JINSUN BOOK CAFE, 150 JONGNO-GU TEL: 02 723 5977
Walking up the road away from the Korean Folk Museum and out of town, there is a fabulous selection of restaurants and cafes. Being one of the artier sections of town, this tree-lined road runs alongside one of the great walls of the Gyeong Bok Gung Palace grounds and is dotted with funky boutiques, book cafes, korean restaurants and art galleries.
Jinsun Book Cafe is the first of these that you will come to and as a large garden/terrace section out front. Inside the cafe is full of comfortable sofas and chairs, with books and magazines lining the walls and large windows looking back out into the garden.
The cafe offers some standard pasta and salad dishes for lunch or dinner and a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We stopped for coffees and ice creams after a rather bizarre lunch experience (involving raw crab and some other unidentified things). Our lattes were great, served in tall glasses with sugar syrup provided to add to tase. The kids had a scoop of ice cream each. Their ices were served complete with an Oreo cookie on the side, colourfully dotted with mini M&Ms and sugar sprinkles which made them very happy.
For two lattes and two scoops of ice cream, the bill came to around 20,000 won. More expensive than a trip to Starbucks, but in a much nicer environment.
Showing posts with label INTERNATIONAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label INTERNATIONAL. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
THE EMBASSY LOUNGE CLUB, 123-1 ITAEWON-DONG, YONGSAN-GU, SEOUL TEL: 792 1533
The latest in the Spire Group's interesting range of places to wile the night away, the Embassy Lounge is more of a cool drinking spot than place to eat at night. Good to head there after dinner to enjoy some groovy music, sit comfortably on sofas and chill out with a bottle of wine. If you are feeling lively the small dance floor is usually occupied and bar staff will join you for a saunter during their breaks. The resident DJ will tailor music to your mood if you ask him/her to.
The toilets upstairs are quite beautiful, walls and doors covered in golden scenes of Asian birds and trees.
Staff in the Spire Group establishments are all cheerful and helpful, speaking excellent English and service is always accomodating and thoughtful.
To get to the Embassy Lounge, find the fire station on Itaewon High Street and cross the road heading away from the strip up the hill past Chuwon Antiques. You will see a small car park on your left and the Embassy is upstairs above Arvorig creperie and next to a Korean Hof serving "Traditional tea, porridge and wine" (an interesting combination we thought). Alternatively, if you are in the little street behind the Hamilton Hotel where you will find 3 Alley Pub, Geckos Garden etc, look along to your left and you will see a large purple Embassy Bar sign hanging out into the road and you can head for that.
The latest in the Spire Group's interesting range of places to wile the night away, the Embassy Lounge is more of a cool drinking spot than place to eat at night. Good to head there after dinner to enjoy some groovy music, sit comfortably on sofas and chill out with a bottle of wine. If you are feeling lively the small dance floor is usually occupied and bar staff will join you for a saunter during their breaks. The resident DJ will tailor music to your mood if you ask him/her to.
The toilets upstairs are quite beautiful, walls and doors covered in golden scenes of Asian birds and trees.
Staff in the Spire Group establishments are all cheerful and helpful, speaking excellent English and service is always accomodating and thoughtful.
To get to the Embassy Lounge, find the fire station on Itaewon High Street and cross the road heading away from the strip up the hill past Chuwon Antiques. You will see a small car park on your left and the Embassy is upstairs above Arvorig creperie and next to a Korean Hof serving "Traditional tea, porridge and wine" (an interesting combination we thought). Alternatively, if you are in the little street behind the Hamilton Hotel where you will find 3 Alley Pub, Geckos Garden etc, look along to your left and you will see a large purple Embassy Bar sign hanging out into the road and you can head for that.
THE FLYING PAN, 736-5 HANNAM 2 DONG, SEOUL TEL: 02 793 7974
Without a shred of irony, the Flying Pan is a cool cafe run by two Korean sisters (but we think they get the pun). With brushed concrete floor, fruit and chilled Moet on display in the counter, and jugs of cut flowers for decoration, this airy and pleasant hang-out is a favourite of the Aussie girls for a Friday brunch because of its fresh flavours and authentic western coffee shop fare.
The potato skins with sweet chilli cream cheese make for a good starter to share, and then grilled panini-style sandwiches are delicious and filling. Try the grilled vegetable sandwich for a wholly satisfying lunch, washed down with an excellent Illy coffee latte and you will be set up for a good afternoon.
Lunchtime specials include sandwich and juice for 8,000 won making it pretty reasonable. To find the Flying Pan, look for the Cheil building on Itaewon/Hannam road. Walk up past the entrance to the Cheil building and the Flying Pan has an easy-to-spot sign up on the side of the building in which it is located. Step in off the street and you are there.
Without a shred of irony, the Flying Pan is a cool cafe run by two Korean sisters (but we think they get the pun). With brushed concrete floor, fruit and chilled Moet on display in the counter, and jugs of cut flowers for decoration, this airy and pleasant hang-out is a favourite of the Aussie girls for a Friday brunch because of its fresh flavours and authentic western coffee shop fare.
The potato skins with sweet chilli cream cheese make for a good starter to share, and then grilled panini-style sandwiches are delicious and filling. Try the grilled vegetable sandwich for a wholly satisfying lunch, washed down with an excellent Illy coffee latte and you will be set up for a good afternoon.
Lunchtime specials include sandwich and juice for 8,000 won making it pretty reasonable. To find the Flying Pan, look for the Cheil building on Itaewon/Hannam road. Walk up past the entrance to the Cheil building and the Flying Pan has an easy-to-spot sign up on the side of the building in which it is located. Step in off the street and you are there.
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