Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 11.2 - Bao Dinner & Sashimi Party

After we finished with our errands at Garosugil, we decided to head to Hannamdong (한남동) to get dinner. We walked around for a while to see what’s there since we didn’t really plan on it and weren’t really sure what our options are. After exploring the area for quite a while, because of Mar’s constant whining about being hungry (to be fair, she only had milk since this morning and I hadn’t eaten anything all day so both of us were really, really hungry and have ran out of energy at this point), we finally decided on having bao for our super late lunch/early dinner.

We ended up at Bao 27, a small restaurant with an open kitchen that was run by 2 chefs. We got there before the dinner rush so the place was pretty empty. There were only two other people beside us who were dining at the restaurant. We took our seats at the bar to see the chefs in action and ordered Truffle French Fries and their Pork & Shrimp Bao to share. They were all good. The baos you definitely need to eat with your hand though, if you want to get everything in one bite. For dessert, we ordered the Sweet Potato which is a steamed and deep-fried sweet potato drenched in honey and whipped cream, sprinkled with pistachio and flower petals on top. The presentation is a bit messy, but it tasted so good. After I took my first spoonful of the sweet potato, the combination of textures surprised me in a delightful way. Mar also liked the dessert and we finished it in no time.

After dinner, we stopped by at Pied (피에) to buy some cakes and macaroons for dessert because we’re planning to have a late dinner/supper at home with my friends. Soo Zee and Leigh actually introduced me to Pied. It’s their favorite macaroon shop and I can understand why because their macaroons are delicious. Too bad that they have now closed.

Later that evening, we had a sashimi party at home. Eun Sa unnie came over. Deok Chun oppa and Eun Gyo unnie prepared salmon sashimi for all of us with the salmon they bought at Costco as well as home made salad that goes with it. We ended the night by eating the macaroons and cakes for desserts while chatting about random things.

Read the first part of our day here.

Update: Bao 27 has now closed permanently.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 11.1 - Cherry Blossom & Gatcha Shop

The next day, we were pretty well rested and decided to go see the cherry blossom again before heading to Garosugil (사로수길) to run some errands. It was a little cloudy when we got there, which makes a nice lighting to shoot the scenery. The clouds didn’t linger around for too long though because minutes later, they disappeared and the sun took over their place instead. Luckily I already got some good shots before it got too bright. Mar and I walked around the park a little bit further than we did yesterday just to see what’s up there. We didn’t see anything that we haven’t seen from the day before so after a while, we decided to head over to the bus stop.

We did a little pit stop at the convenient store because Mar was hungry since we haven’t had anything before we left and she decided to buy milk to fill her stomach. We took the the bus and then the subway to Garosugil and stopped by a Gatcha shop near the subway exit because it’s probably one of Mar’s favorite thing to do when traveling (at least when she’s with me). She browsed around the store to look for the collection that she likes and decided on the Gudetama machine where she put in her coins in trade of a plastic ball containing a random Gudetama mini keychain. She was happy with the one she got although getting an extra ₩500 from the coin changer machine might also have contributed to her elated mood.

To be continued in part 2.

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 10.2 - Naengmyeon & Jjajangmyeon

Travel Vertical Vlog

After the walk in the park, we went back to the apartment to just chill. We spent the afternoon napping just because after more than two weeks exploring Seoul with our family and friends, I think it finally took a toll on us. After we woke up from our nap, we decided to order in Chinese food for dinner and just stay in for the rest of the night. We ordered jjajang fried rice (짜장볶음밥) and tangsuyuk (crispy deep-fried pork) (탕수육) and they gave us a free plate of fried mandu (만두) and a small bowl of jjamppong soup (짬뽕 국물) (which was super good btw). And little did we know now then, this place that we ordered from became one of our favorite restaurant to order from ‘til today.

The rest of the night was spent catching up and just hanging out with my friends until we all finally ready for bed and called it a night.

(Read the first part of our day here.)

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 10.1 - Cherry Blossom Afternoon

Travel Vlog

After our moms flew back home, we checked-out of our Airbnb and moved to my friends' apartment to stay for the rest of the trip. We took the taxi because we were both too tired to lug around our suitcases and take the bus. Mar looked like she’s ready to pass out after cleaning up our Airbnb and packed up our stuff and it’s not even lunch time yet. After we settled in our new lodging, we legit just laid down on the floor for a good half hour before slowly starting to unpack some of our stuff.

My friends, Deokchun oppa and Eungyo unnie, welcomed us by taking us to lunch at one of the local restaurants nearby called 봉평메밀촌. They ordered perilla buckwheat noodle (들깨 메밀 칼국수), buckwheat bibim makguksu (메밀 비빔 막국수), and buckwheat dumpling (메밀왕만두) for us to share. I think this was my first time having perilla buckwheat noodle and the texture of the dish is very interesting. Everything was delicious and we were stuffed by the end of the meal.

Afterwards, we decided to walk around for a bit and see the cherry blossom that were in full bloom around the neighborhood. There were lots of ahjummas and ahjussis wearing very colorful exercise jackets walking around too, getting their exercise for day so it seemed. We saw a couple of them on the exercise equipments that were placed around the park so we decided to give them a try too. A couple of them were foreign to me and Mar so my friends taught us how to use them. We didn’t exercise for too long, but it was still pretty fun trying new things.

One of the rare proper pictures of us on this trip.

(To be continued in part two.)

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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 09 - Paris Croisssant & Sundubu Dinner

Travel Vertical Vlog

After lunch, Mar and I went back again to Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) for some exploration. The cherry blossom hasn’t fully bloomed yet at the palace. Other than a few couple of trees that has started to bloom, the rest of them were still pretty bald. People who came to the palace lined up in front of those few trees to get pictures with a glimpse of the flowers in their shots, just like what happened last time during previous visit.

We ended up passing by Samcheongdong (삼청동) on our way back to Hongdae and saw many couples hanging out around the area. A pretty common sight during the weekends in Seoul.

At the subway station, we made a pit stop at Paris Croissant for an afternoon snack after our excursion at Gyeongbokgung because Mar was hungry. She bought some bread and milk. And it was actually her first time trying their milk. If you ever passed by Paris Croissant and you like milk, it’s worth a try. Their milk taste a little different than regular milk. The one that’s in a clear glass bottle with blue cow, mountain, and trees graphics on it (I think they also have other kinds of milk if I remember correctly) tastes milkier and creamier compared to regular milk, I think. Mar also bought this Japanese Croquettes looking bread that has some kind of fillings inside. What’s funny was that I think just by looking at the shape of the bread, we both kind of expect that it’ll be a warm bread (or even lukewarm since it’s been sitting out on the tray). What we didn’t expect was the bread was cold. Like egg salad cold I think. It was pretty funny watching Mar took her first bite and how her face immediately scrunched in disappointment (watch the vlog and you’ll see what I mean).

Per our moms’ request, we went back to the Korean spicy soft tofu stew (순두부찌개) place that we went to on our first day of the trip for dinner. They’ve been there before too during our previous trip and was craving sundubu. Afterwards, we stopped by this juice place nearby to grab some dessert before heading back to our Airbnb.

(See what we did earlier during the day here.)

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