Yum Review: Recent reviews

Arigato - thank you for the nice coffee

jennyc — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:44:56 +0100

Arigato

thank you for the nice coffee

This is a totally cute but perfectly formed coffee shop in Wangshimni.
There are a load of your normal chain coffee shops in the station, but it's nice to find a different place.

The decor makes it special and cosy- there's only 2 little rooms with tiny tables and mismatched furniture. Outside are a further 2 tables where you can sit on the porch.
Everything feels miniature; the bar is tiny, the tables are tiny, the cups are tiny.

the lighting is low, and the menu in handwritten Hanguel above the bar.

They have the usual array of hot and cold coffee at more reasonable price than the chain places. Asking for normal english tea and milk caused confusion but that's to be expected! We each had a cake- I had the brownie and it was divine.

The staff were helpful and looked after us.

To find Arigato, walk out of exit 6 and turn right. It's on your right.

Deep Purple Bar - ROCK!

jennyc — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:10:38 +0100

Deep Purple Bar

ROCK!

Another music bar in the Sinchon area. This one definitely has a penchant for heavier rock than some others.

It's a subterranean bar, smelling a little of cellars but pretty cool inside. There's a huge projector screen and they play music videos on there. There are some booths, tables in the middle of the room and a few bar stools. It's not a big place at all.

The barstaff were very obliging and happy to put on our requests, they were enthusiastic about the music we were asking for which was cool too.

We just drank the usual Korean lager which wasn't expensive. To be fair, this review is a little blurred to say the least. One hard fact I can remember is that they don't sell Jaeger but do do the hugest tequila shot's you've ever had. Ugh.

It's hard to comment on the clientele and atmosphere because there was only 1 other person in when we were there. I don't think it was that late so I'm not sure if it's not a very popular place or it just happened to be a quiet night.

All in all I would say it's a bar worth going to if you wana hear some good music.

Gatten Sushi - The best sushi in Seoul for sure

jennyc — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 04:43:54 +0100

Gatten Sushi

The best sushi in Seoul for sure

OOOOOOO, despite a long search I've not come close to finding a proper sushiya that doesn't cost the earth in Seoul up until we found this beauty!

When you walk in all the staff bow and scream 'irrashemase' which is nice and authentic, if not a little startling! There is a conveyor belt with booths and seats around it. We went for the booth option. Then it's just a case of pick what you fancy.

The cheapest plate starts at 1,500 won which is very decent. We counted over 10 dishes on the menu that are in that price range too. That's pretty good going. There are 6 different place prices with the highest being 9,000 for fatty tuna.The portions of fish are big too.

Another thing that I REALLY like about here is that they have pickled ginger at the table. Koreans seem to have forsaken ginger for weird pickled garlic which doesn't do it for me, so ginger gets a big thmubs up!

All the usual dishes are on the menu such as tuna in various forms, inari zushi, tamago, prawn, squid and so forth. Complimentary miso comes when you sit down. There is a hot menu with stews, tempura and noodles if you don't fancy the things encircling you. They also have a few specials written on paper dangling above the kitchen. The booze is good- the sake bang on and asahi great but expensive.

The Japanese-yness has also extended itself to the decor, light wood and paper screens, a tanooki statue and in the loos there are heated toilet seats- pure Japan!

Coming back to the staff, they're very very helpful, really polite and made our meal feel really special. Lovely.

The atmosphere is excellent with all the shouting. I don't recall hearing music but the atmosphere was buzzy.

We had alot of fun eating here. I hope that you enjoy it too!

Reggae bar - Reggae and weird beer!

jennyc — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:30:57 +0100

Reggae bar

Reggae and weird beer!

Wowsa, another awesome reggae bar in Seoul! YAY!

This place is in the basement under a coffee shop. The place is titchy tiny and can probably only fit about 40 people tops in there. It's perfectly formed, though, with various reggae related posters and red, yellow and green painted stuff.

The drinks are pretty darn cheap. I was on white russians and they certainly weren't holding back on the booze in them. They also had some foriegn beers including North Korean stuff and some beer with weed in, apparently. I was very happy with the drinks in there.

The music obviously was all reggae related- grand! They had a big projector screen showing a documentary about reggae and weirdly they had a whole section about the club we used to go to in Leeds in England on there. This made us really happy!

