Besides Clubbing at Hongdae
I'm not one to club. Never been to one, not planning on visiting one. But besides the clubs, Hongdae has restaurants. There are shops famous with bloggers and fans. This is a list of a few places I've visited.
Directions: From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, turn left into the streets and turn left at the second alley. Walk down all the way until the rotary and then turn right. The restaurant has a window that looks into the chef preparing the dumplings. Typically, there is a table of dumplings outside the restaurant.
This place is so famous, EXO's Chanyeol said he had to visit it since the members were in Hongdae. The restaurant has done so well that they have two branches in the Hongdae area. This restaurant serves the common street food and has seating or standing areas. I tried the fritters and spicy rice cake, and I could understand why the spicy rice cake was famous. It didn't have a strong pepper paste taste but more of some other seasoning like pork. That being said, this place is NOT HALAL approved. The store serves pig's organs. They also have blood sausages which are made with pig's intestines. The spicy rice cake may not have any pork in it, the taste makes me suspicious. Also, they mix the spicy rice cake with the pork dishes at customers' requests, so the utensils may be "contaminated".
Directions:
1. From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, turn left and walk into the first alley on the left.
2. From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, walk straight around three blocks down and turn left. Walk up the hill until you see a restaurant with a pig picture or Caffe Ti-amo. Cross the road into the carpark and walk past Dr. Martens.
If you're a Running Man fan, I'm sure you know this place belongs to the celebrity Haha. There are two branches at Konkuk University and Gangnam owned by the hip-hop duo Leessang.
The restaurant is a grill place for pork dishes, mainly pig's intestines. They also have cow's intestines. The pork belly is also available for those not brave enough to try intestines. The pork belly is also a faster meat to cook, because the intestines are chewy and take a long time to cook. The servings cost KRW10,000 for 150g. The restaurant also serves alcohol to match with the food. Cider is the best non-alcoholic drink to help with digestion.
Directions: From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, walk straight around three blocks down and turn left. Walk up the hill until you see a restaurant with a pig picture or Caffe Ti-amo.
Alternatively, walk through the famous hongdae streets all the way until you see Caffe Ti0amo on the left. Palja Makchang is on the right.
This is the restaurant that vloggers Simon and Martina recommended in their W.A.N.K. Jeon edition. Jeon is basically Korean pancake. There are many kinds of Jeons, and like S&M, my friends and I ordered the variety platter (KRW22,000). The variety platter has mini autumn squash, mung bean, fish, chives, oyster, mushroom, tofu, kimchi, and pork pancakes. It also comes with a salad prepared with an asian dressing.
For the dietary limited customers, the shop owners understand if you want to remove certain pancakes from the platter. Tell him if you don't want the pork(dwaeji gogi 돼지고기) or the oysters(gul 굴). We did that and he replaced the pork pancake with other pancakes. This place is definitely the best place I've had Korean pancakes. This place basically made my carnivorous friend go omnivorous with the mung bean pancake.
One thing you can add to your meal is the Korean alcohol Makgeolli. A 750ml bottle costs KRW6,000. Makgeolli is sweet rice wine also famous in Jeonju. This alcohol is more favored than soju because of the sweet taste. It reminds me of dessert white wine… If there's a white wine version. Beware though, this alcohol as light as it tastes is pretty strong. My friend and I couldn't finish the bottle because we felt the effects half-way through the bottle.
Directions: Just like the street food store, walk past Caffe Ti-amo into the carpark for about 5 minutes. It should be opposite the waffle shop.
The new celebrity BBQ spot in Hongdae would be the BBQ restaurant opened by YG Entertainment. Many stars visit because of its celebrity establishment and of course, the service. Who know, if you visit at night, you might see some celebrities!
The restaurant's open concept kitchen is themed like a butchery so it looks like the chef is a butcher who cuts the meat on the spot and wraps it up right before serving. Well, he does cut and wrap it on the spot, but I'm not so sure about his profession as a butcher. It sells their original recipe hotdogs and interesting soju cocktails.
The restaurant specialises in 3 cuts of pork: fattier part of the neck (항정살 hangjeongsal), meatier part of the neck (목살 moksal) , and pork belly (삼겹살 Samgyeopsal). While the do sell portions of each cut by itself, we went for their sampler set. They have 2 sizes for their samplers sets:
On top of that, they have meals that include their fried rice and ades/cocktails.
Two things I'd applaud about the restaurant: their service and their meat.
