홍대 맛집 - 홍대연가

i've decided to do a series on good restaurants in the Hongdae Area. There are such a plethora of restaurants out there that one can get pretty confused on where & what to eat!

I tried out 홍대연가 with Debbie on Sunday & it was pretty good! It is a BBQ restaurant, with beef & pork options. There were also sides such as 추억의 도시락, 냉면 etc, that you could order to go with your meal. NOTE: The restaurant will give you a free 추억의 도시락 if you visit them before 6pm on a weekday.


the interior of the restaurant


various set menus on offer

Debbie & I ordered 1 추억의 도시락(2,500원) & 2 servings of 대왕칼비(9,900원 * 2). The service was pretty good & our food came rather quickly as well. my personal fave was the 추억의 도시락.. :P


the menu


추억의 도시락

I've attached a map on how to get to the restaurant below.

Directions:
Take exit 9 of Hongdae station and walk towards the main shopping street. You will see a Taco Bell, Il Mare at the T Junction. Walk through the main shopping street till you come to a crossroads. You will see a Lush on your left and a Mr Kebab diagonally opposite it. 홍대역가 is in the lane behind Mr Kebab.

Map of 홍대연가



** will update with more photos soon!**

서래마을 - the french village of Seoul

visited seorae village (서래마을) yesterday with suyeon.. we got kinda tired of hanging ard myeongdong & doing the same 'ole thing so we decided to explore seoul. :)

Took a bus down to the Express Bus terminal from myeongdong.. though u can take lines 7/9/3 to the Express Bus terminal station and exit via exit 5 if i recall correctly.

we were greeted by a long bicycle track lined with bare trees. i imagine that it'll be really pretty in spring & autumn with all the leaves/flowers in full bloom. it was a 10 min walk or so along the path to the entrance of the 'village'.




we had to cross an overhead bridge to get to the opposite side of the road


Seorae Village is supposedly populated by the French, with a French school and French cafes/eateries. However, the people whom I saw along the way were mainly Koreans, save for a handful of French. at least, i assumed that they were French. They could have been Europeans for all i know.

wandered ard the rather tiny 'village' which only took us an hour or so on foot.


'menu' of a cafe?


entrance to a cafe

it was rather picturesque, but did not emit the 'frenchy' vibe that i had expected. it seemed to be just another upscale place that was reminiscent of samcheongdong and garosugil. we decided to have dinner @ O'Fete (오페뜨), a cafe along the main street of the village.

the exterior


the interior


our dinner - waffles with gelato & cranberry cheese bread

the waffles were really good! tasted kinda like butter cake though. hehe. but i think we OD-ed on carbs for the day though..

left at ard 9pm cause i was getting kinda tired.. guess it must have been work. haha.
its already sunday night! the weekend really flies by.. >_<

waxing lyrical - the angst within

there are times when i feel empathy towards it, that poor lost soul oh so misguided & deluded. but for the vast majority of the time, i just feel like grabbing it by its shoulders & shaking it real hard to get some sense in.

is it human nature to always believe that we are the best despite what other people say? maybe that so called air of superiority stems from a severe lack of confidence & inferiority? you don't see it at first. but slowly & surely, it creeps up over you and threatens to engulf you with its stifling hot air.. the hot air that one always boasts of. but what goes up, always comes down.. that's the law of gravity.

perhaps i should learn to cut loose and not take things so seriously. but something about that smugness just irritates the hell out of me. and like everything else, you have to grin & bear it.

it might not be too early for me to start searching for my own refuge.. like an oasis in the desert. the Gobi's too far away, while the Sahara doesn't entice me. i suppose i'll have to be content with good ole' Hangang. i'm not ready to return to the tropical waters as of now. Although someone has been enticing me with a nice fat carrot over there, but i guess i'll pass for now.

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ended up spending USD$50 at www.bookdepository.co.uk for 6 books. got a couple of chick lit books + murakami. am eagerly anticipating their arrival. somehow, i feel starved of good literature. perhaps its the fact that i'm placed in a non-english environment, so much so that my inner shakesphere's struggling to get out..i used to read a lot more in JC/sec sch, probably due to mine being in the arts faculty.. i probably had a lot more time on my hands then. i really enjoyed the carefreeness of studying then. Arts was really a whole lot less taxing than your typical science combination.