The bar staff were really nice and made the cocktails well. We asked them about clubs and they provided us with a map of what was happening in Hongdae- that was ace!

It's a really quaint and welcoming little place. Somewhere I would recommend, especially if you like reggae and weird beer.

Strange Fruit - cosy and cute, a lovely gig venue

jennyc — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:56:31 +0100

Strange Fruit

cosy and cute, a lovely gig venue

Nestled in a corner of Hongdae that I've not ventured out to before, Strange Fruit is a lovely space.

It's a live music venue but really it's just one big room with the band playing in the corner. The bar is to the other corner with a nice selection of foriegn bottled lager such as tsindao. I went for an OB. Down the side of the room are a load of LPs and the decor is lovely; twinkly low lights, Polariods and artwork put together behind the stage and a load of mismatched chairs and tables. Very cosy and cool.

The staff seemed nice behind the bar and were happy to advise us on what they had in the fridges.

The music was most excellent while I was in there, but I would say that as it was a friend's band playing. They played all covers including 'Your too good to be true' 'English man in New York' Something off Pulp fiction that's an instrumental. 'Careless Whisper' etc. All crowd-pleasers and definitely gave the place a good atmosphere.

I will defo go back to see some more bands here in future :)

If you leave exit 8 at Hongdae and turn right you'll come to a roundabout, turn right and keep going until there are 2 galbi joints painted bright colours, then turn right on to that side street. Strange Fruit is on the left underground

Bar Carmen - nice beer, quirky bar

jennyc — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:44:11 +0100

Bar Carmen

nice beer, quirky bar

We've been here a few times. It's right up the hill past the church in Kyungnidan or Noksapyeong if you know it by that name.
It's a lovely bar inside, one big room with mismatched stools that look like mushrooms, cool wiggly sofas and big relaxing armchairs. The windows are painted with red tree'like forms and the walls are decorated with traditional bright korean patterns. It's a really cool feeling place.

The reason we've been here a few times is because of Street Beer. This is a couple o guys who make their own ace booze and sell it at random bars. Behind the bar here, they have a huge keg selling the stuff. On this occasion it was a very light and hoppy pale ale, almost white and very very tasty.

The musical combo was interesting, with some super cool songs on and then randomly the Slade Christmas song blared on. Bit weird but on the whole, a good selection which pleased us.

The barlady is really nice. She seems pretty relaxed in the bar, wondering around and sitting down with clients.

All in all, a really nice independant little place with good booze. MM-hm, hear it!

Bufala - A pizza, finally! It was pretty good.....

jennyc — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:35:49 +0100

Bufala

A pizza, finally! It was pretty good.....

It's always nice when you do something on a whim, and we just happened to be near this area so thought we'd check it out. It's known as the 'French quarter' and around there the roadsigns are in French but aside from that didn't get a huge French feeling going on, really. We didn't fully explore though. Another interesting thing about this area is that there is a greater proliferation of Italian restaurants than French and so we headed to one of them; Bufala.

The menu had a good set going on but we decided to be greedy and order pizzas and pasta each. They had a selection of wines with a house one starting at 8,000 so I gave it a miss and opted for capri. The others saw a Peroni poster and ordered that which also came in at 8,000 for a bottle. We also ordered 2 Napoli pizzas, one without cheese cos I'm a freak and a pasta dish with seafood in.

The restuarant wasn't hugely busy and it took a while for our food to come out, but they did cook it from stratch. My pizza tasted amazing, expecially cos I've not had one in 5 months!! The base was crisp and the toppings of salami and chillies good, the salami wasn't the best but for Korea I was impressed.

My friends' pasta went down well with no complaints but our second pizza never came so we had to explain that we wanted 2 altogether. After a wait the other came and my friends enjoyed it.

The decor was good inside, with a nice balcony which overlooked the street below. The lighting was really trendy with clusters of cool lightbulbs dotted around and some big murals on the wall. the atmosphere was buzzy.

Our service was good except for the pizza cock-up. I wonder if that's because of our bad Korean and not the waiters' problem.

So, I would recommend around here just for the area; a contrast from usual korean life. There are lots of other places around here which would be worth a try.

To get there, we walked from Seocho station line 2, pass under the silkworm bridge to the National Digital Library and took a left. It's about a 15 min walk from the station at least so be prepared to walk for your dinner!

