I spent Wednesday at Gyeongju’s Yangdong Village, recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, working on a story. The ancient capital of the Silla kingdom, Gyeongju is a wonderful place to visit as the town is virtually a big outdoor museum. You could probably spend months there and not see everything. Returning downtown from Yangdong [...]
Dugahun is a French—Italian restaurant/wine bar in the backyard of Gallery Hyundai on Samcheong-dong Road, just east of Gyeongbokgung Palace. It’s a beautiful place in a renovated, century-old hanok with a lovely courtyard that it shares with Gallery Dugahun, a Daehan Empire-era, Russian-style brick building now used as an art space. Mixing tradition, Old World [...]
Admittedly, this post is a bit random, as there’s little to connect sundae in Yongsan, watching the fountain of the Banpo Bridge and bibim guksu by my home in Itaewon other than I either consumed or visited said foods/sites this weekend. Musuri Sundae, Yongsan OK, so on Saturday, I had a craving for sundae, so [...]
Tosokchon is quite possibly Korea’s most famous purveyor of samgyetang, a Korean summertime specialty. Located in Chebu-dong, just to the west of Gyeongbokgung Palace, this place was a favorite of late president Roh Moo-hyun (the current president, meanwhile, is reportedly a fan of another summertime dish). So popular, we went at 9pm, and it was [...]
I’m not a huge fan of Insa-dong restaurants — too touristy and overpriced, IMHO — but when they’re good, they’re real good. A good example of this is Toetmaru Doenjang Yesul, a popular eatery in an alley just before Insa-dong Crossroad. Run by poet/photographer Park Jung-sik, this lively place specializes in Hamgyeong-do gang doenjang, a [...]