A new cafe at North Canal Road from the folks behind The Plain and Ronin. I have been to The Plain many times, but not Ronin.
Punch has a beautiful space, with a courtyard and a green wall, which is spacious and airy. We had coffee, and because we liked the warm hospitality showed by the folks (very rare in Singapore), we extended our stay with two glasses of white wine. They let us try their cookie-brownie sandwich filled with an expresso buttercream which was really nice. Next time, we will try their casual-dining menu.
There is a place I can now go to for coffee after eating beef noodles at North Canal Road.
So glad to be typing away in this blog again. Something went wrong at the back-end of my blog on Christmas Eve and it has taken me over a month to get it up and running again, including moving the website to a new web-host.
I arrived at the market around 3.30pm and well, I do not know what I was expecting, but I certainly did not expect to see the market packed with people at that hour of the day. The non-food section of the market was fairly quiet but the food section was so crowded I had to literally push my way through. There was no space for me to compose photographs using my iPhone, and I just snapped whatever photos I could without even looking at the iPhone screen. Glad that I managed to capture several decent-looking photos with random snapping and people pushing me from behind.
Most of the food stalls in Gwangjang have a small counter where you can sit down and eat your food, provided you can find a seat and do not mind being squashed between strangers. The above stall sells street food such as gimbap, odaeng, tteokbokki and soondae.
Piles of kimchi.
I was not particularly hungry but I just wanted to eat S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G, to further soak in the experience of being in the market. I walked past alley after alley but could not find a seat anywhere, until I got to a kalguksu stall where I spotted a lady vacating their seats. I maneuvered myself with some difficulty into the narrow space between two ahjummas, and ordered a bowl of kalguksu. I love Korean hand-cut noodles, especially the ones cooked in a clam or seafood broth, and I eat them with lots of kimchi.
If you are in the Gwanghwamun/Gyeongbokgung neighborhood and looking for excellent coffee in a charming hanok-setting, Namusairo Coffee is the place to head to. I love the vibe of this space, and the wood-panels are gorgeous. 
That’s me, trying to style my photo with fallen gingko leaves. This is a great coffee stop, in between the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Gyeonghuigung Palace, if you are doing the palace rounds on the same day.
I am so pleased to have found an excellent yukgaejang restaurant in Myeongdong (near the main road where Shinsaegae is). I love eating Korean spicy beef soup, especially the wild vegetables that go into the soup. I have not tried a yukgaejang in Seoul that wasn’t hearty and tasty, but Yukdaejang’s is the best that I have eaten so far. 
What makes Yukdaejang’s spicy beef soup different from most of the others is the creamy texture of the soup. I would describe the taste as a spicy version of seolleongtang that is very smooth, creamy and flavorful. A bowl of yukgaejang costs W8,000. It is a huge bowl with generous portions of ingredients. I declined the bowl of rice that comes with the meal because it was impossible to find space in my stomach for rice.
I alighted at the Yangsuri station and found myself at a loss as to how to get to Dumulmeori. Feeling a bit distressed, I wandered around the station for while, then decided to plop myself at one of the eateries outside the station where I ordered a bowl of spicy cold noodles. OMG, the noodles were excellent. The eatery did not use the usual chewy buckwheat noodles, but something similar to cha soba. If I had made a wasted trip, at the very least, I got a good meal out of it. I asked the ahjumma in the eatery for directions to Dumulmeori. She kept pointing in one direction, and firing off in rapid Korean which I could not understand a single word of. Despite my love for Korea, I have never picked up the language beyond the barest of basic phrases. Like – “Dumulmeori, oh-di-so-yo?” There is hardly any point in asking where is a particular place in Korean, and not being able to comprehend the response. I decided to take the next train back to the city.
Somewhere along the way, I lost the group of ahjummas after being distracted by a a shop selling succulents, and plodded my way to Dumulmeori alone. It was a good 20 minute walk from the Yangsuri train station and I managed to find the park.
The entire park has several parts to it and occupies a fairly large area. I entered Dumulseori at the lotus pond section of the park. The lotus pond was huge but it was pity that it was not flowering in May. I strolled along the pond and came to the “waterfront area”. The view of the waters and the mountains was stunning.
It feels so tranquil and peaceful to look at this view. I could stare at it all day.
I just finished watching the Korean drama, She Was Pretty (a lousy show and an utter waste of time), and noticed that they filmed a scene in the last episode at Dumulseori. I recognized the rectangular wooden frame in the drama.
Cross this long bridge and you will get to the other side of Dulmulmeori. More parks and beautiful open spaces to fill up a couple of hours.
Dumulmeori is a great day-trip out of Seoul. Take the Jungang Line and alight at Yangsu Station, then stroll to Dumulmeori. Wear comfortable shoes and get ready for plenty of walking.
I have finally tried the coffee from Coffee Libre after putting it off for a while (‘cos it is quite a hike away from the popular area in Hongdae). It is not an easy place to find and I got lost trying to find my way there. Coffee Libre is not the usual hip and cool cafe. It is very tiny, with hardly any sitting space, and looks like a storage room more than a cafe. Not surprising since its main business is coffee roasting.
The cafe does not offer many options – just expresso, Americano, latte, Dutch coffee and hot chocolate. I was torn between the expresso and Dutch coffee, and went with expresso in the end. Expresso was very good – very smooth and not too acidic. I managed to squeeze myself into a small empty space on the bench at the front of the cafe. It was rather uncomfortable, but it beats standing. 
That is how the rest of the cafe looks like. Messy, with paint peeling off the walls and boxes and cartons stacked on the floor. Not a place for hanging out at but definitely worth a visit. 
Recently, a friend recommended that we try the galettes and crepes at The Daily Roundup. The cafe is located in a bright and spacious unit in The Working Capital at Keong Saik Road. After casting our vote early in the morning on Polling Day, we headed to The Daily Roundup for breakfast. They open at 9am on weekends, which in my view is the latest time that a cafe serving breakfast should open for business. 
Where is everybody? We had the entire place to ourselves for quite a while. Not that we were complaining.
TBH ordered the ham and cheese buckwheat galette and I chose the plain crepe with yuzu butter and vanilla ice cream. The food is quite good – not as tasty as the ones at Creperie Des Arts or Entre-Nous but good enough for a repeat visit. 
I often get asked for Korean BBQ restaurant recommendations in Seoul but have none to give because this is something that I don’t normally eat when I am in Seoul. If I have grilled meat cravings, I would usually go to a gopchang restaurant. I prefer grilled fatty innards over pork belly!
