Red Tuna

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After a long hike at Garibaldi, we decided to grab food before heading home. Somehow after searching on Urbanspoon, we ended up at Red Tuna on Dunbar. My UBC bus used to go down this road every day, yet I have never noticed Red Tuna. Well, there were actually quite a few tables of diners here on a random weekday. I believe the restaurant is Korean owned, since their menu has a some Korean items and the servers looked Korean.

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Combo

They have a regular menu with things such as specialty rolls, but they are over $10 each. All of us ended up going for their combos which seemed to be a better deal. I don’t remember exactly what Y’s combo number was, but it included an assortment of Tempura, 2 pieces of Tuna Nigiri, 2 pieces of Salmon Nigiri, Chicken Karage, Chicken Teriyaki on Rice, and a Salad. Y said that the nigiris were alright, but the chicken karage was pretty weird. Everyone also agreed that the sauce on the salad was terrible. No one ended up eating it. It sort of tasted like celery? Not sure, but it wasn’t your typical Japanese salad.

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Sushi Boat A

As for myself, I went for the Sushi Boat A, which surprisingly did not come on a boat like its name. My order came with 2 pieces of salmon nigiri, 2 pieces of tuna, 2 pieces of ebi, 1 piece of hamachi, 1 piece of tamgao and a 6 piece roll of tuna maki. I found everything to be quite average. It wasn’t terrible, but nothing that was very memorable. The hamachi was probably the most memorable, being that it was extremely hard to chew on for some reason… Other than that, everyone was decent and I guess for under $15, this isn’t too bad.

All in all, Red Tuna is average, but I probably would not revisit anytime soon. There are much better sushi joints out there.

Red Tuna Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

White Spot (Ackroyd)

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August 13th was Pirate Pak Day at White Spot, so of course we had to go check it out! I haven’t had a Pirate Pak in ages, and today was the day you could relive the past and order an adult sized pirate pak! We decided to go to the one at No. 3 and Ackroyd, hoping there would be less people. A 20 minute wait or so, and we were seated. It was quite busy in there, with families, young adults and teenagers all ready to relive their childhood.

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Provolone Veggie Burger

K got the Provolone Veggie Burger, which is the vegetarian option. It came with loads of mushrooms and provolone cheese, which melted perfectly. The bun was also whole wheat, so much more healthy! All pirate paks come with a side of coleslaw, fries, soft drink, and ice cream.

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Bacon Cheddar Bigger Burger

J got the Bacon Cheddar Bigger Burger, which came with a beef patty, but also bacon and cheddar. Looked really yummy!

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Legendary Burger

For myself, I got the Legendary Burger and added the cheddar cheese. It looked quite messy, but the special O sauce was so delicious! It was a mix of ketchup and mayo. The patty was moist and cooked nicely.

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The coleslaw that came with the pak however, was really gross. It was all dried up and the slaw wasn’t fresh. I also disliked the sauce they used. Barely finished that.

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Chocolate Ice Cream

As for the ice cream, it was also quite a disappointment. It came already scooped into a container and was your typical superstore ice cream. You could select from strawberry, chocolate, or vanilla.

Overall, it’s nice to relive your childhood once a year on Pirate Pak Day. However, I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, especially when the adult pirate paks are twice the price. You can actually order children pirate paks online and get take out instead. I’m leaning towards that since they have more varieties in food choices other than burgers!

 

Moncton Cafe

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I never really knew what Moncton Cafe was for the longest time. For some reason, I never notice it. Finally, we made a trip to Steveston to try out this Japanese restaurant. It features yoshoku, which means Japanese cuisine that has Western influences.

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The restaurant was half filled but has steady customers. It feels like home in here, with wooden furniture and paintings of destinations around the world. Service is a bit slow here, but bearable. At lunch time, they have deals which include the an entree, soup, and salad at the price of just a regular entree.

