Aug 18, 2016

Exploring Seoul: Cool Beer Edition

Planning my trip to Korea, I never thought I would end up on a hunt for cool and different beers around Seoul. But when I randomly found out about whipped cream beer, I became really intrigued to find what other beer creations Korea had to offer. So my beer adventures began...


Whipped Cream Beer

Place: Chir Chir Fusion Chicken FactoryAddress: Myeongdong 8ga-gil, humgmuro 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul


At every Chir Chir in Seoul, they have chimaek, which is basically chicken and beer. But I only found this kind of beer (topped with whipped cream) in Myeongdong. It was pretty good only because I ate the whipped cream separately before drinking the beer, which itself was not bad either. I say this because my first experience at a Chir Chir was in Sinchon, and the beer there was pretty watered down and the foam died after 2 seconds :(, but this one had a decent taste according to me haha....

whipped, cream, beer, chimaek, chicken, korea, seoul, myeongdong, chir chir

Line's Brown Bear Beer

Place: Line Friends Store & Cafe 
Address: Itaewon

I was very surprised to find out that the Line Cafe at Itaewon served beer. They had a meal set specially for the "Brown Brewery" Beer, which included 5 pieces of sausage along with the beer. I think they also had a set with their signature burger too. Overall it was pretty good, although I don't think I would choose to go get beer at Line more than the food or ice cream.

line, friends, store, cafe, itaewon, seoul, korea, beer, sausage, brown, bear, kakao

Frozen Foam Beer

Place: Izakaya Bar
Address: Hongdae

This "whipped cream" beer was a little deceiving because it wasn't actually whipped cream, it was more like frozen beer foam on top of the beer. It simply tasted like frozen beer foam. That's all I have to say.

whipped, cream, foam, beer, izakaya, hongdar, hapcheong, seoul, korea, cool, pub

Lightbulb Beer (Hongdae)


light, bulb, beer, hongdae, seoul, korea,

Hand Steak Beer

Place: W Hand Steak
Address: 28, 23-gil Yanghwa-ro, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul

At W Hand Steak, they have different beverage options such as tea, orange juice, and beer, to go along with different steak options which include the meat, cheese sauce, veggies, and rice at the bottom of the little tray. It was really good but super filling because the cup was huge >.<

w hand steak, shrimp, steak, beer, gallon, hongdae, hapcheong,


Cotton Candy Beer

Place: Pub Passe
Address: Exit 1, Sadang Station: Line 2, Seoul

It was really hard to drink this beer with the cotton candy on the way. So I just got rid of it and drank the beer by itself. Honestly, I just didn't want to try beer with sugar mixed in...

pub passe, pub, beer, cotton, candy, foam, chicken, chimaek, chimek, seoul, food,


Beer Ice Cream Pop

Place: Molly's Pops
Address: Eoulmadang-ro, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul

At Molly's Pops, they have a lot of different unique flavors such as wasabi, cheese, and a variety of alcoholic drink flavors like beer, wine, makgeolli, and champagne. One of my favorite ones was raspberry champagne, and the most surprising one was wasabi because it literally tasted like a bar of frozen wasabi. But apart from that, I would recommend this place not only because of the unique flavors but also because of their fruity pops which have natural ingredients, and are homemade. (note: I don't really have much to say about the beer pop; not sure it tasted much like beer...)


erdinger, beer, ice cream, pops, wasabi, mollys pops, hongdae, wine, champagne, kalhua, makgeolli, seoul,

Beer Body Wash

Place: Aritaum

Aritaum is a beauty and make up store that can be found at every shopping street in Seoul. They have really good quality eye shadows and are fairly cheap. But what I found interesting was their beer body wash. They had different scents such as lemon, coffee, and grapefruit; and they also came in two sizes, a teeny sample one and the regular sized shown below.

aritaum, beer body wash

Convenient Beer

GS 25 Convenience Store
 (Sinchon)

This beer includes peanuts in its packaging. Pretty neat huh?


It was pretty fun exploring Korean beer and finding all these different kinds and forms of beer, but I do have to say that there were a lot of places where the beer did not meet my expectations simply because it was pretty much watered down draft beer. And I also have to say that, from this trip, my favorite one overall was not even in Korea, it was the beer I had in Tokyo at a gyoza restaurant near Asakusa Temple. LOL

asahi, beer, tokyo, japan, asakusa, gyoza

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this blog and thank you for visiting my blog!
Mayu :)

Aug 11, 2016

Cool, Cute Cafes in Seoul, Korea


     During my study abroad in Korea, I was able to find a lot of cute and interesting cafes around Seoul, and I would like to share some of my findings with you :3


Banana Tree Cafe

Address: 525-3 Apgujeong-ro 4-gil, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Banana Tree is a cafe that offers cakes and patbingsu in flower pots, as well as warm/cold drinks topped with a huge cloud of  cotton candy. I believe there are two locations in Seoul, one in Gangnam and another one in Itaewon, The one that I went was in Gangnam and it was pretty small, and had to wait around 20 minutes to get a seat. I did pass by the one in Itaewon and I saw it is a little more spacious, so I would recommend going to that one instead.

