Waffles & Coffee

I was suppose to review this restaurant after my Samcheongdong post but forgot about it. But it was too good to not write about it at all.

I don't know what the name of the place was as I couldn't actually find a signboard but it does write Coffee & Waffles on the side of the building so I am just going to call it the coffee and waffles place. There is in fact many cafes that serve waffles in Samcheongdong-gil but I saw this one some time ago when I went to 8 Steps for dinner. What interested me was their brunch menu which looked pretty good and was reasonably priced. Ranging from KRW9,000 to KRW12,000.

It's easy to find, basically walk up Samcheongdong-gil from Geungbukgung. It's a bit of a walk as it's all the way in and slightly uphill. I would say its a good 15 minute walk at a leisurely pace. It's on the left side of the street and further up from Oz Kitchen.

Their menu is pretty limited but tastes good, probably why there was a decent crowd there at 12.30pm. The place is large with an alfresco area, inside dining and a sort of green house type dining area sans the plants.

The standard dish is the brunch set which is salad, a fried egg, sausage and choice of either waffles or french toast. As there were four of us we ordered 2 of each and gobbled it down as it was yummy. The salad was fresh and crunchy, the sausage is your korean style franks and the egg was nicely fried but not runny : ( The strange thing was they put some condense milk on the waffles but it tasted good!

You can see the chefs in the kitchen preparing the salad and cooking these by bulk. The wait was a little long, about 15 mins but it was a cozy atmosphere and comfortable place to just sit and chat. Here are some pics of the place and our dishes.

Back entrance

Brunch set plus French Toast

Brunch set plus Waffles which were soft and fluffy

Grand place to spend the day - Children's Grand Park

Spring in Seoul is really quite lovely in the Spring. The weather is fair and it can be around 20C during the week for most days with a day or two of rain here and there. If you have time on the weekend and the weather is good, a visit to the Children's Grand Park is a really nice day out.

The Children's Grand Park is located in Neung-dong, Songdong-Gu (Gangnam'ish area). The park was opened in 1973 and is sprawling. It has a zoo, amusement park, numerous playgrounds, many water features including a waterfall, botanical garden, Bandukee park, Elephant Park etc...

The park is really well landscaped so bring a camera as there are many photo opportunites. There are obviously lots of families visiting the park but also couples and groups of friends having a picnic in many of the grassy areas.

One thing that struck me were the many Family Marts situated around the park in case you needed refreshments or snacks. The Amusemet Park was pretty well equipped. As good as any if you ask me. They had 2 roller coasters, ferris wheel, merry-go-round, the ship and an arcade too. You could spend quite some time here. Located in the Amusement Park is a food court and for fast food, you have Popeye's. I did not go into the zoo but I could see that it was also a decent size with at least 3 dozen cages.

Getting there is not going to be easy by car as it can get really congested and parking is a nightmare. Queuing to get into the parking lot itself will test your patience. The other option is the subway, the park is located on Subway Line 7. There are also 2 entrances to get into the Park both of which has easy access from the subway.

Entrance to the park

Fountains in a shallow pond for kids to play in

The other entrance is at the end of this flower bed

Amusement Park

People having picnics in the shaded areas

One of the many playgrounds

Kalbi Kalbi Kalbi!

I used to love Korean BBQ but since I have moved here, I find that I seldom have the urge to eat it. It's like one of those things where you have too much of it or it's too available that it someow loses its appeal.

Going for Korean BBQ used to be a treat. Not only was it a little pricey it was something different like having Italian while you are in Mongolia. Since coming here, the only times I have had Korean BBQ (and I can count with one hand) was because I was being entertaine by clients or I was entertaining clients OR I had guests who naturally wanted Korean BBQ when in Korea.

I recently had some guests over and decided to take them to this little place in Itaewon, in the food alley behind Hamilton Hotel. If you still don't know where that is, it is opposite My Chelsea restaurant. It's called Guga Kalbi. It's a small place with the restaurant being split in two. The inner section has the low tables and you sit on tatami mats and the outer area has tables and benches.

It's run by Ahjummas as far as I could tell. Service was quick and friendly. However, they still do frown at you when you try to cook the meet yourself as we don't do it quite their way. : P The meat was fresh and yummy. I especilaly liked their side dishes and in particular this salad of spring onions and bean sprouts. It was a nice cozy atmosphere. I have tried Itaewon Galbi and Busan Galbi down the road and was unimpressed. The meat was only ok and the environment was too crowded and smoky.

