4 Sep 2014 - My favourite cafe

I passed by 몽 카페 그레고리 Mon Café Gregory when I was finding my way to 킹콩마더스김밥 for early dinner. Actually, I have tried to find Mon Café Gregory a few times but somehow I just couldn't locate it. The last time when I finally found it, the cafe was closed *ANGRY*  It was almost 1pm then. This time, the door was opened!! Great! I shall have this before dinner. Ermmm...Just in case, I will be too full after dinner to enjoy the lovely dessert here. Hai....No wonder I put on weight....

Took the stairs to the second floor or rather the third floor.

I fell in love with the ambiance here.
This cafe is quite popular.
I thought I was lucky that there were only two customers when I was there.
It was soooo relaxing and cozy that I really hate to leave. 

High heels warning!
Indeed its kinda scary to walk in high heels on these steps...

Second floor.

Mon Café Gregory is a French dessert and tea cafe.
So thankful that the menu came with pictures ㅋㅋㅋ

The boss recommended "Marco Polo" to me cos he said many girls liked the taste.

The exquisite tea set was the reason why I wanted to come here.

Its no longer just the tea set that makes me wanna come back for more.
Its the ambiance and food as well ^^
I declare Mon Café Gregory has become my current favourite cafe in Seoul!

One of the popular item on the menu ^^

Its not cheap to dine here.
Although there were only three customers including me, it took quite a while for my dessert to be served.
Despite these, I would still highly recommend this cafe to my friends ^^

몽 카페 그레고리 is about 5 mins walk from Sangsu Station, exit 1.

3 Sep 2014 - 제육볶음 for dinner

After a fruitful shopping trip at Homeplus, I went to 향미 for dinner. Nearest subway station would be Hongik Univ Station, exit 9, which is about 8 mins walk. You can see that my entire trip was basically focus on FOOD!! That was why I put on weight for this trip ㅠㅠ

Followed the map above, turn right just before Lotteria and you will see a small slope.
The blue dotted line in the map above marks the beginning of the small slope.

Once you turn right, you will also see this eatery, "고집" at the end of the small slope. "고집" is another eatery that I tried during this trip. Shall talk about it later. Turn right again at the end of the slope. 

Actually, I wanted to eat at 일미식당 (where the red arrow is pointing) but I settled on 향미 (as shown by the blue arrow) cos the lady standing outside 향미 kept looking at me ㅎㅎㅎ Both are small cosy eateries. 

1) 동태찌개 (Fish stew)

2) 뚝불소고기 (뚝 refers to the earthenware pot Ddukbaegi 뚝배기. 불 is short for Bulgogi 불고기. Hence, 뚝불소고기 is short form for 뚝배기 불고기 ie Bulgogi in earthenware pot)

3) 낙지전골 Squid/Octopus Hotpot

4) 제육볶음 Spicy Stir Fried Pork

5)오징어볶음 Stir Fried Squid

6) 닭도리탕 Dakdoritang - Spicy Chicken Stew

7) 육개장 Yukgaejang

8)돌솥비빔밥 Dolsot Bibimbap 

9)된장 찌개  Doenjang JJigae

10 ) 김치 찌개 Kimchi Jjigae

11) 순두부찌개 Sundubu Jjigae

12) 부대 찌개 Budae Jjigae

13)고갈비백반 Grilled Mackerel Rice set (고 is short form for 고등어 Mackerel)

14) 삼치구이 백반 (Another fish rice set)

제육볶음 Spicy Stir Fried Pork(6000 won)
I couldn't finish the pork...too full...

3 Sep 2014 - Meet up with my Korean & HK buddy

 Met up with my Korean buddy and HK buddy today for lunch and dessert after our class.  We decided to  have lunch at the small KLI canteen. 

My 쇠고기 무국 Beef and radish soup (3500 won).

I didn't notice this was cooked with beef until I drank the soup....

Its actually quite light and tasty. 

Reminds me of mum's soup where she used pork instead of beef and cooked with radish.

Mum's pork & radish soup is one of my favourite soup back in SG ^^

My Korean buddy suggested dessert at 옥루몽!
좋아!
I'm in for it even though I have tried it a few days ago, 
http://happydalki.blogspot.sg/2014/10/28-aug-2014-for-red-bean-lovers.html
Hmmm, I preferred 팥빙수 patpingsu to the 팥죽.
It was a great afternoon spent with both of them.
Thereafter, I headed down to Homeplus at Mecenatpolis Mall (Hapjeong Station, exit 9/10).
Homeplus has became my favourite place to shop in Seoul ㅋㅋㅋ

3 Sep 2014 - 소세지 치즈 샌드위치

Good Morning!
Made myself a sausage and cheese sandwich before going to school.

2 Sep 2014 - Milky cube ice cream from Milkcow

I went to Hongdae for my dessert at 밀크카우 before going back to my apartment.
Its less than 5 mins walk from Hongik Univ Station, exit 9 to the shop.