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Soup and Salad

Here is the soup and salad that came along. The Soup is a miso soup and comes in a little cup. Very typical and nothing too significant. The Salad was very good! I think the dressing made it so delicious. It’s zesty and very appetizing. It’s mixed with lettuce, corn and radish.

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Hamburg Curry – hamburger steak with curry sauce over steamed rice

I chose the Hamburg Curry, which features the hamburger steak. The patty was moist and flavourful. The curry was a Japanese curry, with it being sweet with a hint of spice. It’s actually quite a big portion and you’ll be more than filled up after.

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House Hamburg – hamburger steak with demi-glace sauce

J got the House Hamburg, which features the same hamburger steak but comes with a demi-glace sauce. The sauce came with mushrooms and was very flavourful. I actually preferred the demi-glace sauce to my curry sauce.

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Vegetable Curry – pan fried assorted vegetable with curry sauce over steamed rice

K got the Vegetable Curry, which came with the same curry sauce but with an assortment of vegetables that had been pan fried. Very simple, but perfect for vegetarians.

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Mentaiko Pasta – spaghetti with spicy cod roe cream sauce

S didn’t go for the rice, but rather the Mentaiko Pasta. The spaghetti was covered in a cream sauce, mixed with cod roe, and topped with seaweed. It was decent, but I didn’t think it was the best. The sauce could be worked on.

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Overall, Moncton Cafe is a great place to go for yoshoku. I don’t think we have too many of these restaurant in Richmond. Portions are great for the price you pay, especially during lunch time. They also have other appetizers and desserts on their menu. We even saw takoyaki cream puffs! I wonder what that’s like!

Moncton Cafe on Urbanspoon

Sushizanmai (Shibuya East Exit Branch) – Tokyo

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C’s friend suggested that we should try Sushizanmai, which has several locations in Tokyo. A popular location is actually the one near the Tsukiji Fish Market. However, we decided to check out the one at Shibuya’s East Exit. Here, they are open 24 hours! When we arrived, there was a bar table and some tables, and all were empty but around two. However, they told us they were all reserved. We were only allowed to eat at the bar table.

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Plum Wine

I love plum wine and since I hadn’t tried it in Japan this whole trip, I decided it was time to try it out. Sadly, it was slightly different from the ones I’ve had before. It wasn’t that sweet ume plum taste. It was also quite pricey for a very small glass. Should have probably bought a bottle at the sueprmarket instead.

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Maguro Tuna, Squid Legs, Scallop

The nigiris here are a lot more pricey than the ones I’ve had so far. But by no means is it crazily expensive like Jiros. I would say it’s quite average pricing and similar to Vancouver’s. Since we were here for more of a snack, we each ordered a few nigiris only. I chose the Tuna, which was probably the best I had so far. Next were the squid legs, which were decent, but not the best. I wish they had added a sauce to it. Lastly, the scallops were very fresh.

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Blue Fin Toro Temaki

I also added an order of the Blue Fin Toro Temaki. The toro was very fatty and buttery. There was actually quite a lot wrapped in the rice. Yummy!

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Fried Squid

C ordered the Fried Squid for us to share. Grilled Squid which was then battered and fried. It was decent with the squid being very tender, but I thought the batter was just decent.

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Uni Temaki

K ordered the Uni Temaki, which is sea urchin. She said the uni here was much more fresh than the one at Sushi Daidokoya.

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Maguro Tuna, Fatty Tuna, Scallop

She also got a few nigiris. She got the Maguro Tuna and Scallop, just as I did. However, in the middle, she also got the Fatty Tuna, which she said was very buttery.

I believe they also have nigiri sets, which are probably a better deal. Good quality food, but I would settle for the standing sushi bar since it’s much cheaper.

Address: 2 Chome-22-11 Shibuya, Tokyo

Sushi Daidokoya すし台所家 (Shibuya) – Tokyo

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Sushi Daidokoya is located in Shibuya and literally just by the corner of our apartment. Every time we walk past it, there are people in it. For me, it’s always a good sign when I see people inside a restaurant. It’s open from the morning until late night. During the day, they have some pretty good deals like Chirashi-don. Wish I had tried that… Anyways, after a tiring day in the sun, we decided to head down to grab a late night snack.

