Granhand Seochon • 그랑핸드 서촌

My very first encounter with GRANHAND (그랑핸드) was when I passed by their store in Bukchon (북촌) during my first visits to Seoul. Located in the midst of a residential area on the main path leading up to the heart of Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을), the small store immediately attracted my attention and I ended up browsing through different perfume bottles and scents minutes later. Not long after my initial visit, I encountered another one of their stores in Samcheong-dong (삼청동). Since then, GRANDHAND has been on my radar and I’ve bought their perfumes on several different occasions

Started in 2014 with their first location in Bukchon Hanok Village, GRANHAND has now expanded into six beautifully designed stores located all over Seoul. On top of offering a variety of selection of fragrances for daily use, GRANHAND also prides themselves in creating memorable experiences for their customers through their offline stores where people can smell their scents and touch their products.

GRANHAND Seochon (그랑핸드 서촌) is (I believe) the third location that they opened. The store definitely feels like an upgrade from the two previous ones that I’ve been to. While the other two occupies a smaller space, GRANHAND Seochon occupies a more spacious area with modern minimalist interior where they display their products.

A couple of interesting things that I found out from my visits are, one, if you’re a tourist and you pay cash, they offer a discount/tax-free option for your purchase (they asked for my passport for proof that I’m not a local resident). Two, you can get a free name-stamping service for the products you purchase. I don’t know if they’re still doing it today, but at least on my last visit, they did. So if you’re planning to buy something from the store and want to take advantage of these perks, make sure to ask them if they are still offering them.

 

Granhand Seochon • 그랑핸드 서촌

Address: 서울 종로구 자하문로4길 14-2
Telephone: 02-333-6525
Hours: Everyday 11:30-20:30

Instagram: @granhand_official

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Gotham Treats

Looking for a great corn flake soft serve and fat soft baked cookies in Jakarta? Gotham Treats might be the place to visit for you. Sharing the space with its sister company, Lewis & Carroll Tea, Gotham Treats is a small store that sells a variety of New York inspired treats. If you’re familiar with Momofuku Milk Bar, Levain Bakery and Magnolia Bakery that are respectively well-known for their cereal milk soft serve, thick, crunchy yet gooey cookies and banana pudding, looking at the dessert selections at Gotham treats will definitely remind you of those delicious desserts. And apparently, those are actually the inspirations behind Gotham Treats.

From 10 different cookie flavors that they have available, I tried the The Chelsea (miso & white chocolate) and The Lower East Side (mini cookie with dark chocolate and sea salt). First off, the texture was great. The cookies were soft and chunky and the size of the mini cookies is perfect for a bite size or for snacking. Sweetness level was also good for me. It’s sweet, but not overwhelmingly sweet like the typical American cookies.

For The Chelsea, it’s good but I tasted the white chocolate more than the miso. Honestly thought there would be more of the miso saltiness to it, but turned out the white chocolate is a stronger flavor on this one. If you’re a fan of white chocolate, you’ll probably going to enjoy this flavor.

For The Lower East Side, I really like them. The play between salty and sweet flavors really came through on this one. And yes, this might be a more basic flavor, but I think it’s really good.

On top of their signature soft cookies, Gotham Treats also sells a variety of soft serve ice cream, custard pudding, cakes, cereal milk, cheesecake and tiramisu that are named after different places in New York.

The Dumbo Cereal Milk was just okay for me. It’s not too sweet, but the overall flavors was a little too milky for me (I personally like the ones with a stronger cereal flavor more). It was good, but I’ve had better in Jakarta.

The Dumbo was THE BOMB. It is currently on the top of my list of the best corn flake soft serve I’ve ever had. If you’ve had Milk Bar’s cereal milk soft serve, The Dumbo will reminded you of that, but minus the extra sweet factor (most American desserts are way too sweet for me). It has the right soft serve texture and the right amount of sweetness which make eating this ice cream much more enjoyable for me. If you like cereal milk flavored ice cream, I totally recommend for you to try The Dumbo.

 

Gotham Treats

Address: Jl. Bumi No.4, Jakarta Selatan 12120
Telephone: +6281294723355
Hours: Everyday 9AM-9PM

Instagram: @gothamtreats.id

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Okdongsik Seogyo • 옥동식 서교점

Okdongsik (옥동식) is a small restaurant in Seogyo-dong (서교동) that sells amazing 돼지국밥 (dwaeji gukbap/pork and rice soup). The place only accommodates 10 seatings and the only main menu they have is their 돼지국밥. And when a restaurant only have one main dish on their menu, you know it’s going to be good. I first found out about this place when I was searching online for a place that sells 국밥 (guk-bap/rice soup) during one autumn afternoon. The weather was a bit chilly so I was craving something hearty and warm and gukbap immediately came to mind.

