Nun Namu Jib (눈나무집)

With school stuff going on, freelance projects, and guests visiting town, this past month has been a pretty busy month for me. Now that things are slowing down (for a little bit at least), I'm starting to sort through the images taken during the times my friends were in town. We went sightseeing here and there and tried different restaurants and cafes, so I'm going to share a little bit of that here. 

Before my guests arrived, I was asking one of my Korean friend about what's good to eat in Samcheongdong (삼청동) area and he said there's a pretty famous Tteok Galbi restaurant that I should go and try. And so I went there with my friends. The place is called Nun Namu Jib (눈나무집), which literally translates to Snow Tree House. There were five of us so we ended up ordering a variety of things to try. The restaurant is famous for their Tteok Galbi (떡갈비), so of course we ordered that. We also ordered their Kimchi Mari Bab (김치말이밥), Mung Bean Pancake (녹두빈대떡) and Kimchi Fried Rice (소김치볶음밥). Everything was really tasty. The only thing that was kinda a surprise was the Kimchi Mari Bab was served in cold broth. We weren't expecting that but maybe it's a given amongst Korean? Even so, since the weather wasn't too cold, it was refreshing.

When we were there, everybody looked like they're locals and the menu is written in Korean, so I don't know how foreigner friendly the place is. The price of the food wasn't too bad either. Most items are between 5,000W-8,000W which is pretty reasonable. I do recommend if you want to try different things, going with a couple of friends are probably the best way to do it :) 

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김치말이밥

떡갈비

녹두빈대떡

Nun Namu Jib (눈나무집)

서울 종로구 삼청동 20-8
110-230 Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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The Rubber Duck Project

Last month, the famous giant rubber duck arrived in Seoul and sure enough not long after its arrival, the social media world (read: instagram) is flooded with thousands of pictures of the yellow duck. Along with hundreds other people who is as curious as me, I went to Seokchon Lake (석촌호수) to see this floating sculpture that I'm pretty sure have travelled more countries than me :)

A little about the project, the 300 kilogram, 54-foot tall duck designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman and has travelled many countries since 2007  in a bid to "heal wounds" and "relieve tension" wherever it goes. "The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have a political connotation." —Hofmann. For you who is interested to see the duck, it'll be on Seokchon Lake 'til next week I believe. 

Pasiya's Injeolmi Bingsu

During summer, when the weather was still hot in Seoul, I went for a small bingsu quest with a friend of mine. We tried different bingsu places for almost a week everyday. I blame it on the hot weather, really. With the weather getting chillier lately, I don't crave bingsu as much, but thought I'd share a couple of shots that I got from that time. So for the first one, we went to Pasiya (파시야) near Ehwa University (이대점). The place is not too big, so it got crowded after a group of tourists came in. We ordered their Injeolmi Bingsu (인절미빙수) and Injeolmi Rice Cake Toast (인절미 찰떡토스트). I'm not a big fan of very very sweet stuff so these two menus were good. Not too sweet, very light, and refreshing. The Injeolmi Rice Cake Toast was pretty interesting too cos the toast is crunchy but the rice cake was very soft. I believe Pasiya is a franchise so you can find it on other neighborhoods as well. 

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12th Seoul Silver Grass Festival

Last Friday, I went to Haneul Park (하늘공원) — located within the Seoul World Cup Park (월드컵공원 Subway Line 6) — to see the Silver Grass Festival that is going on right now with seoulstateofmind and inner.pastiche. It was a much needed break from all the studying that I've been doing all week so a walk in the park instead of reading books and hangul characters was definitely a more appealing option for a Friday afternoon. It was weekend after all :)

The weather was super duper nice that day — warm sunshine with blue sky, what more can I ask, really (I'm really a sucker for blue sky :p). This was my first time going to Haneul Park so I was imagining that it's just like any other park that you can just walk to. Apparently, it's located on some sort of a hill where you need to do a short hike up the stairs before you actually arrive at the park. After we got to the top, we just wandered around and enjoyed the view of waves of silver grass around the park. It was very pretty :) Anyways, the festival is going on from October 16th to 24th so anybody who's interested to go still can make it this week :) And oh, you might encounter lots of ahjummas wearing bright hiking outfits in the park taking pictures (at least we did).

// special thanks to Ken who was being a good sport modeling for us :) //

Sinchon Hwangso Gopchang • 신촌황소곱창

Visited Sinchon Hwangso Gopchang, which apparently one of the most popular gopchang 맛집 around Sinchon area. I was looking forward trying out gopchang, but my friend who ordered for all of us ended up ordering daechang (대창) (large intestine) instead (I think). Anyway, after our order came out, we have to wait for a good while. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the ahjummoni came over to our table and pretty much cooked the whole thing. After that, it's another couple of minutes of waiting time again. I think this is probably not a good place to go when you really hungry and want to eat right away.

After they say it's all cooked and ready to be eaten, we started eating. It's my first time eating daechang and it certainly has an interesting taste. It has rubbery and chewy texture and after eating a couple of pieces, it's very oily. I'm not quite sure if I like it or hate it. I might need to give it another go :p Anyway, we also ordered the fried rice, so after we ate all the daechang, they cooked the fried rice in front of us. Next time I come here, I'll try their famous gopchang for sure. 

Sinchon Hwangso Gopchang • 신촌황소곱창

Address: 서울특별시 서대문구 창천동 52-148
Telephone: 02-337-2640
Hours: 15:00 - 03:00 (Everyday)

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