Mo' Better Blues Cafe

January 21, 2015 by greysuitcase in Cafe

What do you do to unwind? For me, reading and listening to music is one way to do it. Jazz in particular can give me that relieve of tension when I needed one. Of all the cafes I've visited so far here in Seoul, Mo' Better Blues Cafe probably has one of the better jazz playlists playing in their cafe. It's not necessarily new musics, lots of them are from the times I grew up or even way before that—the classic jazz songs—but nevertheless, it gave me a nice sense of familiarity in this city that's still fairly unfamiliar to me.

A little about the place, the whole cafe is actually bigger than what I imagined. They have 4 floors, but I think they only open all floors during busier times. They have good selection of drinks and snacks. And the place is good for a study place as well, unless you run into a bunch of noisy high school girls which I did. Even so, you can escape that by trying to go to another floor if that happens to you. The cafe also has a patio area on the first floor which can be used even during winter (they turned up the heater pretty high in there).

With that said, now I'm going to make myself a cup of hot cocoa, listen to some jazz, and unwind. Hope everybody is having a great week so far :)

Furs & Paws

January 17, 2015 by greysuitcase in Cafe

All of the many things I'm fascinated with living in South Korea, one of them is cafe with animals. As some of you might know, cat or dog cafe is pretty popular around here. It's certainly a new thing for me when I first read about it and I'm a little curious on what the experience of going to a cat or dog cafe would be like. And so, when one of my friend was in town visiting, he had the same curiosity. Only probably his curiosity's bigger than mine because that's how we ended up (actually) going to a cat cafe in Hongdae area.

We went to Cheong Chun Cat Cafe (청춘 고양이) that's located on the 3rd floor of a building on an alley in Hongdae (홍대). We took off our shoes, put on some slippers, and sanitized our hand before coming into the cafe. Then right away, when we entered the waiter instructed us to pay our entrance fee (W9,000) which gave us a free drink as well. After paying, we were given a locker where we can put our coats and bags into, you know, to avoid the cat furs I guess and assigned us a table. From then onwards, we pretty much free to play with the cats in the cafe.

Funny thing, although we decided to went to a cat cafe, both me and my friend actually have an allergy to animal furs. So we stayed as long as we can until one of us started to have teary eyes and sneezing continuously. And of course not long after that, the other one followed. So after that, we concluded our cat cafe adventure and left. It was definitely and a fun interesting experience.

Lasim Cafe

January 11, 2015 by greysuitcase in Cafe, Food

A small quite cafe tucked in Ehwa University's area. The most memorable thing for me about this place is probably that they served Lucky Charms cereal with your ordered drinks. I mean, how great is that? (I'm a sucker for Lucky Charms :P) Haven't had that cereal for a while so it was a lovely surprise :) They also give you lollipop with your order. According to their menu, they have brunch available too during the day. Pancakes and everything. Maybe I'll try that for my next visit.

And oh, I'm back in Seoul from my vacation. Will post more stuff soon (hopefully). Happy New Year 2015! :)

The Hanok (더한옥)

December 16, 2014 by greysuitcase in Cafe

Stumbled upon this place when I was exploring Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을) area with my friends on one afternoon. I was just peeking through the front door, trying to get a glimpse of what's inside and that was when a lady came out and opened the door inviting us in. First we were reluctant to go in because we weren't sure if we wanna spend time at the cafe, but the lady was nice enough to say it's okay for us to just look around the place and we don't have to buy drinks. So we went in and did just that. Entering the cafe is just like entering an old time hanok house because of all the vintage furnishing that's around the cafe. The cafe's atmosphere is pretty cozy and quite overall and we decided to sit down and order some drinks. Nobody was there when we came in but a couple of couples came in not long after we did. They have different rooms inside the Hanok and an outdoor area so you can sit wherever you like. And oh, as it turned out, the lady who invited us in was the owner of the place. She was very friendly and kindly chatted with us for a while. If you're curious about the story behind the place, you should asked her because she'll gladly explain it to you :)

Homilbat (호밀밭)

December 07, 2014 by greysuitcase in Cafe, Seoul, South Korea

First time I visited this place was last year when I came to Seoul for traveling. It's supposed to be one of the best bingsu places in Seoul, so I thought it's worth a visit since I was visiting Ehwa University area anyway. Little did I know that even during lunch time on a weekday, the place was packed. There were quite a long line when I got there and since I was pressed on time, I ended up not going to the place. So now, a year later, after I moved here I got plenty of opportunities to go back and try this place. This is one of my favorite bingsu places so far. I like the milky type of bingsu so eating their milk bingsu with fresh fruit is just perfect. Their home-made rice cake and red bean are good too. I noticed here some people ordered one for each person, but I think ordering one to share between two people is enough :)