Taverna de Portugal

The only Portuguese restaurant I've been to in Seoul, Taverna de Portugal (터버나드포르투갈), has became one of my favorite places to go to, especially when I'm craving Nando's Chicken (which I haven't eaten in ages btw). Granted, the taste is not is exactly the same (according to a friend of mine who knows for sure what it tastes like), but their Grilled Piri Piri Chicken (피리피리치킨) is super delicious and full of flavors and it's good enough to fulfill my cravings :p

Located in a small alley in Sangsu (상수), the restaurant is owned by a friendly husband and wife duo. The place is not too big and it gets pretty busy during dinner time, especially on weekends. I usually ordered the Piri Piri Chicken Combo Menu 1 (피리피리 치킨 콤보메뉴 1), which consists of one whole grilled chicken, rice, sausage, bacon, salad, potatoes and home-made chips. It's good for 2 people and if you think that you need more food, they also have other selections on the menu.

They are currently having a summer special menu: Piri Piri Grill Fish Combo—oven grilled whole fish with piri piri sauce (minimum 1 day pre-order is required). Check out their facebook page for more info. 

Tips: Come during lunch time if you want to avoid the crowd. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

---

Mum Aroy • 뭄말로이

Found another hidden gem in Sangsu area, a little Thai restaurant called Mum Aroy (뭄말로이). Having been in Korea for almost a year now, I've been eating a lot of Korean food—and it's great and all—but after a while I kinda miss other Asian food as well. And since I don't live near Itaewon, I was trying to find a good place around my area and stumbled upon this place online.

First off, I really love the vibe of the place. The decor, the music, the color of the walls, and even the utensils reminded me of my trip to Thailand and even a little bit of home. Went there with my classmates the first time so we ordered a bunch of different things to try and none of them disappointed. Everything tasted so good and they tasted pretty authentic (and by authentic I mean similar to my favorite Thai restaurants that I've visited in the past, outside Korea). And I think the fact that I've been craving it for a while kinda made the food tasted even better ;P

Here's the list of what we ordered: Tom Yum Goong (뚬얌꿍), Pad Thai (팟타이), Pad See Ew (팟시유), Green Curry (그린 커리), and Pad Kra Pao (팟카파오 무쌈) (which was SUPER HOT). And since then, I've gone back a couple of times and tried their Fried Rice (카오팟 뿌 <게살>), which was delicious as well. 

If you're craving for some Thai food, I definitely recommend this place. The owners and the servers are very friendly too. And this place is actually on the same street as Grunge Cafe (see my post here), so you could get dessert there if you still have some room for dessert after your meal. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Grunge

I've been finding myself going back to this place these past couple of weeks. Grunge (그런지) is located at a small alley near Sangsu Station (상수역) and they have a pretty cozy cafe atmosphere. This place has probably became one of my favorite cafes around Sangsu Area. One of the reasons is they have a good non-coffee drink selections. Some of them are more substantial than others, so it makes a good place to go to after dinner if you feel like getting dessert (they also have cakes too). Also, they play music I grew up with in the cafe so it's nice to listen to familiar tunes while hanging out there. One of these days, I probably gonna go back to this cafe again. Catch up on some reading, kick-back, relax while enjoying their Green Tea Summer Latte (그린티 썸머라떼).

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Grunge (그런지)
서울 마포구 상수동 93-104 2층
Closed on Mondays (휴문일: 월요일)

Les Ephemeres

Les Ephemeres (레제페메르) is hidden in a small alley in Hapjeong (합정). My friend and I was walking around the neighborhood and decided to picked a random place we never been to take a break from all the walking around the neighborhood we did earlier. We actually found the place when we turned to an alley to look at murals on the white wall on the side of the alley but to our surprised there's a cafe entrance at the end of it. Nobody was inside when we walked in, so the place's really quite. Picked a table and started to browse through the menu. They have coffee, tea, wine and beer on their drinks menu so you'll never run out of choices. There're also a good selections of cakes if you feel like having something sweet to go with you drinks. Since both my friend and I are not a coffee drinker, we opted for their tea selections. Can't remember the name of the teas we ordered, but they both were good. When I was taking pictures of the place, I noticed a 'Reserved' sign on the long table at the back of the cafe. Later on, I found out that this place do cater to private/small dinner party as well. Last thing, they have these architectural sketches up on the wall, which I totally adore.