Cafe Berlin @ Hongdae (Seoul)

Cafe Berlin has gotta be one of my favourite cafes. It is located at the back of Hongdae, near Hongik University. You'll have to walk quite a distance from the university to get to Cafe Berlin. That whole stretch has plenty of nice cafes!

X and I came here on a Monday afternoon and it was pretty packed. Most of the people were studying. I can understand why this place is so popular. The vibe and atmosphere just feels really nice.




















The pictures are really clear and pretty


Affogato - 7500 won
This was really awesome! The icecream was delicious and really smooth. This has gotta be one of the best affogatos around! Together with the fragrant coffee and roasted nuts, this affogato certainly left a deep impression on us


Caramel macchiato - 6000 won
This was a huge glass of coffee. Not too bad!


Ham and cheese sandwich - 7500
This is pretty pricey for a sandwich. But the ingredients were fresh and though simple, it was quite palatable. Or maybe we were just hungry haha

Cafe Berlin would definitely be one of my favourite haunts if it was in Singapore. Love the laidback feel of the cafe and its rustic charm.

337-36 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea


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Love, K

22nd.

I turned 22 today.
And I was wonderfully and pleasantly surprised.
All the birthday wishes received in every form of technology made me feel really blessed and lucky [:
Thanks everyone! 

Yesterday, I'd thought that X had forgotten my birthday.
Well, we're in Korea and all and he has 3 exams in 2 days time so I thought that he might have forgotten my birthday.
We were at a cafe till 11pm last night because he needed to study. We had dinner after and headed home. The clock struck 12 when we were walking home and he didn't wish me happy birthday so I was even more sure than he'd forgotten haha. We got home at about 1210 and I went into the apartment first. And to my surprise, X's friends who are my new found friends surprised me with a baskin robbins icecream cake! Hahaha I was really thankful. I mean, we've just known each other for about 2 weeks and here they were, taking precious time off studying and surprising me all the way in Hongdae! Haha thank you fatty for organising [: And a big thank you to all my nice friends for the surprise! [:

Today, I met X after his class for dessert at Peony. After which he said we have to go home to change and that we aren't supposed to eat anymore till 630 because we're going to a food fest at Lotte Departmental Store. I was thinking why we have to dress up hahaha. So anyway he wore like pretty formal stuff so I was suspecting that we're going somewhere nice for dinner but he said "you confirm think we're going somewhere fancy right. But we're really going to the food fest. Later when you hear me telling the taxi driver Lotte, then you'll believe me" Haha I was like okay, food fest it is! Quite cool what right to go for food fest haha even though I've never been to one. So when we arrived at Lotte Hotel, I was still thinking that we were going for the food fest at the convention centre... Haha turns out that X had reserved a table at Pierre Gagnaire at the 35th level for my birthday dinner! And he had done the reservation before I even arrived in Korea. That's like more than a month ago. Hahaha I'm honestly immensely touched [: So anyway, Pierre Gagnaire is a three Michelin star chef! So you can imagine how happy and excited I was hahaha. And we had a window seat! The view was quite pretty and the food was unique, interestingly juxtaposed and awesome. The foie gras was amazing and life-changing haha. I had an incredibly nice and memorable evening [:

Will do up a post on Pierre Gagnaire soooooon!

Despite feeling extremely old now, I am infinitely thankful as I count my blessings. Looking forward to all the birthday celebrations when I get back to Singapore! [: But at the same time, dreading having to leave Kool Korea haha

Thanks for all the surprises X! [: You're the best hahaha

Love, K

Blanc Cafe @ Hongdae (Seoul)

Blanc is located 15 minutes, on foot, from our apartment. However, walking in this sweltering weather made it seem like forever haha. Nonetheless, we were pretty psyched to visit this place!













They have sandwiches, croissants, tarts, cakes and macarons!

Chocolate croissant - 2700 won
This was really fragrant! Crispy on the outside and really soft on the inside. No doubt one of the best croissants I've had!


Banana Chocolate Tart - 5000 + won
Banana and chocolate is a combination that can't go wrong. And this tart brought it to another level as it was really really good! The tart was of the right hardness and the chocolate mousse doesn't overshadow the taste of the bananas. Pretty perfect!