Firstly, the service. The staff will wait on you for orders and for the grilling. After using a device to measure the temperature of the grilling pan, they will proceed to place the meat on the pan and grill the meat for you - without you even asking. You literally just leave everything to them. You can see it in Korean Englishman's video below:
Secondly, the meat. The meat is fresh. So fresh it's not frozen! Some BBQ places in Korea serve their raw meat frozen, which means the meat takes forever to cook and the texture is not as fantastic. On top of that, check out the thickness of the pork belly! I'm Singaporean so I love my roasted pork, and roasted pork is always cut thick so that you can taste the juiciness in your mouth. And they did that here! Although you are full on pork meat which can make you feel greasy, I'm surprised that their meats didn't make me feel greased out. I guess it was because of their mix of pork cuts. And I'd have to say that even the 2-people portion butcher's sampler was very satisfying for us.
Not to forget, they have special sauces: Garlic Mustard, Hot Pepper Pickle, and Anchovy Sauce.
Garlic Mustard and Hot Pepper Pickle are served in saucers for each customer. Anchovy Sauce is placed on the pan as the meat is being grilled. Anchovy Sauce was our favourite because it complimented the warm meat well. We weren't feeling much form Garlic Mustard.
FELL+COLE serves gastronomic ice cream, offering flavors that you don't typically find at the parlor. Some flavors include the Youth Potion No. 9, Perilla Leaves, Monkey Business (Choco-Banana), Tough Cookie, Cream Cheese Lemon Zest, Ginger White Chocolate, Roasted Pistacchio, and Just Boring Vanilla. A single scoop is KRW5,000-5,900 for a single scoop, depending on the flavor. Unfortunately for me, the makgeolli flavor came only on the day that I flew back to Singapore.
The flavors are not overpowering, but they are strong enough. According to my friend, the roasted pistachio does not have a very strong pistachio taste but doesn't have the artificial taste either. I guess they're just really creamy for me so I felt more milk than flavor, you know what I mean? Anyways, because the ice cream is organically made, the ice cream is very creamy. They also give a huge scoop of ice cream. Don't be fooled by the size of the cup.
Directions:
From Line 2 Hongik University Station exit 9, walk straight down to the third junction (one more after Tous Les Jours). Turn left and walk up the hill until you find Caffe Ti-amo. Walk until the alley called Wausan-ro 13-gil. If you see a vintage shop on the second floor of a building, you're in the right alley. Walk to the first junction and turn right. You should pass by an On The Borders restaurant. Turn right again and walk until you see the building.
From Line 6 Sangsu station exit 1, walk straight and turn right into the first alley. FELL+COLE is along that alley.
1. Bukchonson Mandu 북촌손만두
As the restaurant name suggests, this place serves dumplings. They also have noodle dishes to compliment the dumplings. Each serving of the normal or kimchi dumpling costs KRW3,500 with three big dumplings. The kimchi dumpling is spicy to me so don't take it lightly. The restaurant also serves assorted dumplings like the fried prawn dumpling or dumpling balls. But unlike the Chinese dumplings or dumplings I'm used to, their filling is crumbly so it usually falls apart on the first bite. |
| Kimchi Mandu |
2. Gangster Tteokbokki 홍대 조폭 떡볶이
This place is so famous, EXO's Chanyeol said he had to visit it since the members were in Hongdae. The restaurant has done so well that they have two branches in the Hongdae area. This restaurant serves the common street food and has seating or standing areas. I tried the fritters and spicy rice cake, and I could understand why the spicy rice cake was famous. It didn't have a strong pepper paste taste but more of some other seasoning like pork. That being said, this place is NOT HALAL approved. The store serves pig's organs. They also have blood sausages which are made with pig's intestines. The spicy rice cake may not have any pork in it, the taste makes me suspicious. Also, they mix the spicy rice cake with the pork dishes at customers' requests, so the utensils may be "contaminated".
Directions:
1. From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, turn left and walk into the first alley on the left.
2. From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, walk straight around three blocks down and turn left. Walk up the hill until you see a restaurant with a pig picture or Caffe Ti-amo. Cross the road into the carpark and walk past Dr. Martens.
3. Palja Makchang 팔자막창
If you're a Running Man fan, I'm sure you know this place belongs to the celebrity Haha. There are two branches at Konkuk University and Gangnam owned by the hip-hop duo Leessang.
The restaurant is a grill place for pork dishes, mainly pig's intestines. They also have cow's intestines. The pork belly is also available for those not brave enough to try intestines. The pork belly is also a faster meat to cook, because the intestines are chewy and take a long time to cook. The servings cost KRW10,000 for 150g. The restaurant also serves alcohol to match with the food. Cider is the best non-alcoholic drink to help with digestion.
Directions: From Line 2 Hongik University station exit 9, walk straight around three blocks down and turn left. Walk up the hill until you see a restaurant with a pig picture or Caffe Ti-amo.
Alternatively, walk through the famous hongdae streets all the way until you see Caffe Ti0amo on the left. Palja Makchang is on the right.