Baby Guinness - Good pub in Itaewon with CIDER alert!!

jennyc — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:21:24 +0100

Baby Guinness

Good pub in Itaewon with CIDER alert!!

This was a nice suprise in the manky dangerzone that Itaewon can be sometimes. Baby Guinness is on the strip of nice-looking bars behind the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon. I wasn't expecting too much from the place and was frankly blown away.

The bar is a little like a gastro-pub, upstairs over 2 floors and with 3 rooms. We sat in the 2nd floor on the right where the kitchen hatch is. The decor is lovely and weathered wood tables with brass handles and old photos that aren't the usual Irish cheesy theme. The room is surrounded by high windows that give lots of light and an open feeling. All together a really cosy and homely feel, probably the closest to a proper pub feel I've had so far in Seoul.

The booze menu has a great selection of imported drinks, even Strongbow cider which was awesome. They also have decent Guinness and some ales such as London Pride and a Canadian one which I forget right now. Unfortunately, it isn't cheap but all the drinks were quality.

We also ordered food. The menu pleasingly has salads, fish and chips and other foriegn fare served properly. We all had fish and chips. The fish was HUGE and the chips were nearly right, not crinkle cut ones anyway- a small mercy. Nothing was overly greasy and the batter was just right. For fish and chips it was 13,000. This is obviously a higher price than a normal Korean meal, but for a taste of home it's definitely worth it.

The staff were exceedinly friendly and even offered us a table upstairs where our party could all sit together which was very thoughtful.

One criticism is the music. It strangely was a mix of K-pop but it wasn't loud and not the worst of Korean music, really. It was probably better than the Corrs and other crap Irish music being blasted at you!

It was a really nice new find and somewhere I'd like to go again so two thumbs up!!!!

Mr Bean bar - a gem of a bar!

jennyc — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:07:55 +0100

Mr Bean bar

a gem of a bar!

OO, a reggae bar, in Hoegi? How strange!

Down a dodgy staircase about 5 mins from the station, we thought this place wouldn't be up to much but we were wrong.

The decor was amazing, all mismatched tables and chairs giving a bohemian feel.

The bar had decks and the dj was playing some great reggae.

Also, for once, they sold some tsing tao chinese beer and it was only 5,000 for a huge bottle.

The staff were helpful and even gave us a free plate of nachos.

I would seriously recommend checking it out if you happen to be in that area.

The way to get there:
Exit the station and cross the road, turn left and walk straight until the major crossing. Then carry on striaght over that road. After about 5 mins it's on your right.

Cheongsujeong - Muchos side dishes in a beautiful surrounding

jennyc — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:16:55 +0100

Cheongsujeong

Muchos side dishes in a beautiful surrounding

Oo, this place was a bit of a suprise. It was our first outing to Samchongdong; the area behind the Gyeongbukgung palace. As you walk behind the palace to the right hand side you will see lots of galleries. After the road curls to the right and it turns into a beautiful road of traditional houses and trendy shops and eateries. We carried on about 10 mins and found Cheongsujeong on the left hand side of the street.

It's housed in a traditional house, with low rooms to the front and a courtyard through which you can find more rooms to eat in. With the sliding doors open on a warm winter's evening it's a very picturesque way to enjoy your dinner. The restaurant specialises in mussel fried rice which is something I never tried before. It also has bulgogi and bibimbap on the menu. The real special thing about the restaurant is the quality and number of banchan which accompany your meal. Also the price is quite incredible; the same price as most other meals in the city but not in such lovely surroundings.

I went for the set course which included the mussel fried rice and 19 side dishes to share. The rice was perfectly cooked and the mussels flavoured it delicately. The side dishes are too numerous to review but the large fried crunchy fish were a joy and all the kimchi pickles, fish cake, fried tofu and courgette tasted delicious. I think they must use different oil or something but it really did taste much better than many other restaurants. Also, there is more attention paid to the presentation. Everything comes in wooden bowls which is much more pleasant than the plastic ones you are usually given.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed all the food. My dining partners had a few reservations. Apparently the bulgogi was just rice and meat with little taste to it, maybe like it hadn't been marinated. The other issue was that a friend noticed a rat running out of the kitchen. Hm, really not a good sign at all. We also saw the kitchen and noticed somebody didn't wash their hands after handling raw meat and then picked up some vegetables.

