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!**

literary reads

i grew up on a diet of enid blyton, roald dahl & sweet valley. thanks to my mum, who inculcated in me a love for reading since i was young. word has it that i started reading on my own at 2, which was no mean feat for a toddler. needless to say, my book collection has grown exponentially ever since then, with more to come as long as books keep on being published. i want a library like 김주원 in 시크릿 가든 as shown below..



what an awesome place to sit n read.:P

anw, the reason y i started talking abt books was because of my new fascination with a new series of books, The Lying Game, by Sara Shepard. she is the writer behind the Pretty Little Liars series. I've already polished off the 1st installment in the series & am eagerly anticipating part 2, set to be released in Aug 2011.

The Lying Game is the first book to The Lying Game series. The story is about child Emma Paxton, who comes to believe she has a twin sister. She goes on Facebook, and sends a message to the girl, Sutton. Sutton writes back saying that they need to meet. However, Sutton is actually dead. Emma goes to the Sobino Canyon, Arizona. While waiting for her sister, she is attacked by a group of people. They take her across the street, and remove the burlap sack over her head. That's when Emma finds out that it's just Sutton's friends playing a prank.

The friends believe that Emma is Sutton, and take her to Nisha's party. Back at Sutton's home, Emma still goes on with the charade as being Sutton, since they are identical twins. The next morning, Sutton's younger sister, Laurel gets a note. She gives the letter to Emma without reading it. The letter says 'Sutton's dead, keep playing along'. Emma is drunk, but goes to the police station, however she is not taken seriously because of Sutton's past lies. When Emma goes to school, Garret, Sutton's boyfriend, takes that Emma is Sutton like everyone else. Emma begins liking a boy named Ethan.

Emma learns about a game Sutton and her friends play, "The Lying Game", an elaborate pranking game. Emma also learns that one day that Sutton's friends took TLG too far, and almost strangled Sutton. Ethan told Emma that he saved Sutton that night that she almost died, so Emma concludes that Sutton died after that incident and anyone could have killed her. Emma runs off with Ethan and he finds out that Emma is pretending to be Sutton, but he promises to keep her secret and help her find the killer. Emma decides to stay and pretend to be Sutton so she can find out who killed her sister. Emma returns to Sutton's home, celebrating her and Sutton's birthday. But Emma doesn't know, Sutton's murderer is always watching...

Got my hands on an ebook & have been enjoying myself for the past hour reading. Hands up if you would like a copy of it too. Just leave a comment in the comment box with yr email & i'll send it to you. ;)

also, for those who like Jane Austen & all things related, I've another series by Victoria Connelly to recommend. It's a trilogy, with 2 out of the 3 books already released & available for your reading pleasure.

A Weekend with Mr Darcy
The Perfect Hero

both books are available on bookdepository. The last book in the series, Dreaming of Mr Darcy will be out this Winter. can't wait to read it! :P

Do you have any good recomendations for books?? drop me a note if so! ;)

the power of deal-of-the-day websites

i have recently found a new hobby & that is surfing all the deal-of-the-day websites for the juciest and best deals! Such sites have been in existence since 2008, but it was only recently that they started gaining in popularity.

There are currently 4 of such sites that I know of operating in Korea.

1: Groupon

2: Ticketmonster

3: Coupang

4: WeMakePrice

It seems that all the sites operate pretty much the same way, with nothing much to differentiate them from the rest. The only thing that would make them stand out would be the 'deals' that they can offer the consumer. I mean, no one would really care which site they are purchasing from as long as they can get the 'best' or rather, their desired deal. I suppose that if the site is able to partner with 'good businesses' (and i use this term rather loosely), it'll help bring in more revenue.

Another thing about these sites that annoy me is the layout. I think that they should categorise the deals in a more orderly fashion, instead of just placing them in the side bar.

That being said and done, I have already made 4 purchases off 2 sites yesterday.

#1: KFC Twister meal for 2,650원 (50% off)


#2: 1 Mth gym membership for 30,000원 (80% off)


#3: Entry to the N Seoul Tower for two at 9,900원 (45% off)


#4: Trick Eye Gallery for 6,500원 (50% off)


as you can see, i have been getting a little too 'click happy'. but then again, only the 1st 2 deals are for myself. the other 2 were purchased for my friends who are currently visiting korea. :)

well, its only 8 more hrs till the next deals appear! can't wait to see what they have in store for me.. ;)

more shopping... and summer rants

just got myself a new pair of heels from Nine West after seeing them on TV! its exactly what i've been looking for! oh so vintage-y but yet comfy at the same time! Tried them on at the store & it was love at second sight! (first was when i saw it on TV).. :P


Nine West Conjur in Taupe Kid

and i got myself another pair of skinnies from F21! F21 carries the Divine Rights of Denim line that is sadly unavailable in Korea. So i ordered from the US site, to be shipped to Singapore.. n hopefully, i'll manage to get someone who's coming over soon to pass me my jeans! :)

Divine Rights of Denim is supposedly a premium brand of jeans that retails for anywhere between USD$70-100 & up, but they have teamed up with F21 to offer a more affordable, but still fashion forward denim line. I haven't worn/seen the brand before, but after reading about all the positive reviews, I'm pretty excited to get my hands on them.


