City Guide Review: The Flying Pan
Review by Tiffany Chu, ETA 2015-2016 City: Seoul Restaurant Name: The Flying Pan Food Served: Western Food/Brunch, sandwiches, pancakes, & dessert Restaurant Address: 13, Itaewon-ro 27 ga-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul View Map Directions: Take the subway to the Itaewon Station (Line 6), and go out of exit 2. Walk straight and turn left at the first street. The restaurant will be on your right hand side, but it is slightly hidden because you have to walk down some steps into the basement floor of a building to get to it. Just look out for their sign, and you won’t miss it! [slideshow_deploy id=’4658′] The Flying Pan Blue is one of the most popular brunch spots in Itaewon, so we were expecting a long wait. However, both times I visited their two locations (other one is in Sinsa-dong), my group was seated promptly with no wait time at all. They offer a broad selection of dishes, from staple breakfast foods and fresh juices to sandwiches and salads made from organic ingredients. Their portion sizes are huge, so you will not be hungry after you down one of their meals. Another added bonus is that they offer several options for those that are vegetarian/vegan or have a gluten allergy. The waiters understand English and were very accommodating when we had special requests. The food arrived at our table in a timely manner and with visually attractive presentation. Essentially, if you are looking for a cozy atmosphere and want the choice of both sweet and savory selections, you should definitely stop by for brunch when you’re in town!
Gemma’s Fat Girl’s Food Guide
If you have lived in Seoul as a foreigner, chances are you have heard of the fabulous website, A Fat Girl’s Food Guide to Eating in Korea, written and run by British expat Gemma Wardle. The site has a wealth of helpful reviews of foreign food restaurants in Seoul, recipes, and places to buy hard-to-find ingredients. Gemma’s website won the 2014 K-Blog Award in the “Best Food Blog” category, and she has written for or been featured in a number of media outlets including the Korea Times. I had the honor of sitting down with Gemma last week at Ikovox Coffee in Itaewon. Gemma is an Itaewon local, and as I wandered the narrow streets lined with quirky foreign food spots–a mac and cheese cafe, a pub advertising fish and chips, kebab and falafel, a Bulgarian restaurant–it made sense why she would be drawn to this neighborhood. Gemma is warm and wonderful to talk with, the kind of engaging friend always game for great food and stories. She has high standards; she sent back her drink when the barista brought it out in a to-go cup even though we were clearly sticking around. And she is incredibly helpful. At one point she stopped and asked me, like a friendly tour guide to Seoul’s foreign food world, “Is there anything you are looking for I can direct you to?” “Hmmmmmm….. for me personally, I miss salads, and fresh fruit for smoothies…” “You just have to shop around,” she advised. “I usually find that one supermarket will be good for cheap vegetables, and one will be good for cheap fruit. You just have to keep an eye out, and you’ll find them!” Morgan: So what first brought you to Korea, and how did you get started food blogging? Gemma: I first came to Korea over seven years now. One of my friends who I had lived with in Australia was over here teaching. I wanted to travel more, so I came here. I have been teaching more or less ever since. I started the blog about three and a half years ago now because I had so much information about food, and it seemed like my friends were always asking me the same questions over and over again. “You can buy this in Korea?” “You can really make teas in Korea?” I didn’t really have any ambitions at first. But then the blog really gained momentum and became much bigger than I ever thought it would. Since your blog has gotten so big, what has it been like? Do you ever have people recognize you on the street? Hmmmmm… that has only happened two or three times. Once someone sent over a drink though! That was pretty cool. I think my blog is memorable because of the name, and I just have a lot of content as well. How do you chose the restaurants you review? And when you go in to review a restaurant, what would you say you are looking for? What do you pay attention to? I keep a list of places I want to review–places that friends mention or new places I see in this neighborhood. I keep an ear to the ground. Sometimes I am just craving something, or sometimes I am invited to try something on the house. The places I review I have to either really love, or there has to be something special or different about them. For example, because there are so many pizza places, for me to review a pizza place, it has to be really, really good. Whereas if you are the only Bulgarian restaurant in town, I just have to like it. I can be a lot more forgiving. I don’t write negative reviews. I critique individual dishes, but on the whole I want to blog to be positive. I think that adds a lot to your blog that it is so positive. And it has a lot of good content! One thing that is hard about being a foreigner in Korea is finding shops where you can buy good ingredients for cooking and baking. You have some suggestions on your website, but I was wondering if you could tell me some of the top places that you go to shop for ingredients? Costco. Once a month we go to Costco, because it is very cheap for dairy products. And then I shop weekly at my local Korean grocery store for fruits and vegetables. And the foreign food mart in Itaewon as well. If you were to characterize the changes you have seen in foreign food in Korea during your time here–food fads that have come and gone–what have you noticed? Oh, the changes have been insane… I remember several years ago when Paris Baguette started selling little chicken tender wraps, which were like some of my favorites at home. That was exciting. And then more and more products over time came–quinoa and chia seeds. There is nothing you can’t get now. Before there were things you couldn’t get, but now it is a very small list. And if you can’t get it, you can make it. Are there any food from back home that you really miss, or are really hard to find? I miss parsnips. I even bought seeds, but I haven’t planted them yet. Oh, and rhubarb. And “American” Chinese food, covered in batter and fried…. That sounds amazing… So most of the reviews you do are for foreign foods. Have you thought about reviewing Korean restaurants? I never reviewed Korean restaurants in the beginning because so many other people were already doing it. And it’s not hard to find Korean food–it’s everywhere. I do like Korean food. But I eat mostly foreign food. So you do a lot of cooking for yourself? I read somewhere you do a diet, “raw ‘til 4”? Yes, I only eat raw food until four, but now I am not as strict with it. I always make a green smoothie
City Guide Review: Gusttimo (Itaewon)
Review by Karen Han, manager of Gusttimo (Itaewon) City: Itaewon, Seoul (이태원, 서울) Restaurant Name: Gusttimo (구스띠모) Food Served: Dessert, Gelato, Coffee Restaraunt Address: 서울특별시 용산구 이태원동 127-11 View Map Directions: It is just outside of the exit 3, Itaewon station and next to the kebab shop. Opposite of the Hamilton Hotel. Cost: Varies, ~4,000 KRW How was the wait time? Did you make a reservation? There is no wait time unless it is the weekend. It will not take that long as it is cafe serving coffee or gelato. Was the restaurant clean? How were bathroom amenities? The Gelato shop just opened in April 2015, so it is really clean and posh atmosphere. At the same time, it is small, but cozy~ How was the service? Did wait staff speak English? Service, they have special education on service and how to work at the Gelato shop/cafe, they have some of the staff good at speaking English and Chinese. Also, great at English. What did you order? Are there any “specialities” that the reader should be sure to try? How long did it take for the food to come out? Gelato-specializing cafe, also coffee is always there. How was the food? Was there a particular dish that stood out, or was disappointing? They have traditional Italian style Gelato and it is healthy and various types of gelato are available.They make the gelato fresh every day. Would you come back again? Why or why not? I would love to come back again, and try different flavors!