The service was incredibly courteous and friendly. We were given service with even MORE side dishes than normal!

I thought the decor of our room a little strange. Obviously we were in a very old building, but there were some touches that didn't evoke the feeling of Korean history. For example an electric cable had been shoved through the wallpaper in the room so the light worked. And there was a very interesting coat stand fashioned to look like a selection of golf clubs. It just seemed a bit weird to us but maybe it isn't.

All in all, a really nice experience in a beautiful building. I'd like to go here again soon.

Beatles Bar - music-tastic

jennyc — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:57:33 +0100

Beatles Bar

music-tastic

Strolling through the streets of Sinchon something strange happened; we walked by 3 rock and roll named bars, them being 'The Beatles' 'The Doors' and 'Woodstock'. After a few pints in the already reviewed and mega noisy Woodstock, we thought we'd give 'The Beatles' a go.

In the vein of other music bars we've been to, The beatles bar has a huge collection of vinyl behind the bar organised neatly on to shelves. If you request a tune, the barman know the exact location of the LP and will put it on. Nice! The bar itself is the most beatles-y place I have ever been. There are portraits and LP covers on the wall and the names of the members written on the wall in large bubble letters. The bar has a nice cosy feel as it's really small but fortunately was able to accommodate our large group.

Of course, the music was the beatles when we arrived but after a few tunes they switched it up to other classic rock and played 'Toto' and 'Deep Purple'.

They served Guinness in there and it looked really really good. It cost 10,000 a pint. The drinks aren't cheap but there's a good variety; nice wine, nice beers and so forth. I stuck wtih the Korean stuff as usual figuring it all ends up doing the same thing. My friend had a nice looking white russian.

The bar staff seemed really friendly and happy to have us, which was great cos a big group in a tiny bar isn't always a good thing. The other clientele seemed to be happily drunk and rocking out to the music.

Aside from it being a bit pricey, I enjoyed it here. When we left we noticed many more rock n roll bars in the area, so will have to make it into a crawl sometime and do a mega review!

how to find it:
Sinchon line 2 exit 1 or 2 and head to hyundai department store. Before you get to it, turn right down the alley and keep walking past texas bar. Cross the road and carry on straight. I think it's on the second road on your left.

Seoul Folk Flea market restaurant 서울풍물시장식당 - One of the best and cheapest places to eat in Seoul

jennyc — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:12:58 +0100

Seoul Folk Flea market restaurant 서울풍물시장식당

One of the best and cheapest places to eat in Seoul

I have been here quite a few times, so I'm going to write a composite review.
The Folk Flea market is one of my favourite places in Seoul and it's right by our house so that's even better!
I've eaten here on a number of occaisions and found it to be one of the most fun and interesting places to have a meal in the city.
Firstly, the market is huge. It sells tat and non tat from all over the world. You can pretty much buy anything here. This idea has been applied to the food court area at the back over 2 floors of the buildling. You can buy pretty much any korean food here.

There are countless restaurants housed in here in a mind boggling layout that doesn't seem to make sense. There are big menus hanging on the wall and basic tables and chairs to sit on. The menus range from various pajeon like meals to fried rice, mixed rice, noodles in all their combinations, sea food, stews, soups, barbeque and so forth. Things I have eaten there: nakji bokuem which was overcooked and inedibly hot. I've had an amazing meal of some type of fish gui which was delectable, with kimchi jiggae and haemul pajeon which was also perfect. The pajeon was crispy but oily with lots of soft seafood in. The perfect way in my opinion. Another time I ate dak dori tang also. That was great too, big lumps of potato and chicken. Lots of meat and some tasty banchan.

I think the reason why this place is so good is because of the choice. You wouldn't go here for the decor, even though just reading the menus will keep you entertained, and watching the locals getting steamers on makgeolli at midday is always fun.

Another reason to come is the service. It's kind of strange because they are tyring to make the flea market more of a tourist attraction, so lots of foriengers do go there, but maybe they don't eat there. I duno. But anyway, the several different people I've been served by seem to have been really really friendly and completly bemused by us; offering us free food or a coffee just for showing up.

The other exceptional thing about here is the price. I haven't paid over 5,000 won for a meal here and sometimes even had a beer with the food- it's just incredible value. Ah writing this makes me want to go there now. I hope you do too.

