All posts tagged: Garosugil

Dore Dore Cafe | A Review

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This place, man. It’s so easy to see why the popularity took off into outer space.The desserts are gorgeous, the coffee is good, each modern floor is decorated with  simple but beautiful design, and there are windows and light for your rainbow cake to bask in. It’s basically Instagram-heaven. The major problem with Dore Dore is the aforementioned popularity and if you get there anytime around dinner, forget about getting a seat. And if you do make a deal with the devil for a seat, forget about a nice, blissfully quiet atmosphere. Koreans like to whoop it up…even in cafes. Basically, every place you go around this area, if it’s even a little crowded, will sound like you’re in a bar late at night and it’s ladies drink free night. Ah, Korea. You do like to have fun at the expense of my sensitive ears. The first time Phil and I tried this place on a Saturday evening all three floors were packed. There was no chance of getting a seat and it was so loud …

March Rabbit Salad | A Review

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Finding a salad that is not bitter greens drenched in balsamic dressing in this city is hard pressed, but, not impossible anymore. As Seoul keeps its steady march into globalization, finding healthy Western food, with Western tastes in mind, is getting easier. No longer do I have to settle for pizza and pasta when I need something from back home. I can go to a place like March Rabbit Salad. This spot is just fun. Subtly playing with an Alice in Wonderland theme, this restaurant is airy and bright and cheerful. It’s impossible to miss on the streets of Sinsa, near Garosugil, with all the money they spent on bright yellow paint. I love it, though, as it takes the food seriously, but the interior remains whimsical. The menu ain’t half bad either. It’s crammed full of salads (you can design your own), sandwiches, and juices. Everything is fresh and well seasoned. This place is great for the vegetarians and vegans who roam among us. There are options for all. My one and only gripe is that I’d love …

Bad Farmers | A Review

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Oh~ My~2016! Where have I been? What’s become of me? Why haven’t I updated my once randomly prolificly updated blog? Can I just say that the end of 2015 was a real bruja and leave it? It was. 2015 was a screaming, boozy harpy I could not get off my back that drew the energy from me like a succubus. I was never so happy to see a year hit itself with the doorknob on the way out. Then…I went to paradise (whispers~Bali) and all was right in the world again. So I’m back. I am recharged. I am finally looking forward to the future again now that I can see the daylight. Welcome to my life, 2016! To start off in the most cliche of New Year’s ways, I’m introducing a salad place in Seoul so that we all feel guilty and go eat a salad. Because it’s the start of a new year and, so, like half of us are probably riding the diet train until at least February. 😀 However, Bad Farmers doesn’t feel like a …

The Flying Pan White & Autumn in Garosugil

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We Seoulites can count ourselves lucky with all fingers and toes this year with how long we had a “autumn” in Korea. Some years it snaps by with a “see ya next year!” faster than I can get out and enjoy some colorful foliage. So with the beautiful weather all about and an empty stomach, my friend and I headed to Garosugil to walk through fallen ginkgo leaves and eat some brunch.  We weren’t disappointed with anything that day. The Flying Pan is well known brunch and breakfast spot in Itaewon where it is known as The Flying Pan Blue. But, it’s a chain and the one is Garosugil is known as The Flying Pan White. (There’s also a Red in the GT Tower near Gangnam Station and a Gold in Samseung-dong. ) They all have ALL DAY brunch. Here’s what White is all about: The menu has a great many options. If eggs aren’t your thing, they have pancakes, french toast, sandwiches, salads and dinner dishes. There are vegetarian dishes as well. We ordered two meals with …

Giani’s Napoli Pizzeria | A Review

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Conversation that led to the slight disagreement that led to Phil  conceding to go to Giani’s Napoli Pizzeria. Me: (after searching for a frustratingly twenty minutes on my Pinterest board for a place to eat dinner) I know! Let’s go to that Napoli Pizza place in Garosugil! Phil: B-b-but you said we can’t go there until you have done really well on your diet and… Me: Phil. Phil: You told me last time! You said we can’t go until you are doing really well on your diet! Me: Phil, do you really want to be saying this? Phil: Okay. Let’s go there. He meant well, of course. Phil is trying hard to be my cheerleader of eating better. It’s obviously not an easy task. And while I was not doing terrifically on a diet, I had been good for most of the week. 🙂 That was good enough for me! Plus it’s thin crust pizza. How many calories can it possibly hold?? The pizza is pretty nice. It could benefit from a longer baking time to make …

