Crazy Digest: Seoul DIY Itinerary

Date of Travel: 3 - 8 Nov 2010

The highlight of today: Seolnongtang (Beef Bone Soup) - I would return to Seoul just for this

We started the day with a mission to find this BBQ Restaurant. It is located at the Gangnam side of Seoul, i.e. the modern and upscale area. What attracted us to this place, was having BBQ pork with 30 types of organic vegetables, for only 8000 Won per person (RM22). This is the description we got for the location

Wonjo ssambapjib 조 쌈밥집 (02-548-7589)

원조쌈밥집

대한민국 서울 강남구 논현동 165-15 +82 2-548-7589

165-15 Nonhyun-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Subway SinNonhyeon Exit 3, Follow direction of cars, 2^nd right turn after a clinic, first left turn where Family Mart on right

With instructions like that, it was pretty easy finding the place. What we did not expect was, a long queue even before lunch hour. I was happily trying out all the many quaint vegetables, and accidentally bit into something that tasted like wasabi! I bet it's the leaf of the wasabi plant - ewwwwwwwwww.

What the outside of the shop looks like

A whole tray of organic vegetables. We didn't finish it, too much!

I think they told us that vegetables are not meant to be grilled. I love mine grilled!

We explored Gangnam a bit, found a local pet shop and bought some snacks for dog. The area is pretty like any other city, high-rises everywhere, cafes and people in penguin suits, boring! But we did try out a cafe, where we took one of our prettiest photos ever

This tastes even better than it looks!

We headed back to the older side of Seoul, and visited Insadong, which is actually walking distance from our hotel. This place is known for its old architecture, and night market selling cultural stuff. We loved the feel of the area, thumbs up for doing it up so nicely!

Houses around Insadong

Some turn it into restaurants

The major shopping centre in Insadong - Ssamziegil

The path winds past every shop all the way to the top, no stairs to climb to get up. Interesting!

Some walnut snack making machine

Looks a bit like our Kaya Ball

What I got - quite yummy!

So what do we do after shopping? EAT AGAIN of course!
This is where we discovered the restaurant that melted our hearts. It's a dish called Seolnongtang, which is a soup made from beef bones/marrow. The restaurant was featured in a Korean drama called Brilliant Legacy / Shining Inheritance. They have over 20 branches all over Korea, and all of them maintain very high standards of quality. If you have watched the show, you will understand how much effort they put into this soup. Most branches open 24 hours! We visited the restaurant 3 times before leaving Seoul! Wish I can go back there just for this, or can anyone tarpau back for me please??

Sinseon seolnongtang Myeongdong (02-777-4531) (beef rib soup)

2-2 Myeongdong 2-ga, Joong-gu, Seoul

We did not visit the Myeongdong branch, we just happened to walk past it on the way to the river.

6000 Won (RM16) gets you a hearty bowl of soup and rice

Korean dumplings known as Manduk. I love this!

Free 2 types of Kimchi at your table

A poster featuring the drama Brilliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance

After dinner was yet another highlight of our trip - the lantern festival! In 2010, the G20 Summit was held in Seoul, and they organised lanterns to light up the Cheonggyecheon Stream. I believe they have kept this tradition on and it takes place at the first weekend of November each year. For 2012, the dates will be 3-21 Nov 2012. Though crowded, it was still walkable as the stream is quite long. Spot your favourite characters?