Divine Rights of Denim Ankle Zip Skinnies

i actually bought this pair of jeans 2 months back? n i'm getting them from Jieting tomorrow! hehe. can't wait to try them on!


Divine Rights of Denim Distressed Skinnies

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i suppose its early summer now.. n though the slightly warmer weather is a respite from the cold, i have to say that i throughly hate the insects and bugs that come with it. I have been sleeping with my window open cause its pretty cooling at night.. but the stupid flies & insects that come in are downright gross. looks like i have to switch on my air conditioner soon to avoid these pests.. grrrrrrrrrrr

Taiwan Day 3 - Jiufen/Shifen

Headed to Taipei Main Station real early in the morning to take the TRA to Jiufen/Shifen! Was kinda lost at first cause we went to the wrong platform. But thank God we were early, so it didn't matter all that much. :)


the TRA train


Platform 4! the RIGHT platform.. :)


a group of Korean ahjumma tourists.. using a rose in place of the usual flag!


Yvonne & I on the train.. i look real tired & disheveled. >_<


to Ruifang

To get to Shifen, we had to take the TRA to Ruifang first before transferring to one of those smaller inter county (?) trains. I rather enjoyed the ride throughout as it was pretty scenic and old school. :) However, to purchase the train ticket from Ruifang to Shifen, we had to get out of the station and head to the main ticketing counter instead. How troublesome..


at Ruifang


the platform where we were supposed to take the train to Shifen


cool designs on the floor


sign pointing the way to Jiufen!


train route to Shifen


super old school huh? :)


the train ticket to Shifen


the train!


**to be continued**

flower pots to welcome spring/summer?

shd i get myself some flowers/cactuses to brighten up my place??
i think it would look nice sitting on the ledge in my house.
hm... but i have the blinds drawn every moment of the day, so leaving them there would be kinda useless ain't it??

Taiwan Day 2

Gonna attempt to blog down my taiwan trip... with FB these days, i rarely blog as much as i used to. But i still think that despite the saying that 'A picture is worth a 1000 words', descriptions and narratives are still very much important. I don't think that I can remember everything about my trip just by looking at my pictures 2 years later..

Yvonne found this really cool hotel, Ambience Hotel and I was pretty impressed with it!
Its a boutique designer hotel that wasn't too pricey.. i think it cost us only S$500+ for 5 nights for 2 pax? Plus breakfast was provided too! The service was exceptional as well. :) Highly recommended!


Ambience Hotel


the room!

Went to a japanese departmental store at Taipei Main Station to get some ettusais products as Korea doesn't carry this line. Am quite pleased with the results! ^^




I arranged to meet Shalin & Dingdang on the 2nd day I arrived & since we had some time to kill before meeting them, we headed off to Ximending to soak in the atmosphere!


Outside Ximen Station!

My 1st meal in Taiwan was the Ah Zhong Mian Xian that everyone was raving about online!





Ah Zhong Mian Xian!

It was pretty tasty too.. n cost only $2 or so for this whole bowl! I shared half with Yvonne as I didnt' want to spoil my appetite for the buffet that we were gonna have!


Check out all the food!

We headed to a buffet restaurant on the 2nd level of Rainbow Hotel (note: the buffet restaurant is not inside the hotel, but outside it!) and it cost abt NTD$450~ or so for a free flow of food n drinks + desert! But the downside was that the food was limited to 3 orders per item. Even then, we were pretty stuffed by the 2nd order, so i suppose that its more than enough. The beef was extremely good!

Yvonne brought me to this 'wholesale like' store that sold cosmetics, masks and other toiletries for a pretty cheap price!


the entrance to the store


the building opposite it.

Its located on the outskirts of Ximending though.. anw, i bought like S$60+ worth of masks & toiletries! hur hur hur.

Ximending wasn't all that impressive. in the sense that the shopping wasn't really my style. Cheap though it may be, the quality just didn't justify the price tag.. We adjourned to a nearby Starbucks for a toilet break. The interior decor was really cool! I think it must have been a teahouse or sth at one point in time. :)




interior of Ximending's Starbucks

The MTR has priority seats for the elderly and handicapped, similar to what Korea has! However, there weren't that many seats to begin with though...


inside the MTR

Met up with SHalin & Ding dang @ Taipower MTR station before heading off to Shida Night Mkt for shopping! the clothes were markedly better, though albeit at a much higher price. And most of the clothes were imported from Korea. Didn't make much sense to buy them since I could get them for a much cheaper price in Korea..

It was really great meeting Dingdang after 3 years! n Shalin after 1 month (she came over to Korea in March!) would love to go back someday to catch up with them more.. Dingdang's pretty busy with her store, so she hasn't been out of the country since 2008! Anw, i'm not done with exploring Taiwan too! so yup, that gives me a good excuse to go back to visit!


Shalin, dingdang and me.


my loot for the day