4. Haengbok Jeon 행복전
 |
| Chives, fish, mushroom, autumn squash, tofu |
 |
| Mung bean, oyster, kimchi |
One thing you can add to your meal is the Korean alcohol Makgeolli. A 750ml bottle costs KRW6,000. Makgeolli is sweet rice wine also famous in Jeonju. This alcohol is more favored than soju because of the sweet taste. It reminds me of dessert white wine… If there's a white wine version. Beware though, this alcohol as light as it tastes is pretty strong. My friend and I couldn't finish the bottle because we felt the effects half-way through the bottle.
Directions: Just like the street food store, walk past Caffe Ti-amo into the carpark for about 5 minutes. It should be opposite the waffle shop.
7. 3geori Butchers
The restaurant's open concept kitchen is themed like a butchery so it looks like the chef is a butcher who cuts the meat on the spot and wraps it up right before serving. Well, he does cut and wrap it on the spot, but I'm not so sure about his profession as a butcher. It sells their original recipe hotdogs and interesting soju cocktails.
 |
| How your meat is brought to your table: wrapped in clean newspaper like the old days |
- Butcher's sampler for 2 people KRW37,000: 480g of moksal, hangjeongsal, and samgyeopsal combined
- Butcher's sampler for 3-4 people KRW50,000: 720g of moksal, hangjeongsal, and samgyeopsal combined
 |
| Butcher's Sampler KRW37,000 |
Two things I'd applaud about the restaurant: their service and their meat.
Firstly, the service. The staff will wait on you for orders and for the grilling. After using a device to measure the temperature of the grilling pan, they will proceed to place the meat on the pan and grill the meat for you - without you even asking. You literally just leave everything to them. You can see it in Korean Englishman's video below:
Secondly, the meat. The meat is fresh. So fresh it's not frozen! Some BBQ places in Korea serve their raw meat frozen, which means the meat takes forever to cook and the texture is not as fantastic. On top of that, check out the thickness of the pork belly! I'm Singaporean so I love my roasted pork, and roasted pork is always cut thick so that you can taste the juiciness in your mouth. And they did that here! Although you are full on pork meat which can make you feel greasy, I'm surprised that their meats didn't make me feel greased out. I guess it was because of their mix of pork cuts. And I'd have to say that even the 2-people portion butcher's sampler was very satisfying for us.
Not to forget, they have special sauces: Garlic Mustard, Hot Pepper Pickle, and Anchovy Sauce.
Garlic Mustard and Hot Pepper Pickle are served in saucers for each customer. Anchovy Sauce is placed on the pan as the meat is being grilled. Anchovy Sauce was our favourite because it complimented the warm meat well. We weren't feeling much form Garlic Mustard.
 |
| Meat being grilled |
If you are a YG fan or someone craving quality service for your grilled pork, I'd definitely recommend this place. I prefer this over Palja Makchang honestly.
6. FELL+COLE
FELL+COLE serves gastronomic ice cream, offering flavors that you don't typically find at the parlor. Some flavors include the Youth Potion No. 9, Perilla Leaves, Monkey Business (Choco-Banana), Tough Cookie, Cream Cheese Lemon Zest, Ginger White Chocolate, Roasted Pistacchio, and Just Boring Vanilla. A single scoop is KRW5,000-5,900 for a single scoop, depending on the flavor. Unfortunately for me, the makgeolli flavor came only on the day that I flew back to Singapore.
From Line 2 Hongik University Station exit 9, walk straight down to the third junction (one more after Tous Les Jours). Turn left and walk up the hill until you find Caffe Ti-amo. Walk until the alley called Wausan-ro 13-gil. If you see a vintage shop on the second floor of a building, you're in the right alley. Walk to the first junction and turn right. You should pass by an On The Borders restaurant. Turn right again and walk until you see the building.
From Line 6 Sangsu station exit 1, walk straight and turn right into the first alley. FELL+COLE is along that alley.
I like their Burnt Caramel with Smoked Sea Salt !! ~~ Yums..... I went to the one in Galleria since the Hongdae outlet was still under renovation back in April 2013.
ReplyDeleteDang I didn't know about the Galleria branch! And I've been to Apgujung-Rodeo so many times -.-….
DeleteHahahaha..... Pay a visit then before u leave =) .
ReplyDeleteI've left T.T Oh wells I've had FELL+COLE twice already it's enough
DeleteYeah, just read ur post n found out you left already =.=
ReplyDeleteHI there, do you ahve the exact location of the jeon restaurant i.e. addresses (?) because I can't seem to find it anywhere ^ ^ THank you
ReplyDeleteHey there! Here it is:
Delete행복전
South Korea, Seoul, Mapo-gu, Seogyo-dong, 402-1
So yummy! ^^
ReplyDelete