Asian Fusion @ Zen Hideway, Seoul.

Zen Hideaway is stylish yet casual restaurant serving Asian fusion cuisine. Korean, Thai, Chinese and Japanese mainly. It's a firm favorite of mine because the food is always fresh and flavorful. There are three branches located in Apgujeong, Hongdae and Myeongdong.

Salmon and Vegetable Rolls.

Chicken Salad.

Pan seared Tenderloin with Pineapple.

The menu is extensive and seasonal; it changes a little depending on ingredients that are available. It always includes various salads, sushi and stir-fried rice and noodle dishes. It's moderate to expensive in price. Salads big enough for two to share come in around 16,000won, a plate of sushi rolls between 8,000-12,000won and stir-fried steak or seafood based dishes from 14,000 to 22,000won. There are of course some pricier options such as the pan seared steak with pineapple (pictured above) which cost close to 30,000 won.

The restaurants' unique interiors are part of the reason to visit these popular hotspots. Like their name, Zen Hideaway, these restaurants have been designed to evoke a feeling of peacefulness and tranquility. They successfully do just that. They're light and airy inside with lots of water features and lush plants. The most impressive interior is that of the Apgujeong branch. It has a large pond in the center of the restaurant which is open air during warmer months.

This restaurant is extremely popular with the young and trendy crowd so making a reservation is recommended, especially if you plan to visit during dinner hours or at the weekend. If you don't make a reservation there are waiting areas but I've seen queues build up quite rapidly, so you've been warned!

You can see the location of the three branches of Zen Hideaway at www.zenhideaway.com.

Zen Hideaway Apgujeong
02-541-1461

Zen Hideaway Myeongdong
02-776-1461

Enjoy!

 

Authentic Nepolitan Pizza @ The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo, Seoul.

The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo opened a few years ago by Dosan Park near to Apgujeong. When it first opened it was instantly a hit and was always busy. A few years on and nothing has changed. The restaurant is bustling with people and the atmosphere is great.

It's taken the place as my 'go to' Italian since, sadly, Antonio's in Cheongdam closed it's doors. This restaurant offers slightly more contemporary food choices in a bright, airy and youthful interior. I like it. A lot.

Inside The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo @ Apgujeong.

    

My most recent visit was this last Saturday night. My boyfriend made us a reservation, which is a must on the weekend as the place gets packed with groups of friends and young trendy couples. Since the evenings are still fairly warm in Seoul right now we decided to make the most of it and dine on their lovely outdoor terrace which will probably be for the last time this year. It got pretty chilly towards the end of the evening.

Outdoor seating area @ The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo.

After being promptly seated we selected a sparkling rose wine to drink and were brought their lovely homemade bread. It seems like my favorite restaurants always have one thing in common, they bring me something to nibble whist I make my dinner choices!

Home-made focaccia bread. Breadsticks. Basil Pesto. Butter.

 

Panzerotti served with Olives.

The Panzerotti came as a complimentary dish with the bottle of wine we had chosen. We also ordered a salad to start.

Moreish Mexican @ On The Border

Sometimes I get a craving for some yummy Mexican food, last night was one of those nights. When that happens there are two places I head to in Seoul. Firstly there is Dos Tacos, it's a very casual, cheap and cheerful. This is the place to come for a quick but awesome burrito. The second place is On The Border, a restaurant with four locations in Seoul. It's a better place if your looking for a wider choice and a real sit-down dinner.

Apgujeong branch outdoor seating area - On The Border

There's so many reasons I love this place. Firstly when you arrive they give you free nacho chips and salsa. These are re-fillable and a nice way to stave off the hunger pangs whilst you look through the extensive menu.

Free chips and salsa - one of the many reasons On The Border rocks.

Next up is their drinks. They offer a selection of flavoured margaritas and you can choose from a regular size or the awesome 'schooner' size. It's 6,900 won for the regular and 7,900 won for the later so as you can imagine you never see anyone drinking the regular size.

Strawberry Margarita @ On The Border

Me enjoying the Mexican experience ;)

If margaritas aren't your thing then...you're crazy! No, I'm kidding. If they really aren't your thing then you can choose from plenty of other drinks including various flavors of Mojitos, non-alcoholic drinks and beer.

Mojito

Cerveza Beer Bucket

Now usually I would start with showing you the food, since that's the reason you go to a restaurant after all. In this case though I wanted to save the best till last.