I thought I will be back for one of these yummilicious cakes before flying back to SG but I totally forgotten all about it ㅠㅠ

Milky cube ice cream 4800 won.

The craze for this honeycomb ice cream has been going on since earlier this year and finally, I get to try it. I felt it was a bit expensive but I wanna try how a honeycomb taste like (they claimed its natural honeycomb wor). It was honey sweet but the "remains" of the honeycomb tasted like plastic. My friend did not eat the "remains" but I just swallow it...It started to rain after I bought my ice cream. Why did it always rain whenever I eat ice cream....

2 Sep 2014 - Healthy, cheap and yummilicious dinner

I had an enjoyable time with my Korean buddy during our first meet up. To my surprise, she just came back from her vacation trip to Spore, and you bet we had so much to talk about ㅎㅎㅎ We also had another friend from HK joining us. While other groups have 2 different countries to share and learn from each other, our group had 3!

Anyway, allow me to move on to my dinner for the day.
I took the subway to Jongno 3-ga Station, exit 15 to get to the eatery, 뚝배기집.
Its not hard to locate 뚝배기집 and it took me about 6 mins from exit 15 to reach it.

Lots of 뚝배기 of course.

A simple eatery serving delicious food with a simple menu.

1. 우렁됀장 (I think this is snail in bean paste soup. Many locals ordered this.) 5000won
2. 된장 찌개 Doenjang Jjigae 4500won
3. 순두부 Sundubu 4500won
4. 김치 찌개 Kimchi Jjigae 5000won

I ordered my all time favourite, 순두부 Sundubu ^^

Dare not try the snail soup ㅋㅋㅋ

Here, everyone mix the chilli paste, 고추장 into their rice. 

진짜맛있어요!!
Really healthy, cheap and delicious food!

Passed by this shop selling sugarcane drinks.

When I was in Seoul earlier this year, I noticed a few sugarcane drinks shops and I saw more of it in this trips. My Korean buddy said the same but she was not sure whether the sugarcanes are grown locally or imported. Any Koreans know the answer?

2 Sep 2014 - Cooking class!!

I looked forward to my lessons everyday and this day was no exception. In fact, I was even more excited cos we were going to have a cooking class after the usual lesson. Yeah!! Hooray!! How I wish the school can gave us a few more cooking classes! I love cooking(though I'm not good at it) and eating but I hate washing up ㅋㅋㅋ  Did you realise the process of preparing the ingredients and cooking is longer then the process of eating?? ㅎㅎㅎ 

Demo by our teacher.
Presentation of her dishes in nice porcelain ware ^^
The class was conducted in Korean but the teachers speaks fluent English. 

Here's the recipes for the two dishes taught, namely 불고기 Bulgogi and 오의무침 Cucumber Muchim.

Two in a team and my partner was Marilynn from the States.
We followed what the teacher had demonstrated to us. 

I didn't get to taste our 불고기 Bulgogi since beef was used but my partner thought it tasted pretty ok. I liked our 오의무침 Cucumber Muchim.  Our teacher told us not to take lunch becos we can eat what we cooked for lunch. So nice of her to remind us ^^ Ermmm, we ate straight from the cooking utensils, no porcelain ware for students. That's not an issue at all whahahahahaa!!
It was supposed to be a 2 hours class but you can leave once you are done. Everyone was hungry, so the class ended much earlier with everyone cooking very quickly. Actually, it would be better if we had allowed the beef to be marinated slightly longer. LOL

Anyway, it was a big pot for my partner to finish, so she brought the balance back for dinner ^^ I stayed back to consult my teacher how to cook 곤드레나물밥 Gondeure Namul Bap. 곤드레나물밥 is a specialty of Gangwon-do, a kind of bibimbap in which rice is cooked with the herb gondeure namul (Cirsium setidens). Followed by mixing some Korean sauce into the rice before eating.  I came to learn about 곤드레나물밥 Gondeure Namul Bap in my previous trip, http://happydalki.blogspot.sg/2014/04/23-mar-2014-for-lunch.html. 

Some nutritious benefits of 곤드레 stated in Arirang.co.kr includes it aids digestion, full of protein, calcium, Vitamin A, and prevents adult diseases. There are approximately 500 different kinds of herbs in Korea, but 곤드레 is the rarest of all. It is collected around May every year, and is dried and eaten throughout the year. It got a soft taste to it, and what's unique about 곤드레 is that it has no scent. 곤드레 is used medicinally, like groundsel for folk remedy. It helps stop bleeding, prevents inflammation, and has a diuretic effect, and is a very good herb for diabetes, high-blood pressure and helps improve blood circulation. It helps detox your intestines when you squeeze it and drink it as juice, and when you dry the roots, boil it, and drink the liquid, it's good for neuralgia.