All posts tagged: restaurant

The Beastro | new american in hongdae

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The Beastro is a well known and well hearted American bistro in Hongdae. It’s basically the Target of Western dining in Korea, everyone can take away something pretty good from it. My foodie pal Phil and I headed over there one gloriously awesome autumn day to have breakfast, cocktails and to overhear conversations in English. After living in Korea for some time, I really have begun to hate listening to stranger’s banter that I actually understand. I think I really always hated it, even back in America. Why is there something so irritating about listening to people talk about things that are not remotely about you. I’m sure I’m not alone here. Being in a restaurant and not understanding anything, living in a beautiful bubble of dumbness, there is something otherworldly about it. It’s one of the reasons I love Korea. Bubbles. My ridiculous sensitivities aside, the meal was very on the mark. I was excited before even going after reading the menu online and seeing a mushroom tart. MUSHROOM. TART. Did they know I was coming? They …

ANH | A Review

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Anh is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in the very pop/ ulated/ ular Yeonnam-dong. Most sites will warn you to show up as soon as it opens, and I’m going to go ahead and jump on that band wagon. Yeah…it’s cozy. And by cozy I mean it can sit under 20 people at any given time and you may be sitting with strangers. (awwwwkward) Luckily, we showed up right at 5pm when the restaurant opened. There was no line at that time, and since it’s against my self imposed foodie law to stand in line for food in the blazing hot summer sun for some food, I considered myself very lucky. The food is nice and I can see why people like it. Would I wait in line for it? Nah, not really. While the taste was nice, there are good flavors, but it had no real wow. I kept thinking back to a little run down spot my sister had taken me in Memphis, TN that had the most amazing pho.  That comparison didn’t help …

Jaha Son Mandu | Korean Dumplings

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This was one of the greater Korean food experiences I’ve had in Seoul. I love mandu. I love big ones, baby ones, fluffy ones…I love them all. Then I discovered mandu casserole, Mandu Jeongol, and my life will never be the same. It’s unbelievably scrumptious and I don’t use that word often. The pot is heated at your table and it’s packed with spicy broth, veggies and meat.  To balance out the meat in our casserole, we tried two other vegetarian options, the kimchi  mandu and cucumber and mushroom mandu. We washed my new favorite food down with a Korean wine made from black raspberries, Bokbunjajoo. You can buy it pretty much anywhere, but it’s delicious and I love it. It’s thick, sweetness was a perfect sidekick to the most amazing dumplings. Looking for Jaha Son is not for the faint of heart…it’s tucked far back in Baum-dong. If my Korean friend, Phil hadn’t been there, I would have had a hard time finding it. He was able to tell a taxi driver just where to …

The Libertine | Revisited

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This place is one of the jewels of Itaewon. The modern yet classic design, the changing menu and the kind staff make this a one of a kind eating treat. A friend was leaving Korea, as they are wont to do in our expat life, and she had not been to The Libertine. This was the classy exit she needed.  Mimosas all around! After checking the menu for new dishes, we ordered some divine buttered scrambled eggs on top of salmon and toast, Eggs Benedict with salmon (which they call Eggs Royale) and, to top off our ocean themed brunch, fried calamari. The eggs with butter were kill-worthy. I’m quite sure I liked them better than the Benedict, which were perfectly oozy and beautiful. They know how to make a nice little salad as well to balance out the butter and goodness. The calamari could have benefited from sitting somewhere to drain. They were a little mushy around the bottom and a bit greasy. I liked to breading, which was a little thick but flavored well. And their aioli is perfect.  Thick …

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 …

OM Restaurant & Bar | A Review

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I would love to say that I’m so dedicated to finding amazing food that I traveled all the way from Gangnam to Samcheongdong JUST to eat Indian food I read about on the internet. Honestly, though, I love Samcheongdong so it doesn’t take much to get me up there. Sure its crazy busy but there are just so many shops and cafes and galleries…it’s basically heaven, exactly what I think about when I think about how much I love Seoul. But, lets talk about OM. First off, it’s a great name. Onomatopoeia is always awesome. The foods not half bad either. We had potato samosas, chicken tandoori and palak paneer. We added some jasmine rice, garlic naan and Phil had a strawberry lassi for kicks and giggles. The samosas were very much right up my alley. Lots of spices inside with the potato and a crispy outside. My only gripe is that there were only two. An order should come with at least three. (Opinions are solely my own. No one is paying me to express …

Ryunique | A Review

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First of all, don’t I feel an ass titling this A Review considering this restaurant was chosen as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world by Diner’s Club Academy. But, I’m only giving it that title for continuity to all the other restaurants I’ve tried in Korea and on this blog. I won’t pretend to know more about food than the experts of Diner’s Club so I’m really just going to share my experience with you! It was a haute cuisine themed blast and I couldn’t wait for each new course. That’s the sign of something special in a restaurant. It was like being on a food playground!

Double Trouble | Revisited

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Ahh, Double Trouble. How I have missed you. (See first review here 🙂 ) This is only the second visit to DT because, well, just look at this food. It’s not exactly heart healthy. So I save it for those very special occasions when I need a fat and sugar fix. Like the same day I sign up for a six month gym membership. Yep. That’s what happened. I signed up for the gym on the same day I headed back to the basement eatery to try all new things covered in cheese. I’m going to just remind you again that this is not a full on western style place. It is definitely fusion, but its fusion in the best possible sense. On purpose. They don’t pretend to be true American cuisine then ruin it by being made more for Korean tastes. It’s all out in the open and honest. I love that about this place. Now onto the food…

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. …