Seoul 11.12 - Nolboo budae jjigae

One of the best things in Seoul is that many restaurants open 24 hours a day, and there are fun and exciting choices for all!

Near by our hotel there was a Nolboo. It's a popular chain restaurant that serves budae jjigae. Budae jjigae literally translated to "military/army stew," and it originally came about when, after the war, food was not readily available, and people uses the surplus food items that the U.S. Army bases supplied, mixed with chili paste and kimchi to make this "fusion" dish!

At the second floor.

Look who greeted us at the door!

There were different meats, vegetables, mushrooms, and rice cakes, and the ajuma was pouring broth into the pan.

These little rice cakes were my favorite. They were so cute!

Like Myeongdong Kyoja, the chopsticks and long spoons were in the drawers.

Of course there were some kimchi.

View from above the pan.

We let everything cook for a while, and then everything turned red! There must be some gochujiang (hot chili paste) hidden underneath from the beginning! Oh it was spicy and delicious!




The Budae Jjigae pan looked gigantic in the photos, but the pan itself was pretty shallow so there wasn't a ton of food, but with the rice, kimchi, and other sides that come with the jjigae it was a very satisfying meal.

And I really enjoyed these "eating while cooking for yourself" style of restaurants in Seoul!

ZAGAT says...

John and I are honored. ZAGAT likes us! :)

Zagat names caffe d'bolla Utah's Must-Try Coffee Shop!



Utah: Caffe d’Bolla

At this Salt Lake City cafe, they source coffees from all over the world and micro-roast them in house. You can find all sorts of uncommon beans, including Kenya Nyeri AB Gatomboya, Nicaragua Finca Maria and Panama Volcancito. In case you want to learn more about these special blends, they also offer $20 "Coffee 101" classes each month. Not only do they do coffee right, but they also have a stellar tea program, traveling to Asia yearly to purchase some of their teas right from the growers.

249 E. 400 S #B, Salt Lake City, UT; 801-355-1398

(courtesy of Zagat.com)

Seoul 11.12 - shopping in Myeongdong

After having yummy dumplings and noodles at Myeongdong Kyoja, I was all ready to start my shopping "spree"! I was planning on getting some skincare products and makeup from a few Korean skincare/makeup companies, plus other fun things I saw along the way.

John, on the other hand, was not excited about the idea of shopping all over Myeongdong, so we didn't end up spending a lot of time (according to me) shopping, really.

But I went prepared! I had a list of items I was interested in, and all I did was to politely ask the girls at the makeup shops to help me find them. This way I was able to get the things I needed without spending too much time. I was also planning on browsing a bit more around the different shops, though, but that didn't come about. Oh well. I still got a lot of goodies!






Oh, this is very helpful: when you buy things in shops with a "Tax Free" (or similar) you can get your tax money back at the airport! Make sure you ask at the register at the stores if they had such services. I will post a little "tutorial" about the tax return later. 

I also picked up some cute earrings and hair accessories. Oh my goodness there were so many choices!






There were also many street food vendors in different parts of Myeongdong!





Shopping in Myeongdong was definitely lots of fun!

Seoul 11.12 - Myeongdong Kyoja

We were a little hungry after arriving at Myeongdong, so we headed over to Myeongdong Kyoja (Myeongdong Dumplings) to have some early dinner/snack.

Myeongdong Kyoja has two locations within the Myeongdong shopping district. I'm not quite sure which one we ended up going in to, but it was the one I saw first!


We were seated at the second floor. The shop was busy! The server lady dropped off the menu and returned very quickly to take our orders and payment. Very efficient!

The condiments were on the table.

And the utensils were in the drawers under the table.

This was silly, but when the kimchi and soups came John and I wondered why the lady didn't bring us the utensils. We asked for chopsticks (using hand gestures) and the lady looked surprised (or shocked?) and pulled out the drawer right next to me.

So that was where the chopsticks and spoons were.

We got the steamed mandu (steamed dumplings) and bibimguksu (spicy cold noodles). They were delicious!

The steamed mandu.

The bibimguksu.

The steamed mandu was filled with juicy ground pork and vegetables, and the skin was thin and delicious, too!

And for the bibimguksu, the boy that brought the dish asked if we wanted to have it cut, and we said yes, so he cut the "pile" of noodles into four sections for easy-eating. The noodles were cooked well and their texture was QQ - soft yet "al dente". I really liked them!

The kimchi at Myeongdong Kyoja was also some of our favorite during this trip... very garlic-y! Yum.

mmm Myeongdong Kyoja!

Seoul 11.12 - walking to Myeongdong

We took the cable car and Oreumi elevator back down and was ready to go to Myeongdong!



The sun was setting, and the lights of the city came on. It was beautiful.

Myeongdong was within walking distance to where we got off the "mountain climbing" Oreumi elevator.

Along the way we saw a fire station:



And at the base of the "foothill" we saw Shinsegae Department Store and knew Myeongdong was nearby.



We started seeing more people walking on the streets and knew we were there. There were street performers, big lights from stores and coffee shop chains (where most of the time have big celebrity endorsement posters and billboards hanging up hight!)




So what were we going to do in Myeongdong? Eating and shopping, of course!

Seoul 11.12 - up by the N Seoul Tower

Of course Namsan Cable Car didn't drop visitors off right by the Seoul Tower. After the ride we hiked up a little to see the actual Seoul Tower and its surroundings.


It was beautiful hiking up.
There was a lot to see up by the Seoul Tower!