Sulbing (설빙) Korean Dessert Cafe

August 29, 2014August 26, 20143 Comments

Shaved ice or patbingsu is what Koreans rave about when they talk about desserts. But to be honest, I was sort of getting sick of shaved ice… It constantly gives me a brain freeze and I was just tired of having it all the time. Were there any other Korean desserts other than shaved ice?! Well, we stumbled at Sulbing (설빙), which is only written in Korean on their signage. On the side, it says Korean Dessert Cafe. Since we could only read the English, we decided to go there and hope for some other desserts. Upon arriving, we saw more shaved ice… Seriously?! Well, we were tired from all the walking, and just wanted to sit down. The place was bustling with a self serve type of system. We found the only seat available and sent one of our friends to go order. We decided we would share one shaved ice between the four of us.

Berry Sulbing

They have the buzzer system here, so you get notified when your food is ready. To our surprise, it wasn’t the typical patbingsu! It was Sulbing! Sulbing originated in Busan, and essentially means “snow ice.” Similar to shaved ice, but the ice are shaved so thin, that they are like powdered snow! None of that crunchy texture, but a powder of snow that just melts in your mouth! Absolutely delicious! We ordered the Berry Sulbing, which came with blueberries, raspberries, and dried cranberries. All sulbings come with condensed milk, which you drizzle on top to add sweetness to your dessert. So delicious! This is a must try if you’ve already tried the typical patbingsu. They are around 9,000 won each but comes in a huge bowl and is perfect for sharing. They also have a Cheese Sulbing which I hear is surprisingly really good. Definitely looking forward to trying that next time I visit! The cafe also offers many other drinks and food items like toast.

You can find Sulbing Dessert Cafe at many locations around Seoul and Busan. We ate at the one in Yeongdeungpo-gu, but pictured above is the location in Myeongdong.

Shinsegae (Gangnam) – Seoul

August 27, 2014August 26, 2014Leave a comment

Brick Pop

A trip to Seoul isn’t complete without checking out the famous Gangnam district. The Gangnam district is known to be one of the wealthiest districts in South Korea with high living standards. We took a taxi there and immediately found the area to have many high rises and business looking buildings. We decided to get dropped off at Shinsegae Department store. A trip to Shinsegae means going to the basement level to the food department! We came across Brick Pop, which features bright and vibrant popsicles using real fruit.

K got this one which had a slice of peach and some passionfruit flavour. Very refreshing and I love the concept of how they place an actual piece of fruit inside! They come to around 3,900 won, or around CAD$4.

I found these pastry looking items in a different stall and was curious to try them out. They remind me of the Japanese pastries.

The outer shell is slightly crispy and the inside is filled with red bean paste. Not too sweet, and the dough itself is a little crumbly. Average, and nothing too special.

Last but not least, we found these croquettes at Menagerie. They have different fillings, but we chose the Meat Croquette. The outside is deep fried and quite oily, but extremely crispy. To my surprise, the meat reminded me of the meat fillings inside Chinese buns! Not exactly what I had expected, but it was surprisingly really good.

Overall, you should definitely check out the food level at a Shinsegae in Seoul. You don’t neccessarily have to go to the one in Gangnam, since they are pretty much the same. Gangnam’s underground shopping was pretty good though. If you’re looking for cheap clothes, I would suggest checking it out. Other than that, we didn’t really know where else to go in Gangnam. We were told by a local friend that it’s much easier to get around by car in the Gangnam area and that there are plenty of cute cafes in the area.

Address: 176, Sinbanpo-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul

Gwangjang Market (광장시장) – Seoul

August 26, 2014August 23, 2014Leave a comment

I love the comfort of eating at a restaurant or cafe, but street food is honestly what it’s all about. The sanitary standards may not be up to par, but honestly, sometimes I find the best food out in the streets. After a day of shopping, we locked our goodies in the lockers at the metro stations (best invention), and off we went to Gwangjang Market. This market began in 1905 and has over 100 years of history! It’s one of Korea’s largest markets and is the oldest! You may have heard of Namdaemun and Dondgdaemun Market, which are famous for their wholesale and cheap prices, but many people aren’t aware of this hidden gem – Gwangjang Market! During the day, there are shops that sell everything from silks, clothing to kitchenware. However, by night, the food scene is the what’s bustling here! The front section is filled with packaged food and I was surprised to see many international items, including American chocolate and candy.

As you walk in, it becomes many of the food stalls. A super simple set up with benches in front of the cooking area, you are literally sitting shoulder to shoulder here. You’ll find everyone eating here, from office people to tourists like myself.

Apparently, there is a Jeon Alley, which I believe we hit. Jeon is basically any ingredient that is battered and pan fried in oil. It’s sort like a pancake dish. These are mostly vegetable jeons.