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Sushi Daidokoya offers kaiten sushi, or more familiarly known as conveyor belt sushi! However, at the time we arrived, there weren’t too many sushi on the conveyor belt. Instead, we were told we could just tell the chef what we wanted and they would place the order. Pricing is determined by the colour of the plate. Luckily, a Japanese couple sat next to us and were able to speak English fluently. They were able to give us some tips on what was good!

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The server gave us an English menu with pictures. Most orders come in two and are very well priced. Some items are pricier than at the Standing Sushi Bar (my personal favourite), but some are cheaper. Really depends on what you order. It ranges from 120 yen to 500 yen.

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Maguro – Tuna (120yen)

The tuna did not look as nice as the one at the Standing Sushi Bar, but was still very fresh. Cheap price tag too!

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3 Types of Grilled Fish (500 yen)

We ordered the 3 types of grilled fish, which were as named, all slightly seared on the top. I didn’t try all of them, but I had the one in the middle. I believe it was aburi salmon. Not bad!

 

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Grilled Fatty Salmon – Aburi Toro Salmon (240 yen)

The grilled fatty salmon comes in two as well, but someone ate the piece too quickly! This piece of salmon was more fatty than the previous one. It was lightly seared and topped with some wasabi. It melted in your mouth! Loved it!

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Tamago

The Japanese couple recommended us to try the Tamago. Here, the tamago are in thick blocks and filled with other ingredients like sausage! It was really yummy! Not your regular tamago.

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Scallop – Hotate (240 yen)

The scallop were thick and fatty. Again, I found that they put much more wasabi in the scallop nigiris. I wonder why… Still good!

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Sea Urchin – Uni (240 yen)

Say what? Sea urchin nigiri for only 120 yen a piece? That’s equivalent to roughly $1.20 in Canadian! However, we were slightly disappointed. It wasn’t as fresh and had a fishy taste. They also had the Supreme Sea Urchin on the menu for double the price though… Perhaps we should’ve gotten that instead?

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Yellow Tail – Hamachi (120 yen)

Yellow tail can be quite pricey in Canada, but this was a steal! I didn’t get a chance to try this one, but the girls said it was pretty good!

 

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Octopus – Tako (120 yen)

I tried the Octopus, which was very good. Normally, octopus can be slightly too chewy. However, this one was more tender than tough.

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Horse Meat – Sakura (500 yen)

Um ues, this was horse meat. Raw horse meat to be exact. I know it may be a taboo in many countries, but it isn’t something too rare in Japanese cuisine. Topped with a bit of ginger, you can still see some of the fat. I took a nibble from the meat and found it to be very gamey. It sort of reminded me of lamb. K ate it and said it wasn’t terrible, but not something she loved. Apparently, they serve raw whale meat here too…

 

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Raw Octopus – Namadako (240 yen)

Lastly, we had the Octopus. I found that it reminded me of cuttlefish. It’s not live octopus, so don’t worry about the suction cups like in Korea… I liked the bouncy chewy texture. Yummy!

Overall, Sushi Daidokoya is great if you want to try a large variety of fish. They also have specials written on signs on the conveyor belt, but it’s mostly in Japanese. If you’re daring and want to try some exotic items you are unlikely to find in America, then this is the place to go! Prices aren’t too bad either and the chefs are very nice even though they don’t speak too much English.

Gundam and Takoyaki Museum at Odaiba – Tokyo

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Fuji Television Studio

The next day, we made a trip to Odaiba by metro. Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo Bay which was initially built for defense, but is now a popular spot for tourists. Upon getting off the metro, we walked across this skywalk where we immediately saw a beautiful building. This was the Fuji Television studio! Apparently there is an observation deck on the top floor too.