Lobster Shack | A Review

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Getting restaurants checked off my Garosugil list is so rewarding. I live for the small victories in life! Lobster Shack is a pleasant little basement restaurant with sandwiches packed full of lobster. The menu has some very creative items with cheese and jalapenos but also classics like the The Original Maine and The Connecticut, which I sampled greedily. The atmosphere is casual and they have some outdoor seating. However, I have seen a line more than once and eating in front of a line of hungry people is not my idea of a relaxing dining experience. So I would opt to eat indoors in that line develops. With all the hype of Itaewon’s  Lobster Bar and my reluctance to hop on the bus to take me there, I was really pleased there was a lobster roll restaurant closer and not at all fussy. I can’t compare the two, however, and all I can say is that both sandwiches were scrumptious and full of meat. The owner grew up in Maine and is obviously no slouch. The food is …

Cafe Able | A Review

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You can check out my short & sweet review on Pinstory! In my latest attempt to get over to Garosugil (Sinsa) area more often, I got my lazy butt out of my bed on Saturday and sauntered over for a late-ish lunch. I recently scoured the area for restaurants and cafes to try in another blog post (see it here!) and so I knew exactly where I was headed, Cafe Able. The farm to table movement is slowly progressing here in Seoul and we are all the better for it. The service is great and the food came out very fast. I’ll be headed back there for a dinner soon because I’d really like to try their pasta and pizza. (I can honestly say I never look forward pasta and pizza in Korea). Or I’ll go back for brunch and get the amazing french toast loaded with fruit that I saw the couple sitting next to me get. It was a really nice place. I loved sitting and watching two staff members cutting up and organizing fruits …

What to Eat | near garosugil

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By far my most popular blog post to date is a little list I made about a year ago called, Garosugil: Making a To-Eat-There List.   The post is simple, I just took pictures of random restaurants and cafes around Sinsa dong that I found one day while aimlessly walking around.  Then I posted them altogether for prosperity. Good thing for me that the area is so popular because it’s really brought a lot of traffic to my little blog! And this is one of my favorite areas to just walk around aimlessly. Yes, the main street is simply atrocious, but just one street over on either side and it becomes just pleasant and fun. So, as a thank you to those who’ve checked out the previous post, I’ve decided to do an update with a new list of restaurants, addresses and maps. You know, helpful things that I didn’t bother to include in the first post.

Elbon the table | A Review

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My birthday is today but my friend Phil came up from Daegu to celebrate with me last weekend. He immediately took the occasion to suggest a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try for about a year, Elbon the table in Garosugil.  So we went to have their five course lunch set menu. It is quite a beautiful establishment and the service was very comfortable. Many of the servers spoke English and they answered all my questions.  The deco is sleek and interesting with its open kitchen concept. We saw the celebrity chef, Hyun Seok Choi, who owns the restaurant. (Phil couldn’t stop staring, hah…)  I actually quite liked the open concept but I wonder how it is during a busy dinner rush. Probably much louder and crazier than a relaxed afternoon lunch. The food was delicious but without any WOW.  It was simply quite nice food in a really nice atmosphere. I thought the most desirable parts were the sesame “butter” served with the bread, the briny tomato seafood soup and the amazing chocolate mousse.  The mojito was also right …

Pier 17 | A Review

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  Just a bit of a disclaimer: From what I can remember of Cajun food, this place delivered. It’s been a while for me, even back in America I didn’t often eat Jambalaya or have seafood boils. It’s not a huge thing in Missouri. However, as a persnickety food person, this place was everything I hoped it to be. I’ve been wanting to visit Pier 17 for over a year. I read a review and could never find anyone to go with me or had, for some reason, always chosen to go elsewhere instead. I made up my mind that before summer blissfully packed it’s bags on the way out the door I would visit this American soul food restaurant. The awesome: The menu had the things I wanted to see. Poboys. Jambalaya. Gumbo. Seafood. I would have been happy if the menu just had those things. When I walked in the place smelled of Old Bay seasoning. That was what I think I first noticed. It just smelled right. There were many napkins to go around. …