Carne Asada Steak Tacos served with re-fried beans and rice - On The Border

Chicken Fajita Salad - On The Border

Chicken Burrito - On The Border

Steak Fajita Salad - On The Border

This isn't gourmet cuisine but if it's Mexican your after then this hits the spot. The quality is good and the portion sizes are pretty big but they should be because the price isn't cheap. Most dishes come in around 18,000 - 20,000 won and 'From the Grill' items like Fajitas and steak go up to 28,900 won. The chicken burrito is a cheaper option at 14,900 won. Everything I've eaten here has been tasty and the only reason we ever leave any food is because we're too full to finish it!

As I mentioned there are four locations of On The Border. These are at Apgujeong, Coex City Air Terminal, Shinchon and Times Square Mall. The service at the restaurants is mixed. I think it depends entirely on the server you get. In my experience the Apgujeong branch has much better service and I prefer the atmosphere at this restaurant too. In the summer time you can sit outside in the open air and it's smaller in size than the other locations.

Coex Branch of On The Border.

If you want to make yourself even hungrier then I probably just have, take a look at their menu online.

To view maps of On The Border locations in English and Korean visit the On The Border website and click the left hand tab saying 'Store'.
  
On The Border Telephone Numbers

Apgujeong: 02 518 0682
Coex CALT: 02 565 0682
Times Square Mall: 02 2672 0682
Shinchon: 02 324 0682


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Enjoy!

Diner Pub @ Garasou Gil

If only more bars in Seoul were like this. From the outside Diner Pub looks nothing more than a shabby pub/restaurant but you'd be wrong to pass this up based on appearances. The fact that it's busy every day is proof that it's doing something right. In my opinion it's because they've found the perfect balance for a place to go hang out casually with your friends. The price is right for what you get, especially given it's in a notoriously more expensive area (Garasou Gil). The music's good and there's no pretence here. It's relaxed. I love it.

I favor this place as a casual spot for a drink and some grub. I say grub because that's what you'll get here. It doesn't try to be fancy, if you want a sophisticated dinner go elsewhere! Instead of attempting to outdo all the other restaurants in the area this place serves a simple menu of things like burgers, nachos, basic pastas, fish'n'chips and a platter of assorted fried potatos.  The fanciest things on their menu are the smoked salmon with cucumber raita closely followed by their bruchetta. The thing is though this actually works because it does them right!

There's a choice of a few different burgers including this one which is the mushroom and cheese burger. The burgers are all priced around 8-9,000 won and I can tell you worth every won. I won't lie, they can't be good for your health (if I ate more than one every so often I'd be seriously concerned about not only my weight but also my arteries) but man are they juicy! They're all served with a side of potato wedges and a home made relish that has a little hint of spice, delicious!

I often visit this place but on this particular occasion I was there with my lovely friend (above) on a Friday after work. As always there was a wait for a table but we just left our number and went for a drink elsewhere first. If you prefer to you can prop the bar up until a table comes free.

To drink there's a good selection of beers, a choice of red or white house wine, sangria by the glass or pitcher and mojitos! I have to be honest and say these are not the greatest mojitos, I've had much better but they were also about double the price if not more in some cases. These are 8,000 won which is actually less than I've paid in Itaewon and we all know that's pretty much the cheapest place you can drink in Seoul.

What the pictures can't really convey is possibly one of the best aspects of this bar, the atmosphere. Because it's busy there's a constant hum of excited chit chat and laughter. The music here is good too, none of the all too common lounge music, electronic or Jason Mraz type stuff. This place plays popular tracks, mostly American Billboard type stuff, all upbeat and pretty current just adding to this places simple casual style.

Actually now that I'm writing this I'm not sure if I want to tell you where it is, it'll only mean I have to wait longer for my table :( It's one of those places that I almost want to keep secret.


I guess that's not the point of this blog though so I'll tell you...


Diner Pub is located on the street running parellel to Garasou Gil. You can get to Garasou Gil from either Sinsa or Apgujeong station on line 3. If you come from Sinsa it's the street to the left of Garasou Gil if you come from Apgujeong it's the one on the right hand side. If you walk along that street you'll see it somewhere in the middle. You can also check out my map of Garasou Gil if you want to know the exact spot you'll find it.

Diner Pub
Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Sinsa-dong 524-17
Telephone number: 02 3446 2422

Maybe I'll see you there. Enjoy!

Sushi in Seoul @ Dan Sushi, Nonhyun, Gangnam-gu.

Sushi is one of my favorite foods, it's tasty, it's packed with nutrition and is fun. Well it is for me anyway because I like having lots of little dishes in a meal. In Korea though Sushi can be vastly different from the kind of sushi that is my favorite. I've been to sushi bars with fish heads going round, definitely not my thing! I've been to sushi places with no sushi bar at all, just a menu at the table. To me half the fun of sushi is watching the plates pass you by and getting to pick out your next dish. I also kind of like the excitement of waiting for the dish I've spotted to reach me, not knowing if someone else will whip it off the belt before it does.

