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buck, I tried earlier that evening to get dinner at a grilled eel restaurant featured in a visitkorea article that is outdated.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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| (Picture taken from visitkorea.or.kr) Imi orange creme bingsoo...maybe the next time I'm in Seoul. |
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