To get there, exit out of sindang station line 2 towards cheonggyecheon, walk until you pass e mart and then cross the stream. You should see signs for the flea market, if not, youll see people selling stuff in the street. Kee p walking straight and turn right when you see the street with lots of flags strung up. This is where the flea market is so walk down this road and enter the building at the main entrance, with the cutesy plastic mascot outside. Keeping walking to the back of the market, follow your nose and you'll see the restaurants.

Everest - A mountain of food, not sure about the service.

jennyc — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:53:44 +0100

Everest

A mountain of food, not sure about the service.

This curry house is well established on the Korean scene. We were really interested in reviewing it after our experiences at Namaste. We nearly didn't end up going to it at all, as the narrow alley which it is on has several other curry places on and we mistook one of them for Everest.

Once inside the decor is very mishmash, with lots of wall hangings and bronze objects. My favourite items of decor were the woven cushions. The room is a big square with some smaller boothes sectioned off around it. We sat in one of these. While on the subject of decor, the toilets are outside the room in a very functional loo area. Not pleasant but I've seen worse! The place was packed out with people. Nearly everybody was Korean which was nice.

The menu had some good classic items on there, and as with other curry houses in Korea, they also had Nepalese food. They didn't do mixed thali but had a good selection of standard curries. I ordered dal tarka and jasmine rice with a garlic nan to share. My curry was good, not pointlessly hot and tasty. The rice was fine and most impressively, the nan was gorgeous. Nice and crispy in places and deliciously buttery in others. mm. They also serve a very cheap beer on draught at around 2,000 won a glass, a perfect accompanyment to a curry.

The service was more brusque then other places I've been. They were ok, not too attentive and not too friendly, not even when we paid our bill at the front desk which I found a little strange. For this factor, I probably wouln't consider coming back here again.

To find Everest: walk out of exit 3 of Dongdaemun station, walk striaght and turn left up the alley with woori bank on the corner. Follow the alley until it branches right. Everest is there on the 2nd floor .

Namaste Dongmyo - A great and established curry house

jennyc — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:29:22 +0100

Namaste Dongmyo

A great and established curry house

We first came across this chain in Busan. We had a splendid meal, but pretty steep for two. For no reason the waiter took off 7,000 won from the bill and offered us free black tea. How nice!
After returning to Seoul we made a beeline for the Dongmyo branch. It is bang outside exit 5. The friendliness of our original trip to a Namaste was all there. On a Sunday evening it was nearly full.
The décor is very Indian, with statues of Hindu gods, intricate wood carvings and brass ornaments. It has a cosy feel.
The menu has many curry house classics on it, including starters such as samosas and papud. For mains there is a wide selection including achari dishes and biryani. There are some nice twists such as the salads and Nepalese menu.
The waiter brought us water glasses which he filled from a huge pot theatrically at the table. We went for vegetable pakoras : 8 tasty fried balls of vegetables in spicy batter. Not too greasy and not too heavily battered, lovely.
Next I plumped for the thali . This is a great value dish: 3 small curries, salad, 3 nans, Korean rice, tandori chicken and a dessert for 15,000 won. All the elements were tasty, and I couldn’t finish it. I especially enjoyed the salad with mango dressing and tandoori chicken that had been marinated well. The other dish was chicken saag and basmati rice. It was really tasty and the rice cooked to perfection.
All the way along the service was courteous and prompt. The waiter was incredibly smiley and helpful. Also, at the end of our meal I couldn’t fit in the dessert so they knocked us some money off the bill. All together the price was 40,000 for 3 beers with the food. With service, food and surroundings like this, we will definitively be coming back.

Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro - Craving a proper beer in Seoul? Go here!

liam — Tue, 31 May 2011 22:27:31 +0100

Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro

Craving a proper beer in Seoul? Go here!

After living in South Korea for around two weeks it became apparent that the quality of Korean lager was going to become something of a nuisance. To be frank, Korean lager is absolutely awful. This is made even more annoying for me as I really enjoy drinking 'proper' beer, back home in England. I don't want to come across as some ale snob, here - it's just that I really like nice tasting ales.

So you can imagine my joy when I found a place in Seoul that brews its own ale. They have a selection of about 6 different beers on tap - a dark ale, a light ale, an IPA, a pilsner and a couple of others. They're all very tasty too and reasonably priced .