One Sushi place that does meet my sushi requirements is 'Dan Sushi'. It has all the rolls I love, tempura items, a menu in English (always makes life easier) and a sushi belt to boot! Oh, and it tastes pretty delicious too. Their food has always been fresh when I've visited and nothing has that scary sat-on-the-belt-a-tad-too-long look. Do you know what I'm talking about? The kind of look that makes you a bit skeptical as to whether eating it might pose some problems for you later on.

One of my faves at this place is their salmon rolls (maki). Does anyone who goes for sushi not like salmon rolls?

It comes with a generous serving of salmon which is always beneficial to a salmon roll. You'd be surprised at the small quantity of salmon I've had on some salmon rolls. You can ask for these to be made without all the sauce on top if you prefer your sushi a little plainer.

This is a crispy prawn roll. Also a favorite of mine here.

I hadn't actually had beef like this in a sushi place before I came to Korea but I order one ever time I go now. It's called 'Marbling Beef Sushi' on the menu if you fancy trying it.

A few of the other dishes I like to have when I go here are the salmon nigiri and tempura. They offer a choice of sweet potato, shrimp, or mixed vegetable tempura. All are good and the batter is really crispy.

They also serve you a complimentary salad and soup. On the table there is soy sauce, wasabi, pickled onions and Gari (sweet pickled ginger)

The restaurant itself is nothing special but it's clean and serves its purpose. It has an area in the middle where the chefs prepare the sushi and the belt runs around that. There's several seats which are 'bar' style around the belt and they also have booths that seat 4 to 6 people.

So if you've been made peckish for some sushi by reading this I guess it'd be fair of me to tell you where it is.

How to find Dan Sushi...

Dan Sushi is located between Hak-dong station and Gangnam-gu Office which are on line 7.  It's on the corner of the crossroad to the left side of the Imperial Palace Hotel above a car showroom.

View Dan Sushi in a larger map

From the street you're looking for this:

As always I hope you enjoy it! Leave me a comment if you visit and please follow this blog. If you want to get updates about new places on your Facebook then please add me as a friend, the link is on the right --->

That's all for now, I'm off to find a snack, all this food blogging makes me hungry!

Brunch @ Queen's Park, Cheongdam, Gangnam.

This Saturday morning I met up with a friend of mine to combine two of my favourite things, brunch and Queen's Park restaurant. The restaurant opens at 10.30 at the weekend and serves a lunch and brunch menu that's separate from their dinner menu.

There's plenty of options like french toast, pancakes, quiche, eggs Benedict and 'British breakfast', although it doesn't take a Brit to be able to tell this isn't a very authentic 'British' breakfast, it includes french fries of all things!

This restaurant is one of my favourite choices in Seoul, the restaurant itself is modern and elegant inside. It has a fresh bakery area and a small deli/salad counter. You can take out from both of these or choose items to have in the restaurant.

A very frothy Cappuccino - love froth, don't you?

B.L.T. sandwich with garden salad & french fries

Now, before you begin questioning this choice let me tell you one thing...

Living in Korea a sandwich such as this is not so easy to come by. I know because I've looked.

There's a fair amount of places that attempt sandwiches but sadly don't quite succeed.

If it's fermented cabbage, dried squid and varying degrees of spicy fried chicken and pork dishes you want then you're in luck but a good sandwich you'll have to really search for.

Sadly this B.L.T wasn't AWESOME. If I had the luxury of being able to be fussy about how my B.L.T. was made then I'd say it was a bit too heavily loaded with mayonnaise. Also the bread was that slightly sweet kind they're far too fond of here if you ask me!

Having said all this it still tasted pretty damn good to my poor little B.L.T deprived taste buds.

We also ordered American style blueberry pancakes. They were served with seasonal fruit which on this occasion meant blueberries and banana. It was pictured in the menu with strawberries which left my friend feeling a little disappointed though.

American pancakes with seasonal fresh fruit,
fru compote, fresh cream and maple syrup.

Yum, yum, yum, YUMMMMM!

If you like your pancakes thick and fluffy then these will be right up your street. The fruit compote and fresh cream was a great variation on the maple syrup I usually choose to drown my pancakes in.

The brunch overall was delightful, just the kind of thing I love. Food at Queen's Park is reliably good. I've never eaten anything on their menu that wasn't up to par. And believe me I've eaten a lot of their food!
Service is slick, waiters are always attentive and food arrives promptly.



Fresh muffins available to take out from the bakery.

Scones with a cup of tea, don't mind if I do....

