Coffee Kitchen • 커피키핀

Started my second day in Busan with brunch at Coffee Kitchen (해운대 커피 키친). I was originally going to have lunch at Yeije (예이제), a Korean restaurant that is located on the second floor of the same building as Coffee Kitchen, and have dessert after lunch at the cafe. But apparently, Yeije didn't accept one person seating (I assume all their menu is for a minimum of two people seatings) so I thought since I'm already here, might as well just get brunch at the cafe.

The cafe's pretty nice and spacious. They have indoor and outdoor seating area with plenty of chairs and tables. It was a weekday so the place wasn't too busy and relatively quite. I ordered one of their brunch set and it was delicious. Nicely seasoned salad, runny yolk on the sunny side up egg, crispy bacon, fried sausage, and buttery mini croissants—everything was cooked perfectly. It was truly a great way to start the day.

p.s: For this trip, I actually got lots of restaurant and cafe recommendations from my friend Sally J. Shim, who lived in Busan for a couple of years (and she still goes back and forth from Seoul once in a while these days). She's also recently started a new instagram account, @sallyjshimtravelogue, where she shares her favorite places in the cities she's been to. So definitely check her accounts out! And special thanks for Sally for giving me all the recs! :)

View fullsize

---

Brown Sugar Kitchen

After living in Seoul for almost a year, one of the things that I missed from the States is a good American breakfast with perfectly cooked runny eggs on the side. I didn't realize that I've been taking runny eggs for granted when I was still living there. Mainly because there are a good number of places that can cook 'em the way I like it that I can easily go to when I'm craving 'em. But turned out, it is something that I rarely encountered in Seoul for some reasons. The places I went to mostly overcooked their eggs, so I didn't get to taste those thick runny yolks very often. (Prolly need to go for a runny eggs finding mission next time :P)

Anyways, after an 11-hours flight and waking up too early because of the jet lag, going for a good American breakfast sounds like an excellent idea. Went to go try Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland and their breakfast was delicious. Plus their poached eggs were perfect! For my next visit, I think I'm gonna have to try their famous buttermilk fried chicken & cornmeal waffle cos everybody seemed to ordered that menu item ;)

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

---

The Libertine

Despite of the fact that I am not a morning person, there's something about weekend brunch that I love (anything that starts before 12pm on a Saturday is early for me :p ). Especially, on a bright sunny saturday like the day I went to the Libertine in Itaewon. My friend actually picked this place for our brunch date. I haven't explored Itaewon all that much so I pretty much followed her lead on this one. The moment I walked in, I immediately loving the vibe of this place. Black and white tiled floor and the natural light coming in from the windows won me over already ;) We got there not long after their opening time and there were plenty of seats available. Sat on the table next to the windows and ordered the Eggs Royale, Cobb Salad, and Greek Yogurt Fruit Bowl. All and all, the food was pretty good, although I wish my eggs were more runny. Wouldn't mind coming back here to try their lunch or dinner menu though.