Ham and cheese sandwich- 4800 won
This was not bad! The taste of pickles and the sauce spiced up the average ham and cheese


Iced caramel macchiato and Iced cafe mocha - 4500 each
The coffee were pretty good!


Oreo macaron and hazelnut macaron - 1700 won each
The oreo macaron tasted more like milk and the taste of oreo was absent. We didn't really like it. The hazelnut macaron on the other hand, was alot nicer! To be honest, we didn't have high expectations of the macarons but they surprised us with their full crusts and smooth ganache!

We liked the minimalistic design of Blanc. Simple, clean looking and attractive! Service was good too, albeit a bit slow.

173-14 Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Monday - Saturday : 830am - 11pm
Sunday : 9pm - 10pm


Love, K

Wisteria @ Hongdae (Seoul)

Saturday brunch in Hongdae!
Wisteria is about 10-15 minutes walk away from our apartment.
And this was also where X witnessed the filming of Running Man! Haha
We'll update this post again with a map soon!



















When we first saw the menu, we were like wow.. it's not exactly cheap.

I ordered the pancakes while X got the omelette. The prices were I think 13000 and 14000 for the items. So that's about $30 SGD.

However, we received a pleasant surprise when our food arrived! First of all, they come with a drink each.


Second of us, the portion is HUGE. And there were so many items!!

Pancakes
Cream of broccoli soup
Wedges
Mushroom
Pineapple
Salami
Sausage
Bacon
Pumpkin with cream
Salad

Seriously?!?! It was then that we realised that this meal was really value for money!

The pancakes were crispy and fluffy and were really good! Everything else was pretty good too! Oh and one thing that you've to try in Korea is definitely their pineapples. Their pineapples are insanely sweet!

 
Omelette with mushroom and onions and everything else!

This was a really filling and great meal! The restaurant charges 10% tax so we paid about 30,000won. Very worth it!

Map(a rough guide):



Love, K

IL MARE @ Gangnam (Seoul)

We had a great day at Lotte World which is at Jamsil Subway station. It is pretty near gangnam so we decided to drop by and take a look! Gangnam is kinda their Orchard haha. We were trying to find a nice place for dinner when we saw Il Mare and X exclaimed so loudly, it shocked me. Haha apparently he had been doing research and this place was famous! So obviously, we had to dine here. They were full when we got there so we waited for about 20 minutes before a table was freed up.

 




Window seats for us yay!












The brown bread was pretty hard and wasn't really nice so we didn't finish it. The other bread, on the other hand, was extremely soft and yummy!


Mushroom soup 
This was of the right thickness, not too creamy and really palatable!


Oven-baked seafood spaghetti in tomato sauce
As this was oven-baked, this dish was extremely hot when it came. And it remained hot for a long time. Haha so I took really long to eat it. The portion was pretty huge and it tasted not bad. There was too little seafood though


Seafood spaghetti in carbonara
The cream sauce which was infused with white wine was really good! It wasn't creamy and was smooth and tantalising. The pasta was well-cooked too. Although the portion was a little small for this, X definitely enjoyed his pasta!


Chocolate fondant
This was a really small lava cake. When we cut into it, we saw a smooth lava centre which got us excited but it wasn't flowy so I was a little disappointed. Haha. The cake was not spectacular, but definitely above average.

Overall, it was a good meal at Il Mare! We spent about 35,000 won I think? Really cheap for what we had! Also, service was efficient and the staff were attentive.

The only thing was, we realised that there was an Il Mare 5 minutes from our place after we got home HAHAHAH. We went all the way to Gangnam when we could have eaten at Il Mare in Hongdae.

To get to Il Mare in Hongdae, alight at Hongik University Subway Station. Proceed to exit 9. After reaching the top of the flight of stairs, walk straight all the way till you come to a pedestrian crossing. Then, turn left. Its opposite Starbucks Coffee, on the second level!

There's also an outlet at Doota in Dongdaemun!

825-24 Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Daily : 11am - 10pm

 

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Love, K