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We then walked into Diver City Tokyo Plaza, which is a large shopping mall that is also filled with entertainment. It had the typical big international brands like any other mall, but it also had a Calbee shop! Calbee chips are my favourite! Here, you can also get freshly fried chips, and some had chocolate toppings on them… We ended buying a few bags with unique flavours I haven’t seen in Vancouver. Pretty cool!

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Gundam at Diver City Tokyo Plaza

The main purpose of going into the Diver City Tokyo Plaza, was to exit on the other side where the huge permanent Gundam model was situated. I don’t watch Japanese anime, but from what I know Gundam is a giant robot. Here, they placed a 1:1 lifesize statue of the robot. It’s pretty cool! Apparently at specific times, the robot will move too! There’s lights turned on and you can see it when it’s darker.

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You can actually walk under the Gundam! Other than the statue, there is a Gundam Cafe, and a venue inside the plaza called Gundam Front Tokyo, which features more Gundam related experiences.

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Daikanransha Ferris Wheel

Nearby, you can also see the Daikanransha Ferris Wheel. It was the tallest ferris wheel when it was first built, but is now the 12th tallest in the world. When the sun began to set, the ferris wheel lit up with beautiful lights and the pattern changed every few minutes. Beautiful!

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Odaiba Takoyaki Museum

While walking towards another mall, the sky suddenly turned black and rain just poured on us. What’s worse was none of us had brought umbrellas. Lightning and thunder then stroke. Super scary! I’ve never been under lightning out in the open street. We quickly ran to the closest building, which was called Decks Tokyo Beach. The complex is more like a entertainment facility. It’s got themed buildings and has a boardwalk so you feel like you’re by the beach. We quickly realized, there was a Takoyaki Museum here!

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The museum is free, and honestly not really a museum. It’s just an area with lots of takoyaki themed items. Cute place to take some photos!

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They have an area for takoyaki souvenirs. Tako plushies, keychains, and some other very odd items. Takoyaki food items like chips as well.

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They also had a showcase of the takoyaki pans.

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At the end, you will find a bunch of stalls selling takoyaki. To be honest, they seemed to sell pretty much the same takoyaki with similar price points.

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Takoyaki

we went for the 4 by 4 takoyaki. 4 takoyakis each of each of the 4 flavours. Two of the takoyakis had a lot of green onions piled on it. Almost way too much. However, it tasted really good! The sauce was the major factor that made each different. On the bottom left, these takoyakis were sort of like tofu! At least that’s what we came up with at the end. We were to dip it in the oden soup. It was quite delicious, but it fell apart really easily. Overall, the takoyaki were good, but they were very soft. I’m not sure if that’s how takoyaki is actually supposed to be like. However, I feel like you can probably get just as good takoyaki out in the streets. The prices are probably higher at the museum since it’s a tourist spot.

Definitely check Odaiba out if you have some time. It’s a nice change from the busy city center. There is also the Tricks Museum in the Decks Tokyo Beach plaza, which I hear is quite fun!

Tamago to Watashi 卵と私 (MyLord Shinjuku) – Tokyo

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The next day, we headed to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is known to be filled with great shopping and businesses. The Shinjuku station is also the busiest train station in the world! Next to the station, there is a large shopping mall called MyLord filled with young women fashion that is more affordable. On the top 3 floors, it nests a variety of restaurants. We ended up trying Tamago to Watashi.

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Tamago to Watashi focuses on omurice. It’s an omlette filled with fried rice and can be topped with several different sauces. The most original one is probably topped with ketchup. This is a western style Japanese dish.

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Omurice with Demi-Glace Sauce

C and T shared the Omurice with Demi-Glace Sauce. They said the sauce was very good!

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Demi-glace and White Sauce Omurice

K and I chose the Demi-glace and White Sauce Omurice. The omlette was mixed with both the demi-glace sauce and a white creamy sauce. The demi-glace came with some mushrooms to bring more flavour to it. The rice was cooked well and served hot.

