[eat] All you can eat hotpot at 레타스 Shabu-Shabu (Let Us Shabu-Shabu) @ Hongdae, Seoul

Yo I’m on a roll. 2 entries in 2 days. Either I am on drug or I don’t have a life, or both.
Anyway, yesterday, me & two amigas from Finland decided to meet up after weeks of not seeing each other. We skipped all the greetings/ hugging/ being emotional after eons of being apart and went straight to business: lunch, right now.
Being ever resourceful, I already came up with a place for us to try: 레타스 Shabu-Shabu (Let Us or Lettuce Shabu-Shabu) in Hongdae. I am not a fan of Shabu, the hardcore woman in me prefers the tongue-numbing piquancy of Sichuan hotpot, but upon learning that at Let Us one can eat ALL one wants in 90 minutes… well, quite a no brainer that it is da place to go.

[eat] 1.2kg of beef at Dally So @ Hongdae, Seoul. Need I say more?

It has been a what-the-fuck month for me, thus explains my M.I.A. Nowadays I mostly stay put in my cozy room & ponder over life & death, while eating cheap gross food because I honestly stop giving a fuck about my once passion in life, eating good food. When I stop giving a fuck about food, it means I am in a serious shitstorm.

Anyhow, things have been picking up, slowly but steadily recently. And I attribute such progress with my thrilling experience with 1.2kg of beef last week. Ugh. So good. To be fair, I have eaten out a bit past month, but it’s mainly uninspiring chicken & pork & one or two visits to plain cafes (none worth writing about), only Dally So in Hongdae, however, can give me enough incentives to actually sit down & rave about it.

[tea house] Tea time at Tea Terrace @ Hongdae, Seoul

If you wander to the far opposite end of the main road in Hongdae, you’ll be surprised to see that the place carries a totally different vibe from that of the usual Hongdae you’re accustomed to. It is quiet, cosy and naturally better. In the event of showing my cousin around during her trip to Korea, I decided to take her to this part of Hongdae as the first stop (who doesn’t go to Hongdae really) and showed her around as an eager  tour guide. That’s how we stumbled upon Tea Terrace when it was relatively late in the evening. I didn’t want to go in at first, only to be convinced a moment later by my cousin to check this place out. So basically, shoutout to my beloved cousin who made this post into reality ㅋㅋ.

[eat] Delectable fried chicken at Chir Chir (치르치르) @ Hongdae, Seoul

When you go to Hongdae you can literally find a chicken hof every second minute of walking, be it on the main road or small alleys. However, the chance of finding a good one is one in a million. You will find either the restaurant is too noisy, the food is too bad, or the service is not up to your expectation what with the price that you have to pay. From the experiences that I’ve been through, I have promised myself not to randomly barge into any chicken restaurant without second thoughts and proper food researches anymore.

I was in Hongdae the other day, all exhausted and famished, to the point I could eat anything laid in front my eyes. However, being a responsible blogger as I was, I held my ground and decided to spend the leftover energy I didn’t know I had in me searching for a place for chicken because who doesn’t want chicken when hungry? My friend and I were torn between numerous options, all of which sounded equally appealing before we found Chir Chir (치르치르) and the rest became forgotten history.

[eat] Chicken steak at Roscoco @ Hongdae, Seoul

It’s embarrassing to say this but the more I eat food the less I know about them. Just when I thought there was no way that any chicken dish cooked with any kind of method could wow me anymore this happened and had me seriously think about my attitude to chicken. I mean, chicken is healthy and delicious and all that jazz, but it doesn’t have this element of surprise because it seems I have eaten enough chicken in my life to have a reason not to be impressed by it. My my, I’m glad I went to Roscoco and had an eye-opening experience because that restaurant had one bucket of awesomeness that is chicken.

[eat] Belgian waffles at Limburg @ Hongdae, Seoul

I keep forgetting to write about this place >.> Waffles are my favorite dessert in the world. Seoul indulged me with numerous choices for this sweet little thing, but Waffle Bant forever and always tops my list as a to-go place for their sensational waffles and amazing yogurt smoothie. Will Limburg–another waffle chain with 2 stores in Hongdae alone–be good enough to claim the position that Waffle Bant has long held in my heart?

[eat] Lunch at Team 1994 @ Hongdae, Seoul

*Words by LaCrymaMosa; photos by Han K Ngo & LaCrymaMosa*

As I was looking for a lunch/brunch place in Hongdae on Naver blogs, I came across Team 1994 and was immediately wowed by how pretty it looked in the pictures. Vain as I am, I simply had to check it out right away. The food itself didn’t look that good in the pictures, but I thought that the interior would make up for any possible subdued flavors.

[eat] Wonderful Buttermilk pancakes & Eggs Benedict at Honey Bowl @ Hongdae, Seoul

Eggs Benedict is no longer a novelty in Korean brunch restaurants, Itaewon/Noksapyeong is no longer the one and only destination should you crave this American specialty. But, of course, quantity rarely speaks for quality; it is often the case that the poached eggs are either too runny or too hard, Hollandaise sauce too sour or salty. At Honey Bowl–a tiny yet whimsically designed restaurant with all-day brunch on offer, we had the chance to try one of the best Eggs Benedict in town.

[cafe] Simply fabulous: aA The Design Museum @ Hongdae, Seoul

aA The Design Museum in Hongdae has to be the coolest cafe I have ever been to. The place claims its vast territory in the quieter part of Hongdae (but not at all hard to find) and boosts a very impressive interior. First look at aA and you can tell that the shop was designed by an expert’s hands. Extremely stylish, with a rustic yet classy feel to it, no wonder aA has been the hot topic in the Korean food blogsphere.

[cafe] Review of Peony in Hongdae & 102 Tree in Anam, Seoul

Greetings from Japan >v< I arrived in Japan yesterday and am about to explore Tokyo with my friend. So excited and can't wait to share my experience here in this land :DDD I'm pressed for time, so here is a quick review of two places: 102 Tree in Anam & Peony in Hongdae.
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In the Best Pastries in Seoul article on CNNGo (now CNN Travel), Peony in Hongdae is listed as having ‘Best “Korean-style” cake and tart’ with their Kabocha Tart. I have passed by Peony many many times and always told myself to try it out. It was never the right time to drop in the famous shop until yesterday. It was small, but literally packed with people. In an area like Hongdae, where you can find a cafe every 5 meters, almost all of which serve coffee with pastries, a packed cafe/cake shop does say a lot.