Here, you’ll find everything from spicy race cake (tteokbokki), potato glass noodle (japchae), to blood sausages (sundae). The stalls are all operated by these older aged ladies or aunties (ajummas). They can be pretty fierce and demanding, but at the end of the day, they just want to be efficient and get the food to you.

We ended up settling here, since we saw there was space to sit down! To be honest, most of the stalls serve the same things, so it didn’t seem any different.

Gimbap

First, we got the famous Gimbap! Rice filled with simple vegetables and wrapped with seaweed. Our gimbaps were rather simple, with only pickled radish and carrots inside. It was brushed with sesame oil and sprinkled with white sesame. It came with a dipping sauce too, which wasn’t exactly soy sauce. I’m not sure what it was, but these gimbaps were super addicting with the sauce! I was sitting literally on the edge of the bench, almost falling off, but it was well worth it! There was a granny in front of me who was rolling these gimbaps, and she was super friendly even though she couldn’t speak any English. She ended up giving me a free roll that she had just wrapped! Super cute! I hear there is a Gimbap Alley nearby too….

Bindaetteok

If you walk around the market, you will see this huge pancakes being sizzled in guzzling oil. I was determined to try them, and later learned that they were called Bindaetteok. They are mung bean pancakes which are fried in oil. The mung beans are first soaked and then turned into a batter by grinding them in between millstones. Pretty cool! Apparently, this market is the place to get the traditional mung bean pancakes. I have to say that they are quite oily, but at the same time, really delicious! Dip it into the dipping sauce which is made of rice vinegar, soy sauce and slices of onion, and you will be super addicted. These pancakes are also fairly cheap, but will get you very full. Crispy on the outside, and gooey inside!

Yachae Twigim

We saw a bunch of colourful deep fried goodies in front of us, so we asked the diner next to us what they were since he knew a bit of English. Funny enough, he said he didn’t really know. He just knew they were deep fried and really delicious and couldn’t be bothered to know exactly what he was eating! Anyways, we got an order of it, and it came as an assortment. After some research, I learned that they were called Yachae Twigim. They’re basically deep fried vegetables. A lot of the ones we had were actually something similar to bean curd though. It had a chewy texture which was interesting but good! There was also something similar to deep fried kimchi, chives and imitation crab, zucchini, and peppers. Some were more spicy than the others, but I think it’s worth trying if you have others to share with. Probably something you can’t get in restaurants!

That ended our meal at that stall, but walking around for a bit more, we decided to sit down at another. It’s like food stall hopping here! Ps. Look at that huge long black thing… It’s the Sundae, or Korean blood sausage… Yup, I’ve had it in Vancouver, but I wasn’t looking forward to having it again. Not my cup of tea!

Tteokbokki

At this stall, we went for the Tteokbokki, also known as the spicy rice cake. These were rather fat pieces, but still very soft! I found this sauce to be quite spicy compared to the other ones I’ve had in Seoul. I love how they wrap their plates with plastic bags. So smart. Less cleaning for sure, and it’s also a great way to pack up your rice cakes in case you can’t finish.

Eomukguk (Fish Cake Soup)

Next, we had the Eomukguk, which is essentially fish cake soup. Mmmm, I absolutely love this and could eat this every day! Apparently, people love to eat this with the spicy rice cake, since the broth is super warming after having the spicy rice cakes! The soup is made from anchovy stock and is extremely flavourful. I couldn’t help but finish all the stock! It also had seaweed in it which helped bring the seafood flavour. The fish cakes are soft and chewy. A must!

Japchae

Last but not least, we had Japchae. Japchae is made from sweet potato noodles and is stir fried. It’s usually mixed with vegetables and other ingredients like beef. It’s stir fried with sesame oil and often topped with more sesame, so it’s very pungent in that flavour. Our japchae did not have any meat in it, nor any vegetables other than green onions. But holy, these were probably the best japchae I’ve had! The noodles were very thing and bouncy and were served lukewarm. So simple, but so delicious!

A must see if you like food and want to experience some traditional street food! However, be warned that when you visit in the summer, you will be drenched in street. When my hair is up, this means serious business. We were all sweaty by the end of our meal, but it was well worth it! Be sure to check out the Yukhoe Alley as well, which is a few alleys down. It has several restaurant serving up Yukhoe, the famous Korean steak tartare. Get off Jongno-5 and exit #9, and you will find Gwangjang Market!

Solid Works Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream – Seoul

August 25, 2014August 23, 2014Leave a comment

Korea is famous for starting trends, and their food scene is always full of crazy interesting new food. The newest trend is the liquid nitrogen ice cream. The ice cream tastes the same, but there’s cold air oozing out so it’s all mysterious looking. Plus, just by watching the making of this ice cream is an interesting show. Solid Works recently opened in June in Seoul, tucked away at the end of a street in the Ewha shopping district. We saw people walking out with super cool looking ice cream with syringes, and we couldn’t help but go take a look. A huge line up was formed in the tiny shop, and we literally waited a good 30 minutes for our ice cream.

