The Wine House
City: Seoul Shop Name: The Wine House Merchandise type: Liqueur, Cognac, Brandy, Whiskey, Wine Restaurant Address: Seoul-teukbyeol-si Jung-gu Euljiro 6-ga 18-187 (서울특별시 중구 을지로6가 18-187) Link for the location on Naver Maps: http://map.naver.com/local/siteview.nhn?code=18001571 Directions: Take the subway to Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station Exit 2. Exit straight and walk three blocks toward Cheongye Stream (청계전) along the main road. Turn left onto Dadong Road (다동길) and walk one block. The store will be on your left. Living in Seoul this year, it’s been nice to see good craft beer, wine shops, and other varieties of alcoholic beverages becoming more commonplace. Most of the cheaper choices can be found in E-Mart or Costco (for the hard to find imports). The Wine House, though adjacent to the discount clothing stalls of Myeongdong, is not a shop to find cheap deals. This shop caters primarily to the liqueur connoisseurs and wine enthusiasts. Ranging in price from 40,000 won to 600,000 won, The Wine House’s selection of whiskeys, wines, and liqueurs are a marvel. Some of the lower priced items are reasonable if you’re looking for that special gift for your principal, boss, or host family that says “I care enough to buy you a really expensive bottle of wine.” The vast array of designer decanters, glasses, and limited edition bottles definitely makes this a worthwhile stop in your Myeongdong meanderings. The owner, Mrs. Huh is very nice, and if you’re looking for any particular vintage, vintner, or taste pairings, she’s extremely knowledgable. Even if you don’t expect to make a purchase, the shop has the atmosphere of a fine liqueur museum. It is highly recommended, and definitely a 5-star stop in your Seoul window-shopping adventures.
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
Cafe Burano (Seoul)
Review by Tiffany Chu, ETA ’15-’16 City: Seoul Restaurant Name: Cafe Burano Foods Served: Cafe, brunch Restaurant Address: 마포구 동교동 201-16 (201-16 Donggyo-dong Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea) View Map Directions: Subway: Hongik University station, exit 1. Turn right out of the station, when you come to a large street two blocks in cross and turn left and then turn right at the first street. Cafe Burano will be on your right. Cost: 8,000-14,000 won Café Burano is a cozy eatery situated on a quiet street in Hongdae far from the noise of the main shopping area. I visited here for the first time on a Saturday around noon time, and the wait time was about 15-20 minutes without a reservation. The restaurant has a warm glow to it and a decidedly western feel. They offer a good selection of baked goods by the cash register and tables ranging in size and shape. The restaurant has a very lived-in feel — it’s clean but not pristine. They also have basic two-stalled bathrooms. After being seated, you will decide your order and at the table before placing it at the counter. My Korean friend ordered for us, and I never spoke with any of the servers, so I cannot speak to the wait staff’s English ability. After about 10-15 minutes, my club sandwich, and my friend’s pancake brunch arrived at the same time. The brunch options (pancake, waffle, french toast) were the most commonly ordered around those around us — take note that the portion size of these plates are quite large. My friend thought the pancake brunch was pretty good. The potatoes were nicely crisp, but the overall flavors of the plate weren’t anything special. I could same the same for my club sandwich. It came with a lot of lettuce, american cheese, onions, tomatoes, sweet pickles, two slices of bacon, and too much mayonnaise for my preferences. It certainly was not a bad meal, and I wouldn’t be averse to visiting again, but I don’t think I’ll be craving their food anytime soon.