The staff in this place are all very friendly too. From what I can gather, a couple of American chaps moved over to Seoul some years back and saw a big ale shaped gap in the market and opened their own pub/bistro. They seem proud of the place and they have every right to be. They have created a safe haven for people who like a nice beer. All the other staff members are very chatty and friendly which adds to the pubs happy atmosphere.

The decor is fairly simple but stylish. It has an outside area for smokers that is covered by a tent and has plenty of seats and tables. I think this area will become very popular on a summer's evening.

Craftworks also offers a great menu for food if you need a break from Korean grub. Things like bangers and mash, Sunday roast, chilli, burgers and other types of comfort food. They also have a selection of cakes for the sweet tooths among us.

It seems as though Craftworks has a bit of a community and has regulars who attend a lot of their events. They have a quiz night on Wednesdays, Sunday roasts on, well Sunday, a pasta night and small 'ale festivals', where homebrewers can come along and offer customers free samples of their own made ale or makali. All very exciting and nice.

I've been living in Seoul for 3 months now and so far I'd have to say it's the best 'pub' I've been to.

Good work Craftworks - you'll be seeing more of me.

Susie Q's - amazing tunes!

jennyc — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:43:13 +0100

Susie Q's

amazing tunes!

We were out with some people who were trying to find an 80s club. Unfortunately when we got to the street where it should have been, it appeared to have shut down. Just as we were about to panic, we spotted the sign for this place.
It's a downstairs bar and I think you get to it by going down a side street near Club FF.
Inside is a wall full of records and the most enthusiastic DJ you will ever meet. The layout and decor is similar to Motto bar, with one room and kind of dance floor space and a bar at the other end.
They also have a similar drinks menu to Motto which I don't remember being overpriced.
The tunes were just amazing though! We requested so many different songs and the DJ obliged with everything from the Super Furry Animals to some old time rock and roll classics and some 70s hair rock too. We pretty much spent the whole night dancing.
The staff were friendly and the clientele seemed ok, I didn't get to chat to anyone much because of all the dancing fun.

If you want a good dance and to pick some tunes, definitely go here :)

Rock and Roll Bar - Not rock and roll at all!

jennyc — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:15:01 +0100

Rock and Roll Bar

Not rock and roll at all!

Wow, we were totally confused by this place!
Because it was called rock and roll bar, we thought it would be playing, you know, rock and roll. Wrong. This bar was probably playing the worst music I have ever heard. All vocoder remixes of songs that were almost ok dance tunes with horrible pumping 4/4 beats and crummy lyrics . Think Black Eyed peas gone horribly wrong. Then, to make things worse, half way through our drink the CD repeated itself and we had to listen to it all again. So not rock and roll at all.

Anyway, good points: this place is on the 14th floor of the sky scraper on the seafront of the beach so you get an amazing view. This is a massive bonus. We were sat right in the window too so we could enjoy it.

The decor was ok, its a really long, thin room which makes the most of the view out of the window. However, we were sat right by the entrance in the middle of the room so we didn't explore either end of it. I know at one end there were dartboards and near us there was a beer pong table . There looked to be more comfy chairs at the other end and maybe pool tables too. The decor was quite rock and roll, dark lighting and fittings.

Staff did table service which was nice. We had a jug of cass as they didn't have an awful lot to chose from but you could get your usuals, jaeger and so forth. Considering the bar was pretty dead, the service wasn't that friendly but they did do what was required.

I didn't really enjoy anything other than the view, to be brutally honest but I'm sure in summer when the place is busy and hopefully playing better music, it'd be alright.

The Wolfhound - A good pub

jennyc — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:41:54 +0100

The Wolfhound

A good pub

Pub alert!
This place is alot like a real pub and much nicer than the Wolfhound in Seoul. For a start, it's brand new inside and it has a balcony so if the weather's good you can soak up some rays with a Gunniess. Hurrah! Decorwise it's all very pubby, with wooden chairs and tables and a proper pub bar.

They have several beers on draught including Guinness . They also sell Strongbow in bottles, for those of you who want to spend a fortune, it's probably the only cider you'll get to drink in Korea with alcohol in. I stuck to Cass because it was much cheaper, but they do have a shots menu too and a large selection of other boozes. Also, the food menu looked suitably pubby too, with fish and chips and fish pie on there. Pretty good.