The concept is supposed to make it look like a laboratory. I believe Flask, which opened in Busan was the first to come up with the concept in Korea. Their atmosphere looks way more interesting, whereas at Solid Works, only one of the workers was wearing the lab coat. With Kitchen Aid cake mixers, they literally make your liquid nitrogen ice cream on the spot. Therefore, it takes quite a while, especially since they only have two workers.

Mango Gelato

C got the Mango Gelato, and it was full of mango flavour. Very yummy! Love the cold air effect. I guess this place is really more for the pictures and cool experience seeing how it’s made.

Ferrero Roche Gelato

K and I shared the Ferrero Roche Gelato. I personally like to eat fruit flavoured gelatos since it’s more refreshing, but the only one with the syringe in it was the ferrero roche or tiramisu. I can’t believe by the time we got to order, the tiramisu was sold out! Super disappointed! Anyways, our ferrero roche gelato also came with Simpson chocolate cookies and a chocolate pirouline. The syringe was filled with chocolate syrup which you can squirt on your ice cream. The ice cream was smooth and creamy and tasted just like any other ice cream. Plus, the price isn’t even bad. At around CAD$5 a cup, it’s not even bad considering how much gelato can be in Vancouver. Cool concept!

Address: 34-48 Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

Bonjuk (Insadong) – Seoul

August 24, 2014August 23, 2014Leave a comment

Bonjuk is a chain restaurant that mainly sells Juk, which is a Korean rice porridge. Rice porridge used to only be eaten when you’re sick or if you’re a child due to its easy digestibility, but today, it is a dish that’s part of casual dining. We went to the one closest to our apartment, which was on the main tourist street of Insadong.

Seafood Combination Porridge

The juk at Bonjuk come in sets. You choose your porridge, and it comes with a few side dishes and a small drink. On the very left was kimchi. Next, shreds of marinated beef which was super delicious! We added this to our porridge. The flavour of the beef is super addicting! Next to that is a bit of chili paste which you can add to your porridge to bring some spice to it. In front of that is a cold bowl of sweet and sour water with radish in it. The tea is also really good! It’s cold and sweet. I can’t really describe the flavour, but it reminded me of plum juice at Chinese hot pots. For myself, I chose the Seafood Combination Porridge. All porridge come topped with ground sesame and seaweed. I had shrimp, oysters, octopus in my porridge. Extremely delicious and they don’t skimp on the ingredients! The bowl is also huge, so we later realized we could’ve probably shared one between the two of us.

Bulgogi Octopus Porridge

K got the Bulgogi Octopus Porridge. It looks quite similar to mine, except it has more of that bulgogi marinade flavour to it. She was extremely disappointed with the octopus though. It was way to tough and chewy! Probably not very easy to digest even after chewing. She ended up leaving most of the octopus in her bowl.

Crab Meat Porridge

C got the Crab Meat Porridge, which again, looked just like the others. However, you’ll find imitation crab meat in the porridge.

Octopus Kimchi Porridge

T got the Octopus Kimchi Porridge, which was the only one that looked slightly different. It came in a orange coloured broth. This is basically the spicy version of what K got. Again, her octopus were not tender and ended up being too chewy to eat. She loved the spice of the porridge though!

Overall, Bonjuk is a great place to try Korean rice porridge. It may not be the best, but the quality is always decent. And most of the menu items are under 10,000 won unless you choose the fancy ones that include abalone. Most of us couldn’t finish our whole bowl too. You can take out the rest and they provide you with microwavable containers. Definitely a very good deal, and service was quite good. Comfortable seats too!

Address: 155-9, Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Tom N Toms Coffee – Busan

August 20, 20141 Comment

Tom N Toms Coffee is a South Korean coffee shop with multiple franchises. We saw plenty in Seoul, but we always ended up eating something else. We decided to get breakfast here since it was next to the metro station where we lived in Busan. We got take out so we could bring it on our train back to Seoul. Other than coffee and other beverages and snacks you would find at a coffee shop, they are also famous for their pretzels. Their pretzels are freshly made to order and you can see here the lady is rolling out our pretzels. Since it is freshly made, it does take around 10-15 minutes, so don’t get it if you’re in a hurry. We were almost late for our train!

This is their menu for pretzels. There are definitely a lot of variety. From sweet to savory, there is something for everyone. You can also make it into a set, which comes with a drink.

