[eat] And the World’s Best Hot Chocolate is…

Angelina‘s!

Before going to Paris, like any first timers, I was anxious about where to chill away an afternoon the Parisian way when I came across some reviews about Angelina. Our stop at this chic, oh-so-Paris Salon du Thé was one of my culinary highlights during the whole trip. Really, just try enjoying a cup of sinfully delicious hot chocolate in such a lavishly decorated tea room on a rainy day, you’ll see why life is worth living for

[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.

[cafe] Korean traditional tea at 수요일 @ Insadong, Seoul

As much as I am a big fan of tea, Korean traditional tea had never really been on my must-try or favorite list. For sure I had tried few times before, but more often than not I’d  found Korean tea rather bland and not exactly…tea. Unlike the usual tea made from leaves, in Korea they also make tea from wheat, dry seeds and various fruit herbs which until now, still sounds incredibly weird to me because those kinds of tea don’t have the distinctive flavors we find in this classic drink. Nevertheless the trip I made to Insadong a while ago definitely stirred something different in me and gave me a more positive viewpoint about Korean traditional tea.

[cafe] The Chloris of Anam: Cafe Labri @ Anam, Seoul

I have found the Chloris of Anam. Chloris–a famous tea/coffee house chain which I have blogged about million times before–is my favorite place for tea in Seoul, but the price tag sometimes does make my heart cry. My substitute, Cafe Labri, located in Anam, though much smaller in size and without as extensive an menu as that at Chloris, has quite a similar vibe with comparable tea quality. The best thing about Labri is, of course, a lower price tag.

[tea house] Too luxurious… Parlour Haute Cou-tea @ Itaewon, Seoul

The uber luxurious tea house Parlour Haute Cou-tea (http://www.parlour.co.kr; and is it just me or the place’s name is really corny -.-) has been my to-try list for quite a while. I was blown away by beautiful~~~~ pictures of Parlour’s interior on Korean food blogs. Yet, I always felt like I was not ‘cool enough’ to visit such a fancy, extravagant, upscale tea room :-s After my visit to Parlour yesterday, I am quite certain that I don’t belong to that kind of lavish, expensive life anyway >v<

[tea house] A beautiful tea house: Trinitea @ Edae, Seoul

I must say that I have been spending lots of time looking for nice cafes/tea houses these days. The weather is just too nice to stay at home, yet it is SO sunny and hot that I feel like spending my afternoon in a spacious cafe/tea house with lots of windows and space would be the only sensible thing to do. Fortunately, the Sinchon-Edae area is just packed with numerous cafes/tea houses, among which a few stand out for me when it comes to space. Trinitea is one of them.

[tea house] Checking out the other Chloris Tea Garden @ Sinchon, Seoul

2 weeks ago I checked out Chloris Salon de Thé and decided that it would be my favorite place to chill for the rest of the semester. About 100m from Chloris Salon de Thé, however, lies another Chloris: Chloris Tea Garden. Of course I had to check it out. Turned out that I like the latter as much as the former…

[tea house] Enjoy your life at Chloris Salon de Thé @ Sinchon, Seoul

Do you have a favorite coffee shop/tea house, which you love not because of the drinks they offer but because of the atmosphere? I think that I have found one: Chloris in Sinchon. It doesn’t mean that what I had there was bad–far from that. But what will keep me coming back is its calm and soothing atmosphere. Drinking Earl Grey on a spring Sunday afternoon in a classy tea house–that is total inspiration for me.