not deterred me from going there entirely too often.)

Fact: When I was taking this picture, I felt like Rafiki holding up Simba off a cliff in The Lion King.

P.S. I cheated on you with Ankara Picnic when I felt like you were being too clingy, anyway.

On a thoroughly unrelated subject, you wouldn’t believe how many people come to this blog searching for “Koreans in animal hats.” Yeah, I get it– it’s funny, goofy– but really? Really?

No “Pho” Puns in This Post.

Shinsegae Christmas Display, I love you.

So occasionally, I miss home. But since moving to Itaewon, the foreign ghetto, I often have these moments where I’m sitting on the bus looking out the window and I suddenly realize, “Oh yeah. I do live in Korea! I totally forgot!” I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, one could argue that I’m not fully taking advantage of my host-culture, or you could also argue that I’ve become so accustomed to living here it no longer feels foreign. I’m not sure. I still have my hang-ups and bouts of shyness, but living here has become, well, comfortable.

Oksu Station, on the way to Wangsimni.

And well, I’ve totally had a “in Korea but doesn’t feel like it” Sunday. It started off with class, as usual, and then I met up with some friends in Wangsimni to a Vietnamese pho restaurant, head by a Vietnamese guy, and frequented by Vietnamese people. Okay, for those not in Korea, you have to understand this—yes, there are tons of pho places in Korea, various chains— and I have acquiesced to them on numerous occasions, enduring their meh rice noodles, their pitiful assortment of herbs (onions and bean sprouts and lemons, only? WHAT?) and their, well-at-least-its-hot broth—but seriously— fuck all those places. This place in Wangsimni is legit. Like, Westminster/Garden Grove Litte Saigon legit. Hell, even Saigon-Saigon legit.

The broth was a religious experience, a cure all for colds and the cold, both of which I had enough of that day. I felt as if I could endure winter without five layers because of that pho, could withstand any obstacle, was magically cured of my sniffles and ills, hell, I might have even been able to fly, it was that good.

Um. This is my phone’s background now.

Of course, a place like this does also have its quirks. The ambiance was well, desolate food court style, with a few fake flowers in soju bottle vases. And it mainly caters to Vietnamese people, who all seem to know the chef, and come bearing gifts of herbs, eggs, and sauces, all finding themselves free to tinker around behind the counter or lounge on the sofa. I will say that the selection isn’t great—we came on beef pho and fried rice (only) day, I guess the menu depends on whatever tributes the chef is brought at any given time.  Bring your own limes (which are for cheap at E-Mart now!) though. Some say these are drawbacks, but I am of the mind that these things make Little Vietnam (that is what the place is called) awesome.

Oh? Where is it exactly? Dude, call me up and ask. I’ll show you. I’m game to go anytime.

Later that day, I met up with some other folks and ate at the American Chinese restaurant, Ho Lee Chow. Then we headed to Tartine for some pies. Enough has already been said about these places. But I’m going to share some pictures from Tartine anyway, because who doesn’t like pics of pie?

Merry Christmas everybody. I’m heading to Gangwondo for Christmas weekend which should be fun—freezing but with snow. I’ve never had a cliché Christmas before (in terms of weather). SNOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!