There is a darts board at the end of the bar and a few tvs showing footy. The music was good, as it usually is in the Wolfhound in Seoul too.

The best bit about the bar was that it had that pub thing where people come up to you and talk to you, and you make friends. That was really nice because it doesn't always happen in other places so we had a nice chat with people and a laugh.

The bar staff get extra points because they knew how to pour Guinness! YAY! They asked us to sit down while it stood and brought it over. Textbook good service.

If you want a proper pub in Haedundae definitely try out the Wolfhound. We were pleasantly surprised.

Fuzzy Navel - Cocktails near the beach and a bit of flamethrowing too

jennyc — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:26:59 +0100

Fuzzy Navel

Cocktails near the beach and a bit of flamethrowing too

I feel like I'm on holiday! We've just been on the beach, and then we happen by a bar just off the beach with an open patio serving people cocktails. Ahhhh.

We actually went there twice so this is a composite review as we went there once during the day and once at night and it had a totally different feel.

The bar is very western feeling, there isn't really any Korean give away except that Koreans work there and a few were drinking in there. There is a big sqaure bar which takes up most of the room and then bar stools around it and a few high tables after that. There is a dart board in the corner and the bar is kind of seaside themed with a boat in it, nets strewn around and wooden decking on the walls.

They also serve food. It's all Mexican style, we only tried a taco but it was really tasty and reasonably priced.
As for the drinks, the menu is VERY LONG, the selection of cocktails is mind boggling as well as plain confusing, seen as though many of them don't actually have their contents explained. There is also a soju and makgeoli section of cocktails. We went for the safe bet and had strawberry daiquiris. They tasted delish and weren't especially expensive. About half way through our second one, something crazy happened. The bar changed the music, the bar men started frantically flaring and builing a tower out of glasses for 2 customers on the other side of the bar. They placed on top 2 tiny glasses which they then filled with the stuff they'd been throwing about and then LIT A FLAMETHROWER to set the shots alight. Was all very spectacular and slightly against health and safety.

Anyway, that made the night. Service and tunes were good. Definitely had 'spring break' feel in there, both musically and the clientele but it was a good night out and had good cocktails.

To find the bar, come out of Haeundae station and walk to the beach. It's on the left hand side of the road.

Izakaya - A big menu but I wouldn't order the okonomiyaki

jennyc — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:44:13 +0100

Izakaya

A big menu but I wouldn't order the okonomiyaki

I've really been hankering after some Japanese bar food so we thought a tirp to the aptly named 'Izakaya' would be a good idea.

The first thing that hit me was the difference between Korean and Japanese bar restaurants. The place was pretty functionally done out inside but still had more aesthetic apeal than your average Korean establishment. Its tiny inside and I was suprised that we got a table, but we were ushered to the back of the restaurant where you take your shoes off and sit in the Japanese style drop table, so you aren't kneeling but it gives the impression of that. There were 3 other tables in our area and about 4 other in the whole restaurant.

The menu came and it's extensive with all manner of Japanese fried things such as tempura, yaki tori and fried chicken pieces, tofu and so forth as well as soups and hot pots, pancakes and sashimi. There's also a selection of sakis and shochu. We went a bit crazy ordering, I had fried tofu with bonito flakes, okonomiyaki, ebi panko tempura and yaki gyoza. The quality was all good, except for my okonomiyaki which was cold on the inside, almost like it had been warmed from frozen, very strange. It was nice to have the Japanes pickles as an accompanyment rather than Korean ones for a change too. We had draught asahi beer which was amazing and not too expensive at 5,000 won. The food, however as a little steep and the whole bill was 62,000 for 2 beers each and the food. Definitely a bit of a treat.

The music was not noticable yet the atmosphere was buzzy because the place was small and people were relaxing on the weekend. The table next to us had a friendly guy who kept saying little things in english . Our waitress helped us order but was more functional than friendly in her outlook which is fair enough.

I really enjoyed our meal there, but I think that the price and the fact that one of the dishes wasn't even cooked properly means I probably will try a different place next time I'm after Japanese food.

To find Izakaya at Hangangjin subway on line 6, just one stop off Itaewon. When leaving the subway, walk towards Itaewon and keep on the right hand side of the road. You'll see it just up a side street about 5 mins walk from the station. it has Izakaya written in English on it.