I sometimes wonder what would have been had I chosen to major in literature at NUS instead. would i still be here? would i have been happier in my job? would i even be able to find a proper job? but i guess this is the path that God has chosen for me & though its not that bad, i'm waiting to see how it'll become even better....

cpa singapore

its 9.53pm & i'm still here in the office... no prizes for guessing why.
anw, shall not expound on it further but instead, provide updates on my 6 weeks in KR thus far!

just got back from a short biz trip in daejeon yesterday night.. spent 1.5hrs in the freaking rush hour jam (seriously no joke). but i guess its better than squeezing into the sardine packed train with my duffel bag & laptop? even though i felt supremely carsick.. pftttttt. headed down to meet suyeon @ itaewon for fish & chips + shepard's pie! i have to confess though, that her shepard's pie was way better than my fish & chips. Fish & Co wins hands down anytime though.. so much for the supposedly best fish & chips in seoul.. left itaewon at ard 11pm & missed the last train back to oryu-dong at 1159.. ended up alighting at Guro & walking abt 10 mins in -10degrees to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus back home. thank God that the bus ride was only abt 5 mins. :)

colleagues n work have been pretty much ok. though i guess i'm still pretty new in the company to really feel like i belong yet. partners & mgrs have been really nice in showing me the ropes n stuff too. welfare here is quite gd, save for the fact that i don't get MC. >_< but its still considered pretty acceptable overall.. in fact, they just gave out 300,000won worth of lotte dept store vouchers, so i'm not complaining. :)

i hope the mgr gets tired soon & i can go... my myeongdong shopping trip got cancelled cause of this.. pftttt.

2nd week of work!

as the 2nd week of work draws to a close, i suppose its time to evaluate my 2 weeks spent at work. it has been somewhat mild to a certain extent, with not much being asked of me yet. i suppose its cause i'm new + the fact that there are no new jobs on hand at the moment. but well, i've been enjoying this lull in my new job before the jobs start coming in!

thank God for nice mgrs/colleagues/partners who have been ever so willing to show me the ropes. :) am quite excited as to what my 1st job will be. hopefully it'll involve some travelling (crosses fingers). not to china though!

i wonder when spring will come... the weather is nice and all, but not having the house properly heated is a pain. >_< i suppose i'll have to move once the lease is up.. grr. its a pity cause the location is really pretty gd. close to my office n all. there are a few direct buses from my place to the office & its pretty convenient overall. :)

will be heading down to 종로 later to look for the 학원.. its time to start korean lessons again.. plus, the sales have already started & its seriously tempting.. but i shd not shop in order to save for my planned upcoming Europe trip in sept! i'll be setting aside $3,500 for the trip. i hope its enough! it will be fun watching all the Disney characters speak in French. hehehehe.

managed to take more pictures of the office! will post them up v soon! ^^

my new workplace!

unfortunately, this was the best picture that i could find! will update more soon!!! :D

31/12/09 - North Seoul Dream Forest 복서울 꿈의 숲

decided to visit the dream forest after watching Iris (아이리스). there was a very unique observatory that appeared in the drama. since i heard that its at the dream forest, i made up my mind that i absolutely HAD to visit that place. :)

it was opened on Oct 17, 2009, so it can be considered a relatively new park. :)

alight at Seoggye Station, Line No. 1. take bus no 14. it takes abt 10mins to reach the entrance of the park.


bus stop


esther & myself


the entrance to the park


map of dream forest


the park is rather picturesque, with wooden platforms & metal sculptures forming the core structure. there was even a mini bamboo forest tucked away in a corner. i would have liked to explore the place, but due to a lack of time, i had to content with snapping pictures from a distance, albeit far away.


bamboo forest in question


the day was rather chilly, which made exploring a little problematic as snow covered the ground. my shoes weren't made for walking on snow.. they have zero grip on the snow, which meant i was slipping n sliding all over the place. it would have been fun if not for the fact that i was afraid of falling flat on my face.


see the observatory in the distance??


esther & myself


kim jong il on the bridge..




i love the tranquillity of the park. it has this ethereal quality to it. maybe it was because everything was covered in snow? i like snow. i don't know if it has something to do with my birthday being in dec, but yes. i like the cold, snow & everything that comes with it. i like being bundled up in my coat & scarf, holding a cup of hot cocoa, walking around in subzero temperatures. it just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.


observatory

**to be continued**

off to Seoul

Date : 26th May 2008
Time: 18:25pm
Place: Terminal 1
Flight: CX 716 -> CX 412