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The restaurant forces you to purchase at least one item per customer, whether it be just a drink or what not. So we ended up getting an iced tea with it. The iced tea was the American type of iced tea, where it was unsweetened. Our meal also came with a soup, which had a very flavourful stock. Overall, Tamago to Watashi was decent. I found it a little pricey with the omurice being at least 1,000 yen. It was good, but wasn’t amazing.

Address: 160-0023 Tokyo, Shinjuku, Nishishinjuku, 1 Chome−1−3, 小田急新宿ミロード7F

Warawara – Seoul

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After dinner, the boys took us to look for some fruit soju! We took a 10 minute walk and ended up in a street full of bars. And this was a random Wednesday night, but the street was busy! Shows how much Koreans love to drink! Anyways, we ended up Warawara, which is supposed to be famous for their fruit sojus. The dining bar was in the basement floor, and the decor is all wooden. I liked how they had little rooms with blinds separating you from other diners so it gives you some privacy.

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Italian Creamy Fried Chicken

Apparently, you must eat when you drink! It’s drinking etiquette to always order at least one dish to share. They say that’s how they get drunk, since you keep eating, and so you’ll drink more… Anyways, we ordered the Italian Creamy Fried Chicken, which was by far my favourite fried chicken we had in Korea. It definitely had to do with the creamy and cheesy sauce! I had thought that the best fried chicken would be the classic, but they really know how to fusion up their classic fried chicken. They were little chicken balls that were boneless, so no hassle with deboning. Filled with vegetables like corn, peppers, broccoli and onions, the dish was extremely flavourful!

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Then came our fruit sojus! What’s cool about this bar is that they actually use fresh fruit to make your soju or other alcoholic drinks. None of that cheap processed juice or powder! What’s even cooler is that they actually present the drink in the fruit’s shell! So here we have the server actually physically bring us all the equipment to make the soju. His blender was filled up half with soju already. He then pulls out the pineapple with a metal tool.

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He then actually blends the whole drink in front of us! Super cool! Plus, you’re guaranteed it’s fresh!

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Pineapple Soju

And here we have the finished product of the Pineapple Soju! He fills the pineapple shell with half of the soju and places it on a plate filled with ice to keep it cold. Loved the experience and the drink was absolutely delicious! I love how you get some pineapple pulp in it, and it tastes more like juice than alcohol! I see how you can get drunk off of this so easily…

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Watermelon Soju

The pineapple soju was so good that we had to get another round of soju! This time, we chose the Watermelon Soju. Unfortunately, they said they ran out of the actual watermelon skin for the bowl, so we were only able to get it in a jar already made. I’m not sure how that works out though, because where did the watermelon come from if there’s no shell for it…? Odd… Again, super refreshing! These fruit sojus are a must try if you normally like calpico sojus that are flavoured peach or grape and such. Never thought these fruits would be so great with soju!

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Cass Beer

We mentioned how we liked the Korean beers, since it’s really light and diluted, so the boys taught us how they normally drink their beers. This time, we tried Cass, which is also a popular Korean beer.

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Soju

Now apparently, just drinking beer alone isn’t enough to get these boys drunk….so they mix it with soju! Here, the boys were showing us a trick where they spin the green soju bottle, and place light from their phone under the bottle to create a tornado…

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Soju Bombs

Typically, you can make soju bombs by dropping a shot glass of soju into a pint of beer. Instead, the boys just poured the soju into the beer. They then took a spoon and poked the drink through, and somehow the drink just mixed itself together. Pretty neat!!

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And here is what it ended up like! Some foam at the top, and the beer and soju mixed up! This definitely gets you more drunk quicker!

Overall, an absolute fun night to finish off our trip in Seoul! Can’t wait to visit these crazy boys again. Warawara is definitely a great place to hangout and have a few drinks in a comfortable environment! If you’re not a heavy drinker, those fruit sojus are perfect for you! I believe they have several franchises all over South Korea, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one!