I was keen to share my scrumptious brunch experience with you as soon as possible. In the very near future I will be putting up a post about Queen's Park as a dinner option too. With it I will include some photos of the restaurant itself. In the giddy excitement of brunching I totally forgot to get any pics! Useless aren't I!!. Check back soon for them.

Queens Park is located in Cheongdam. Go up the hill next to Once in a Blue Moon, opposite Rodeo Street, turn left at the top of that street. Queen's Park is on the left after just a few buildings.

View Queens Park in a larger map

The restaurant is highlighted in Pink. The blue place marks simply point out other things to help you find your way. If you need to call to find out more information or make a reservation there is usually an English speaking staff member at this restaurant.

Queens Park
83 18 Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Telephone: 02 542 4073

Visit the website ~ Queens-Park.co.kr

Tapas & paella at Spain Club. Garasou Gil, Shinsa-dong, Gangnam.

This last week I went to my favorite area of Seoul, Garasou Gil. If you've been here a while you'll probably already know of the street, it's one of Seoul's most recent 'trendy up and coming' spots to visit. It's jam packed with coffee shops, perhaps more densely than anywhere else in Seoul, which is really saying something! There's also a lot of cute cafes, restaurants, bars and shops.

The shops are mainly independent small boutique like shops but in the last year the streets increasing popularity has lead to the arrival of some chain retailers popping up. This applies to the food places too.
Although I could talk for a long time about all the shopping to be done here I'm going to do that in another post in the coming weeks. This last visit was mainly about food you see. I went there with a friend who wanted to try the Spanish restaurant I'd told her about.

Not too originally this restaurant is called 'Spain Club'. I guess it helps you know what food it's serving though. Walking into the restaurant you could be in Spain, everything has a Spanish feel to it, even the bathroom with it's Spanish style floor tiles.

Every time I've visited this place I've been greeted by a waiter who can speak pretty good English. I'm not sure if that's just because I'm lucky or if they make a point of having an English speaking staff member there. Either way it makes life a lot easier if you don't speak Korean.

Here might come the problem though....the menu is not in English. The names of the dishes are written in Spanish and the description in Korean. If you've eaten Spanish food before then you'll probably recognise many of the dishes. Failing that there's small photos of all the dishes in the menu so you can just try your best to decipher what each is. On this particular visit we ordered an appetizer of baked mushrooms stuffed with chorizo. We followed that with Paella. To drink we ordered Sangria, when in Spain and all!

The mushrooms are a favourite of mine here. They are baked in olive oil and you are served some crusty bread which I like to dip in. I love the strong flavour of the chorizo and mushroom together. Some of their other tapas I like the best are the Spanish tortilla and prawns baked with garlic.

The first time I ordered this Paella it didn't quite fit what I'd been expecting. I always remembered paella being more yellow, but it wasn't that that bothered me. I think the rice they use could be where it fell down for me. I'm not sure if it is paella rice, I don't even know enough about rice to correctly tell the difference. All I know is the rice is really similar, if not the same, as typical rice you eat in Korea. I guess it just doesn't seem authentic to me because my brain associates it with Korean food. In my opinion the Paella seems like it's been Koreanized. Don't get me wrong though it is still delicious, the rice is packed with flavour, soft on the outside and a little firm inside as it should be. On top of that we aren't exactly close to Spain here so you can't expect perfection!

The paella is topped with seafood as you can see, which is not copious but is enough to serve two people for main. Alternatively it could serve three or four people if you order it along with some other tapas dishes.

This restaurant serves wine and beer but I always like to stick with the theme and have a glass of Sangria. Although I would say the Sangria is nothing special here though. I would guess from the taste that it's made very simply and it doesn't come with any fruit in which is a little disappointing to me. It's 9,000 won for a glass which is about average for drinks in this area. You can get a pitcher for 35,000 won but I found that to only just make about four glasses the last time I was there. I'd expect to get a little more for my money when ordering pitchers but here you really only get the same.



This restaurant has been open for quite a while now and appears to be growing in popularity. It seems to be busier each time I visit so I'd recommend you make a reservation if you don't want to wait. They've also opened branches in Itaewon and Hongdae too although I haven't visited either of these yet.

Spain Club - Garasou Gil
524-30 Shinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu
Telephone number - 02 515 1118

Spain Club - Hongdae
404-24 Seokyo-dong, Mapo-gu
Telephone number - 02 3143 1118

Spain Club - Itaewon
(Opposite the Imperial Palace boutique hotel)
736-8 F1 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu
Telephone number - 02 795 1118

Here's a map to help you locate Garasou Gil and Spain Club restaurant ^^

View Spain Club - Garasou Gil in a larger map

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or leave a comment if you like.

Enjoy!