After seeing Okdongsik (옥동식) appeared on one of the search results, I decided to try this place out because apparently the restaurant has been on the Michelin Guide list since 2018. Hours later, I was one of the ten patrons who were sitting inside the small restaurant tasting their delicious dwaeji gukbap. The gukbap has clear broth that tasted light, clean yet flavorful and comforting. The sliced meat was super tender and the portion was pretty generous. While people usually mix the red pepper paste into the broth when eating gukbap, Okdongsik actually recommend against it. Instead of mixing the red pepper into the broth, they encourage people to taste the broth as is and put the red pepper paste on top of the meat without mixing it with the broth. So I took a spoonful of rice and soup, put a piece of meat on top of it, then put the red pepper paste on top of the meat. It was a satisfying spoonful of gukbap. I like it.

Overall, as a fan of gukbap, it was a really good meal for me. Would definitely recommend this place if you’re looking for a good pork gukbap restaurant. Oh, and also, they only serve 100 bowls a day so come early just in case they run out.

“With his take on dwaeji-gukbap, Chef Ok Dong-sik has managed to singlehandedly change any preconceptions the local diners previously had about the hearty pork and rice soup dish Koreans hold near and dear to their hearts. Think bacon-thin slices of silky tender pork meat piled on a bed of rice, all submerged in his trademark consommé-like clear broth. The 'extra large' portion comes with double the amount of meat. The space is limited and only 100 bowls of gukbap are sold daily so get here early.” —Michelin Guide

Note: Photos were taken before the pandemic.

 

Okdongsik Seogyo • 옥동식

Address: 서울 마포구 양화로7길 44-10
Telephone: 010-5571-9915
Hours: Monday-Friday 11:00-22:00, Break Time 15:00-17:00 | Saturday-Sunday 11:00-21:00

Instagram: @okdongsik

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Matcha Bae

Matcha Bae is a small, modern, minimalist matcha cafe/bar in Kelapa Gading area with a matcha-centered drink and dessert menu. From Cold Whisk Matcha to Match Lattes as well as other unique combinations such as Matcha Rose and Matcha Biscoff, Matcha Bae prides themselves in using authentic, high-quality matcha that is imported from Japan.

I visited the store one month after its grand opening. Prior to this, Matcha Bae operated online and did only delivery. But now, with the newly opened cafe, people can go and visit their offline location to get their matcha fix. Although I’m not exactly a connoisseur of matcha, the drinks I had at Matcha Bae were really good. Their matcha drinks were really fragrant, strong in flavor and very smooth. From all of the drinks that I tried, my personal favorite was the Wakana Cold Whisk. For the dessert, their Matcha Injeolmi Cake was definitely one of the more unique matcha dessert I’ve had in Jakarta.

I also met the owner during my visit and talked to her for a bit. Apart from her love for Japanese matcha, the one big reason why she ended up opening Matcha Bae was because she was inspired by all the good matcha cafes she went to when she was traveling to Bangkok and she thought there weren’t (or aren’t) a lot of good matcha bars/cafes in Jakarta. So she learned the process of matcha making and opened Matcha Bae as a result. If you’re looking for a great, solid matcha bar in Jakarta area, definitely try this place out.

 

Matcha Bae

Address: Jl. Raya Hybrida Blok QJ9 No.37, West Kelapa Gading, 14240, Indonesia
Telephone: +62 856-9371-0126
Hours: Tuesday- Sunday 10am-7pm | Closed on Mondays

Instagram: @matchabae.id

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Quench Coffee • 퀜치커피

With my tendency of wandering off small alleyways in Seoul’s neighborhoods, there were a number of places that I stumbled upon by pure accident and Quench Coffee (퀜치커피) was one of them. The cafe is not particularly small or big, but the long wooden table in the middle of the room as well as the coffee bar seating area do make the place feel more open and wide. The atmosphere here felt nostalgic, especially with the wooden vintage furnitures that are decorating the space. I spent a couple of hours reading in this place accompanied by soft classical music playing in the background and a cup of warm matcha latte in front of me. It was a nice, quiet and peaceful afternoon.

Note: Photos were taken before the pandemic.

 

Quench Coffee • 퀜치커피

Address: 서울 마포구 동교로12안길 9 1층
Telephone: 010-3859-6108
Hours: Everyday 12:00-22:00

Instagram: @quench_coffee_nulimlee

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