banana, tree, cafe. seoul. korea, cotton candy, cool , cute


Caface

Hongik-ro 3-gil, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea


I found this cafe while wondering around Hondae. It is in one of the alleyways next to one of the clothing shop street near Hongik Station line 2 (exit 9). At Caface, there is a photo booth where you take a picture of yourself with a phone provided, and then somehow they put the picture on the foam of your coffee. It is not a sticker, the print is actually tinted foam so you can drink yourself. Pretty creepy haha...

caface, seoul, korea, corea, cafe, art, daniel wellington, latte




Nature Fruit Cafe

Gangnam-daero, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

bingsu, melon, balls, watermelon, ice cream, shaved ice, vanilla, chocolate



Thanks Nature Cafe (Sheep Cafe)

6 Hongik-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea


At Thanks Nature Cafe, they have two sheep that you can pet, feed, and get pictures with, after you make a purchase at their cafe (the sheep are outside the cafe, but inside, it is all decorated with sheep art). They have a lot of different desserts like waffles and bingsu, as well as hot/cold beverages.


Line Friends Store & Cafe

535-15, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea



Cafe Bora

Yulgok-ro 3-gil, Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Cafe Bora is a dessert place where they make all of their treats out of sweet purple potato. I tried the ice cream and the honey potato chips, and they were both pretty good. I would really recommend this place. They have bingsu and tea options as well.

sweet, purple, potato, ice cream, chips, cafe, bora, seoul, hanok, village, bukchon


Ddong Cafe (Poop Cafe)

38 Insadong-gil, Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea


This cafe is on the top floor of Ssamziegil mall in Insadong, where there is also a poop museum called Poopoo Land (it is really fun), and have stands selling poop shaped breads filled with azuki beans. Inside the cafe, everything is poop and bathroom themed, and decorated with flowers to make it look prettier. They offer desserts, drinks, and pasta in bathroom bowls like the one in the picture.

poop, cafe, seoul, ssamziegil, insadong, ddong, cafe, coffee, latte, art, roses, bathroom

Hello Kitty Cafe

364-6 Eoulmadang-ro, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

hello kitty cafe


La Douce

Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

La Douce cafe was one of my favorite cafes because of how cute the foam on the drinks is and how the cheesecake is made to look like cheddar cheese (it tastes like regular cheesecake, and if I don't remember wrong, I think it was lime cheesecake). 

korean, cafe, la douce, cat, bear, foam, latte, art, cheesecake, cheddar, cheese, matcha, cappuccino, starbucks, seoul, hongdae, coffee street



Florte Flower Cafe

37-gil Wausan, Donggyo-dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul

Super Cute cafe where you can get pictures with flower crowns, and other decorations provided for customers; along with your drink. 



Raccoon Cafe (Hongdae)


A lot of my friends did not want to go to Racoon Cafe because they seem scary, but these raccoons were pretty friendly and it was fun feeding them and playing around with them too. 
raccoon cafe, seoul, korea, cafe, coffee

Take-Out Drawing Cafe (Itaewon)

Dongsung, Jogno-gu,Seoul

I got a coffee topped with meringue at Take-Out, and it was pretty good. All of their other items on their menu look as fancy as this one that I got. I would recommend for coffee lovers.

korea, coffee, seoul, cafe, meringue, cappuccino, cool, unique, gangnam, itaewon,



Line Friends Store & Cafe Itaewon


Although there are a lot of Line Cafes in Seoul, I think that the best one is the one at Itaewon because they offer the most variety on their menu such as burgers sets, ice cream, macaroons, and even beer. The breakfast  set that I got included scrambled eggs, sausages with faces, bacon, french toast, and coffee.
line, friends, cafe, store, itaewon, seoul, korea, sausages, french, toast, cool, bacon, eggs, scrambled, macaron, macaroon, ice cream, hamburger, burger


Nina Kitchen (Edae)

Walk straight from Ehwa Woman's University station Line 2, exit 3; turn right at Ewhayeodae 3-gil, and it should be on your right. (The address on Google Maps takes you to the Starbucks near there).

nina, kitchen, ehwa, womans, university, cheese, curry, korean, cat, cute, seoul, cafe, cordon bleu, tonkatsu, makgeolli,

Colline


408-27, Eoulmadang-ro, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul

Colline was one of the nicest places I visited. It is decorated all around with flowers, and the food and drinks are served in really nice trays, dishes, and (the hipster) mason jars. 


FYI:
I have an Instagram account (@soniyumms) where I posted a lot of the places I went to eat in Seoul (you can also find the location on the pictures on Instagram). And I used Google Maps during my stay in Korea, and worked perfectly fine with subway and bus stations. But as for walking, it doesn't tell you what route to use, it only draws a straight line from the station to the destination, but all I did was follow the map's lines instead of the trajectory that it tells you, and was able to reach my destination.

One last note; although there is wifi almost everywhere in Seoul, it does not connect all of the time so it may become troublesome, but for me, I was able to survive without having to buy data for my phone.