A nice piece of beef steak

A side dish of raw crab marinated in their special spicy sauce

The salad I was telling you about

I will definitely go to Guga Kalbi again. 3.5/5

How I have missed my manicures.

It's been ages since I have had a manicure. 10 months probably. I forgot how nice it was to see my nails all nicely shaped and coloured. Sigh! It used to be a monthly ritual to relax and be pampered.

Although it's not Snails at Wheelock Place in Singapore where we get partitioned reclining seats, Tiffany Nails in Itaewon is cheap and good. KRW15,000 for a manicure + massage/exfoliation for your hands. Located opposite Dunkin Donuts on Itaewon's main strip the salon is prettily decorated and convenient for me.

Although I personally dislike having my nails (or hair) done where passerby's can see, Tiffany Nails had a promotion price which I couldn't refuse. I know there is another Nail Salon called Bling Bling (Nails) further up the road that I will try later. Service was very polite and efficient. Some waiting is required if you go without an appointment on the weekend. I went on a Saturday and had to wait half an hour which is fine by me. I just wandered around and got a coffee.

My nails were shaped well but the lady serving me did push a little deeper than I would like when buffing my cuticles. If you plan to go, I suggest ringing in advance for an appointment on the weekend so you don't have to wait around. I will definitely be paying them a visit again as I get a 10% discount on my next trip because I paid cash the previous visit.

Tiffany Nail
Biz Hours: 11am - 10pm
Location: 1F 123-26 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu (Itaewon Station Exit #2)

내 머리가 나빠서 (Because I'm Stupid) Piano Sheets

Ok, here are the music sheets for 내 머리가 나빠서 by SS501 from Boys Over Flowers that I scanned from my newly purchased piano books from said drama. I wasn't about to cut the pages out to get a more 'complete' scan so if you want it you just have to live with the fact that a slight bit is cut off (page 3 is missing the last notes).

Boys Over Flowers (꽃보다男子) Piano Books are now available.

I've seen many requests on the net for the piano sheets for 리가 나빠서 (Because Im Stupid) by SS501 and although I did find one online, I found the chords to be a bit strange and didn't come out right. Good news though, the piano books by Music Tree are out! You can find them in Kyobo books store in Gwanghwamun in Seoul. There are 2 versions. There are some overlap of songs but as the books were only KRW10,000 I got them both and got a free poster.

There are some nice pics for the fans in there. The best pic is the one that Ji Hoo took with Jan Di at the park when they entered the competition for best looking couple. Here are what the books look like.

Publish Post

B-boys Style

Some time last year my cousin told me he had just seen a documentary about break dancing and in particular how the Koreans had dominated the recent ‘world championship’ of break dancing. He was telling me how impressed he was by their talent and it was mind blowing stuff.

So when I was flying to Seoul via SIA and came across ‘Planet B-boy’, I thought this had to be it and selected it for the next hour’s entertainment. Planet B-boy is like a documentary that follows several teams with a focus on particular members as they prepare for the big battle in Germany.

We gain some insight to their views on dance in particular break dancing and hip hop. Although the director tries to spread the attention, I couldn’t help but feel that the more interesting stories were with the French and Korean teams. The members that they focused the documentary on were from less well to do backgrounds. Some faced opposition from their family from pursuing their passion and some others received a lot of support.

As the story follows their preparation for their competition in Germany, you can already see subtle differences in the style of dancing and performance standards from team to team. The Koreans had won the year before which was a first as they had only picked up this Western style of dancing recently.

The world champions from the year before automatically qualified for this year so Korea was able to send a 2nd team. The Americans were all talk and only managed top 5 if I’ m not mistaken… which is a little ironic considering the art originated from them.

Its really worth watching these talented boys wow you with their skill, technique, choreograph and passion. So when I found out that they had a small theatre in Hongdae which had a B-boy show, I got my tickets asap.

The theatre is at the basement of Samjinpharm Building near the main gate of Hongik University. The theatre is small but cozy. The front area of the stage is kept empty for the dancers and seats are available around the dance floor. They get pretty up close and personal which is all part of the experience.

Now wanting to ruin the story and there IS a story, the show was riveting which also had some contemporary/modern dance involved. It was interesting seeing the two mix but I was definitely more impressed with the fast pace of the hip hop and break dance style. One of my favorites was the Robot dance moves. Here are some pictures I took of the dancers after the show.

