Mono Sushi

Passed by Mono Sushi (모노스시) when I was on my way home after exploring Samseong-dong (삼성동) for a little bit. It was during that weird hour when it's too early for dinner, but I already felt a lil' bit hungry from all the walking around I've done earlier that day. So when I see this place, I thought, the place looks nice, they sell savory stuff, let's give it a try.

I walked into the minimal store and headed over to the counter where there were only a couple of selections left. I picked the Sweet Chicken with Nut Maki (견과류 달콤 치킨) and the Prawn Mayo Wasabi Maki (와사비 통새우마요) and to my surprise, they tasted better than I expected. Lots of flavors, definitely uncommon flavor combinations for makis. They also give you free soup with your orders. I think for next time, I gotta come at an earlier time so I can try the other options that they have.

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Gentle Monster Garosu-Gil (pt.2)

The second floor has the bathroom theme going on and bedroom was the theme for the basement floor. They did a really great job setting up and picking up all the furnishing for the rooms. And I definitely appreciate the little details that they got going on, like the soap they put on top of the sink. Nice touch. I definitely wouldn't mind having this kind of bathroom in my house btw :P

After looking up the concept of the store online on the Gentle Monster's website, here's what I found:

"Gentle Monster's 5th Space, 'Home and Recovery', is the intersection of space with emotional context of home and recovery. The space which covers up past traces presents emotional recovery through intuitive objects and different themes."

If you're ever in the Garosu-gil area and you are into nicely designed spaces and cool sunglasses, definitely check this place out.

ps: See part 1 of this post here.

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Gentle Monster Garosu-Gil

Gentle Monster (젠틀몬스터) has become one of my favorite store to visit in Seoul. Apart from the cool sunglasses they have on display, their stores are one of the most artistic, well-designed spaces I've ever been to, especially for a retail store. Every locations has their own distinct design. How cool is that? They have a couple of locations in South Korea—as well as overseas—and this particular one that I visited was the one in Garosu-gil (가로수길), Sinsa (신사) area.

This was my first visit to this location and I was super impressed with the space. It has 4 floors with 4 different vibes. My intended 5-minutes quick stop at this place turned into an-hour long visit cos I lost track of time looking through every floor of this building. Everything is so fascinating and some of them are weirdly intriguing. A good example of this is this white and red themed interior that they have going on on the first floor. The stark blood red objects that are displayed around the room really pop out against the white walls and furniture.

Since there are a bunch of shots from the other floors, I'm breaking this post into two parts. So stay tuned for the next part! :)

ps: see my post on one of Gentle Monster's Quantum Projects at their Hongdae location here.

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Supertree Grove Illuminated

Prior to my trip to Singapore, a couple of my friends told me that I should go visit the Supertree Grove at night, when the lights on the trees are on. They said it's cool to see it during nighttime cos it's totally different from daytime. And they were right. I'm glad I decided to go back to this place after my first visit and got to see the Garden Rhapsody (that's what they call it on the website). When the music started playing and the lights all turned on, the place really turned into a mythical enchanted forest. If you have a chance to check out the Supertree Grove at night, I'd tell you the same things my friends told me, you should go check it out. Definitely worth the visit.

On a totally unrelated topic, the pictures on this post were all taken with my Sony A6000 and I have to say, I'm very impressed with the quality of the night shots, or at least the shots on this post. They turned out better than I expected them to be.

And with this, I'm wrapping up my Gardens By the Bay Series posts. 

See previous posts from this series here:
1. Supertree Grove // 2. Cloud Forest // 3. Flower Dome

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Samovar Tea Bar

Samovar Tea Bar is one of the places I wanted to visit when I was in San Fran. I found out about this place after I moved out of the city and so I didn't get a chance to check this place out until this trip. The cafe's interior is very different and intriguing. So I decided to look up what's the philosophy behind this brand. According to their website:

"Samovar is an alternate reality. A place where we can step out of the rat race. A place where we invite people to slow down, to inhabit the present moment, to disconnect in order to connect.... We’re about enjoying the basic goodness of being present in the moment."—Jesse Jacobs, Founder.

If that's the case, I definitely can see myself disconnecting and slowing down at this place. The interior does exudes a sense of tranquility and calmness. Definitely a good place to just sit back, relax and recharge yourself. I ordered the green tea latte and it was good. The aroma of the green tea was really nice and it was unsweetened so it gave a really clean taste. I especially enjoyed watching how the teas were being prepared. If you are looking for a good place to drink tea, I would recommend you to check this place out.

Hope everybody have a great weekend and for those of you who are in the States, enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend! :) 

ps: they have another location at the Yerba Buena Gardens, Samovar Tea Lounge, which is bigger than this one and have more food selections. 

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