Parmesan Pretzel

K and I decided to share two pretzels. First, we got the Parmesan Pretzel, which we found to be our least favourite out of the two. The pretzel wasn’t a whole, and instead, was cut up into little bites. Tons of Parmesan cheese on it, so the flavour was really good. However, we found the texture wasn’t as soft as the other pretzel. We felt like it was a bit of a rip off compared to the other pretzels, since it was quite plain. Something you could get at a pizza shop too.

Corn Pretzel

The Corn Pretzel was really good! A pretzel baked with mayo, sweet corn and cheddar cheese. The dough was super soft, and the stringy cheese along with the sweet flavour of the corn was a great match. I would definitely recommend this one! All in all, a great place to visit if you want some coffee and pretzels. A great change from the typical Starbucks menu. The pretzels aren’t cheap though, as they price around CAD$5-$7 each. You could definitely get a bowl of noodles at a Korean restaurant at this price. I guess anything that speaks American or European food in South Korea is pricier. Until next time Busan! Next up, back to Seoul!

Soft Queen Bee & other Food at Lotte Department (Gwangbok Store) – Busan

August 15, 20141 Comment

Koran Oden

If you get off at Nampo station and take exit 10, you’ll be connected to the Lotte Department store. There are various Lotte’s in Busan, let alone Seoul, and this location was called the Gwangbok Store. Lotte Department store is the major department store in Korea. They sell everything from fashion, to books, to computers and gadgets. A one stop destination with international and local brands. Well, other than clothing and technology, they also sell food! At the bottom floor of the department is a floor dedicated to food! Restaurants, little small pop up shops and even a supermarket. Of course we headed straight there! Not only do they sell Korean food, but even Japanese, American, Italian and much more! We ended up trying some Korean Oden at one of the stalls. It came with two fish-like balls, and two fish cakes. I like how they add a bit of carrot, peas, and green onion in their balls, so it’s different from Chinese fish balls. The oden broth was light and flavourful. Very yummy!

Tteokbokki

J got the Tteokbokki, which is spicy Korean rice cake. I find that in Korea, the rice cake is cooked to a much softer texture, but still remains the chewiness and stickiness. Much better than the ones in Vancouver. It also came with some slices of fish cake, which are my all time favourite. The sauce was surprisingly not too spicy, but had a hint of sweetness to it. Great to share!

At another stall, we found honeycomb ice cream, which is the new trend in Korea. The stall was called Soft Queen Bee. I believe they have a bunch of other stores around South Korea. Honey with milk ice cream is what everyone talks about in Korea. Almost all ice cream shops sell this now.

Their menu only has 6 flavours. The base is the milk ice cream, with honey added to it. Then you can choose different toppings, such as caramel or the actual honeycomb. It’s a bit pricey at around CAD$5 for a small cup.

Honey Cube Cream Bee

I chose the Honey Cube Cream Bee. The milky ice cream is drizzled with honey and topped with an actual honeycomb. I’ve never had a honeycomb before so it was pretty neat! I bit into the honeycomb and left it on my tongue. All the honey will come out and what’s left is the comb. I found it sort of odd. It was kind of like wax or plastic left. I really didn’t like the plastic texture left, but I loved the part when the honey came out. The ice cream itself is very creamy and strong in milk flavour. Mixed with the honey, it’s like smooth cream in your mouth. Really good! I think I would opt for just honey and the milk ice cream next time, since I didn’t really enjoy the honeycomb itself.

Overall, Lotte Department has an assortment of food to choose from. It’s a great place to even just grab some snacks. Lots of bakeries and cake shops too! A must see if you have never been to a department store with one floor dedicated to food!

Caffe Artigiano – Seoul

August 10, 2014August 9, 20142 Comments

Grapefruit and Vanilla Ice Cream Patbingsu

Caffe Artigiano is actually a Vancouver based coffee shop, and I’ve actually been there once for a latte. I expected to see Starbucks in Seoul, but to my surprise, they also had a Caffe Artigiano. I don’t like to go into these international franchises when I’m traveling, but the other girls wanted a quick snack and to recover from all the walking. We ended up ordering some Patbingsu to share. I was surprised to find that they sold this at the coffee shop. I guess their menu is quite different so that it can cater to the Koreans. Patbingsu or Patbingsoo is Korean shaved ice and is often topped with sweet ingredients. My friends chose the Grapefruit Patbingsu, which brought some acidity to the dish. It also came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Quite refreshing after a long day in the heat!

Red Bean, Kinako, Mochi, and Vanilla Ice Cream Patbingsu

K and I shared the Red Bean Patbingsu. It came with some mochi slices, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and lots of kinako. Kinako is roasted soybean flour, which is slightly sweet. A very popular topping for patbingsu and mochi.

Overall, the patbingsu were average. I didn’t find them to be too special. Plus, I found it quite expensive. They were around $9 each, which is quite pricey in Seoul. I’m sure you can get it for a cheaper price.

Every Day is a Food Day

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