You can find out more and buy tickets here: SJBboys

Taking pictures with the audience after the show.

Springing along Samcheongdong-gil

I recently had the opportunity to walk along Samcheongdong-gil during the day. I normally go there at night to check out a restaurant along that street. It was a warm weekend in April and the flowers were starting to bloom.

I just like the name of this shop: Coolgirls Room

After months of seeing bare and scrawny trees, I was seeing bursts of colour everywhere. I met up with some friends at Angkuk station near Insadong and we walked to Samcheongdong. The road that we walked along (and where all these photos are taken) is across the road from the main entrance to Geongbukgung/Geongbuk Palace and 100m down the road.

Some of the stores set up their displays outside so there was a bit of a market feel to it too.

There were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine and the pleasant scenery around the palace. There are variety of cool boutiques and an extensive choice of eateries. There are bistros, cafes, restaurants with a mixture of specialties ranging from waffles, pizza’s, burgers to coffee and ice cream.

This place is quite famous for their waffles, I'm told.

This place is so cool! Designed to look like it just popped out from a Wizard of Oz story book. They serve Italian food here. Mainly pizza and a small selection of pasta.

If you are looking for ‘real food’... you’ll be spoilt for choice. High end Chinese, home style Italian, traditional Korean with specialized dishes, French with a twist and many more are found on this street.

Chinese Restaurant called Gong Li that looked promising.

We ended up in a cafe/restaurant that I saw awhile back that served a nice looking brunch menu. I will review it next.

Gee by Girls Generation

I am not really into girl groups especially those formed by record producers (is that what we call them now or Music Executives?) ala Stock Aiken Waterman but I must say that there was always one that I liked in the each of the last two decades. 80's was Bananarama... they won over the Bangles who only had one song that I really liked and that's everyone's favourite "Eternal Flame".

The 90's it was the Spice Girls. Their songs are a Karaoke/Noraebang favourite of mine! Due to their limited singing abilities and narrow vocal range, their songs are perfect for untalented singers like me!

A K-pop girl group called Girls Generation has recently released a new mini album. They are collection of like 10 girls (not sure on the actual number but however many it is it is at least 5 too many for a group) called They are all 귀여워서 죽겠어요! (so cute). I am sure they would make a nice collectible Barbie series. Anyway, their song 'Gee' is really catchy and I keep humming the song after hearing it. Does it stick to you too?

A Taste of Eqypt in Seoul - Ali Baba Restaurant

A few days ago, my OH asked if I'd like to go to Smokey Saloon for some burgers for dinner. Told me to think about it. Mid-afternoon he sends me a chat message and asks me what my suggestions were so I write back and say Kraze Burger (love their Onion Ring Burger, although I am sure that is not the name) or Smokey's. His reply pops up around the same time as I send mine (probably wrote it at the same time) "Greek or Middle Eastern cuisine?".

He has had it in his head to try out this Middle Eastern restaurant in Itaewon called Ali Baba. Going along with it, I told him that I didn't mind trying Ali Baba so off we went. It's on the main strip of Itaewon so it's dead easy to find. It's one on the same side as Hamilton Hotel but 2 blocks up. If I am not mistaken it is in the building just before Villa Sortino.

Take the stairs up to the first floor and you will find a cozy little place decked out with posters of Eqypt (one of them says something along the lines of "Egypt is not just mountains???") and little figurines of dead kings and queens of Egypt. The restaurant isn't large, they have about 5 tables of four and then 2 larger booths that are set slightly off to the side which gives a little more privacy.

There was only 2 customers there when we arrived but another 3 tables filled up while we were there. The service was efficient and the food was tasty. We ordered a starter of Baba Ghanoush (made from aubergines/eggplant), Shish Tawouk (grilled chicken chunks on a skwere) and a lamb special. Both mains were first grilled on skewers then served on plates with a yoghurt type dip. We were a little disappointed that the meat wasn't served on the skewers as we had before in Eqypt but it still tasted quite good. It would have been even better if it was infused with the taste of the coals that it would have been BBQ'd over.

I wouldn't recommend it for a family restaurant (the floor was a bit slippery from oil so kids running around would not be a good idea). It's be better as a first stop for a meal and then moving onto something else for the evening.

There are so many restaurants in Itaewon that have Middle Eastern cuisine and I certainly hope to try more. I'd rate it 2/5 for ambience and 3/5 for food.