Hongdae -- a dessert foodie's paradise

Hongdae is one of those cool neighborhoods where musicians hang out and make independent music...I think. Not quite my kind of thing since I'm musically illiterate. But we decided to check it out anyway, which is when I realized that the tourism board and tv dramas don't quite do a complete job in describing Hongdae.

The Hongdae area is served by three subway stops - Hongsik, Hapyeong and Sangsu. The first time we went there, we walked around Hongsik. Hongdae from that side looks like any other commercial area with a giant Samsung shop and the usual little skincare shops. It looked like the inner lanes had restaurants, but they didn't seem particularly exciting, especially after dinner. To try get the most bang for my buck, I tried earlier that evening to get dinner at a grilled eel restaurant featured in a visitkorea article that is outdated. Fortunately, we walked by a fried chicken restaurant with enticing pictures and went in for some honey butter garlic chicken (thanks of course to the honey butter craze).

 

Honey butter garlic chicken...so good....Also got their cheese fries which was just okay. 

We realized a little later that the Sangsu stop area was where the action was supposed to be and paid a second visit. Getting off at the Sangsu stop, we wondered if we were too early. I imagined rockers, but the people we saw at the station were wearing resort wear. Hmm.....

Outside the stop, it looked like a quiet intersection with food places with a college type vibe that's less commercial feeling than that of the Yonsei area. We walked up the street and followed some girls into an alley imagining that the action would be hidden. All we saw were more restaurants.

Emerging from the alley, we saw the club scene on the main street. Loud booming music but it was too early for crowds. We tried going into a random cute cafe and got some milk ice (it was just OK). Then we thought to try visit the Picasso street and maybe the wall paintings since we didn't see where to get music.

We found the wall art alley, but decided it was too narrow and dark for a visit. The Picasso street didn't seem any different from the main street, but we noticed another busy side street and decided to turn around there instead of retracing our steps. There was a bit of a park area in the middle of the street and people hanging out. My eyes caught a sign for Penguin Macaroon and we decided to check it out.

Penguin macaroon -- (Top left corner clockwise) Cheesecake, Green tea, Chocolate, Strawberry

Penguin Macaroon sells ice cream sandwiches with macaroon. It didn't sound like it would be different from any ice cream sandwich, but they had a big sign saying that they were featured in Tasty Road, a Korean food show. Since the night was hot and the first milk ice was unsatisfying, we sprung 3500 won for a second dessert. There were 4 ice cream flavors (we picked cheesecake) and another 4 macaroon flavors (we picked blueberry).

I thought the ice cream sandwich would be unremarkable but it completely blew my mind. Firstly, the macaroon part didn't get soggy through the eating, instead it stayed crunchy (it was properly made macaroon). The cheesecake flavor of the ice cream tasted perfect to me, not too overwhelming or sweet (I think it's important for the sweetness of the macaroon to be able to stand separate from the ice cream flavor). I wanted a second one but we held back.

Across the street, we found another dessert place by accident. They sell sobok ice cream, which is some grain ice cream. It was featured in a food show too. Since we were there, we thought we should try it. We ordered the sobok ice cream which is soft serve ice cream with one injeolmi ice ball. Some of the other customers ordered the injeolmi ice ball (starting at 9 balls for 7500 won), but the soft serve allowed us to try two thing for 5500won.

Sobok ice cream with an injeolmi ice call, assorted nuts and a daisy.

The sobok ice cream tasted full bodied, to borrow a term from wine tasting. It wasn't too sweet and it had hints of grain. The injeolmi ice ball was rather bland, which made me glad that we didn't only get the ice ball. Final verdict: the sobok ice cream is interesting but I prefer the sweeter ice cream macaroon.

There was one more cafe I would have hit but MP didn't want a fourth dessert that evening. If you're in the area, check it out and let me know if I should regret missing it. Imi is a cafe that sells orange creme bingsoo. I stole this picture from the visitkorea page -- you should totally check out their page on a New Era of Sweets.

(Picture taken from visitkorea.or.kr)
Imi orange creme bingsoo...maybe the next time I'm in Seoul.

Where to stay in Seoul

I just got back from a week long vacation in South Korea. It was my first visit so it was more exciting than a regular vacation. I'm a little mentally disorganized right now but I think it'll work out if I keep the topic of the posts narrow.

I'm one of the many tourists from Singapore going to Seoul so I decided to use the collective knowledge of those who have gone before to help plan my trip. The general consensus seemed to be to get a hotel in Myeongdong. Reasons? It's conveniently located to shops and food. Slight digging on the internet will reveal that Myeongdong is overrun by Chinese tourists, which may be a good or a bad thing for you.

Just for brief orientation, the older part of the city is north of the Han river, which is where you find the palace and the old gates. The new part of Seoul, south of the river (or Gangnam) was built only relatively recently. The government pushed the population south by moving a bunch of good schools down there. If you learn your Korean history through dramas like me, you'll remember the fields of barley that the alien dude from You From Another Star bought that became highrise expensive areas.

I ended up picking a hotel near Jongno 3(sam) ga, and I'm pretty happy with my decision. In fact, I'll probably go back to said hotel for future trips.Here is a brief analysis of why Jongno 3 ga is different and maybe better than Myeongdong.

1. Jongno is not right next to all the skincare shops but it doesn't need to be. Those skincare shops are all over Seoul, in the subway and above ground. Consolidated shopping isn't really necessary for skincare products, unless you're looking for a more elusive shop like Boots which is only at Myeongdong and Gangnam. 

2. Local food is readily available at Jongno 3 ga. In fact, exit 14 leads you to the famous gool bossam alley, which is also home to soondae guk restaurants, sullongtang, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and some stragglers of other food. Over at the next street, they have a bunch of red tents serving street food. They don't ensure that all the food you want to try are present, but anything there is cheaper and just as good (specifically gyeran bang, the egg bread, is 1000won locally and 3000won at Myeongdong). The Jongno 3 ga area seems to be a local eating spot, so they mainly serve Korean people, but they are not shy to tourists. Tourism is a big part of the livelihood in Seoul, and people are not shy to try engage you in Chinese or in English. Chinese proficiency seemed a little higher on the street, and it probably has to do with the number of Chinese tourists.

A 28,000 won meal for two at the gool bossam alley includes gool bossam, 

gamjatang and a grilled fish.

3. Now we move to other considerations like transportation. Myeongdong is only served by subway line 4. That means you probably have to switch lines whenever you want to go somewhere. Jongno 3 ga is served by subway line 1, 3 and 5. I was actually in between Jongno 3 ga and Euljiro 3 ga, which also gave me access to subway line 2. This means I can take a direct subway line or change once to get to most places like Apugeong/Sinsa (line 3), Ehwa/Sincheon/Hongdae (line 2), Jamsil (line 2, and one transfer to Olympic Park), Seoul station (line 1), Gwangjang market (line 1) etc. 

4. For me, there is also a more nebulous factor, namely Jongno felt more real. Myeongdong is a modern place, clearly set up for tourists. I consider it a Seoul equivalent of Singapore's Gluttons Bay. I didn't find it much different than any other bustling modern city like Tokyo or Singapore. Jongno is an old part of town, where electronics and jewelry are sold and non-tourism sector workers can actually be found. That is not to say that there are no tourists in Jongno -- there are hotels -- but it's less blatant.

So here you have my take on where to stay while in Seoul. I think a second location to look at would be south of the river -- our Seoul friends and family were surprised by our choice of hotel. But the touristy stuff is mostly in the north so if you're visiting for the first time, the north is clearly superior. The south is more for the locals.