Let me warn you before starting that this is a long post. Grab a drink and some cushions to settle in, everyone!
Sunday was fortunately marked by a cloudier sky but cooler weather, pre-showers and thunderstorms. We went out to have lunch with Shannon's friend, Soojung, who is a Korea University student majoring in mathematics. She arranged the location for us, so we met Soojung and Lisaeli, her friend from London who is studying abroad, at Hongik Station's exit #9. We told Soojung we wanted to experience 한식 (hansik), or Korean traditional cuisine, but the restaurant she had looked up turned out to be closed! A nice lady sitting in front of the restaurant saw us poking around and called out to us to try the restaurant across the street, which according to her was highly recommended and very good!
Well, she didn't mislead us - 심슨탕 serves 부대찌개, AKA Korean army base stew. Pictures, not mine, can be found at this blog post here! It's a spicy hodgepodge stew of ramen, sausage, spam, kimchi, green onions, and et cetera. Soojung also ordered a pork BBQ dish, marinated with bulgogi sauce, and some onigiri that I didn't manage to grab a bite of! The food and company was absolutely fantastic - with 3 different cultures and nationalities at the table, there was a lot of cultural exchange happening (yes, I know, I sound lame, but it's true and it was cool!) with comparisons of schooling, student life, and lifestyles! We laughed our way to dessert, at a wonderful little cafe that specialized in strawberry desserts. AHHHH!!!!!! Cafe Peony basically epitomizes everything I'd ever want my bakery to ever be. The decor was muted and nude-toned, with booth/table seating and exposed pipes everywhere. Wooden paneling and matching tables, soft lighting as well. Although small, its cake case was stocked with strawberry chiffons, similar cheesecakes, and standing atop was a small chalkboard drinks menu. With its low ceiling and soft music playing, I could certainly see why there was a long line outside. Soojung treated us to a slice of strawberry chiffon, strawberry cheesecake, and one HUGE strawberry patbingsoo. Delicious!!
They had to head back to school around 4PM, so since we were in Hongdae anyway, we decided to pop into Board School, the board game cafe. So basically, you go up four levels in a somewhat shady looking building that houses a Taco Bell on the ground floor, and push open a heavy glass door to reveal a small brightly-lit store employing a handful of friendly but nerdy looking guys in matching vests and socks and slippers. Keep in mind that they have the best job - refuge from the heat, a good view, constant flow of people, a job where they play games/explain games, and they can wear anything except the mandatory vest!! Best part is that they're funny, really people-oriented, and can make pretty decent drinks.
Board School works like every other board game cafe: you go in and play a flat rate of 2,000 won per hour per head, then you must order a drink as well. Each additional 15 minutes is 500 won. We ordered two iced green teas and an iced choco, then grabbed Quoridor, UNO, Apples to Apples, and a deck of cards. The cafe was filled with both big group of friends as well as couples, ranging in all ages. The ambience was great and these past couple of days I've been thinking of what a great idea a cafe like this would be...I could make fresh desserts all day, someone could handle the drinks, and we'd need to just hire some high school boys to come in on the weekends! Anyone up for it??
We had an absolutely party playing with the deck of cards. To refresh ourselves and warm up, we began with Spoons and BS, but gradually moved onto very (VERY VERY VERY) intense and competitive rounds of Deuces. I assume we were making quite a ruckus, laughing and exclaiming, because I remember several of the employees looking over our shoulders with confused smiles on their faces, not understanding the game but sharing in the fun. We had quite a bunch of time to kill, so after a leisurely session of ATA, we moved onto UNO. We all pitted against each other by using +4 change color cards and then calling out colors we knew the others didn't have. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life playing UNO - Sarah repeatedly changed the color to red, which I had zero of, but once I got my chance to call her out on yellow, she drew about 20 cards in one go. Shannon and i doubled over, dying of laughter, and a poor employee who was on his break woke up from his nap, peeked over, and started cracking up with us!!
That night we planned to have dinner with Yoon, one of Shannon's middle school classmates who moved back to Korea after 8th grade. We met him at Gangnam station and he brought us to Chicken in the Kitchen, a pretty legit chicken place. I read online it serves 50 chickens a day, and all of its dipping sauces incorporate the natural juices from their roasted chickens. I had quite a laugh when I thought it was called "Chicken in the Chicken", but it proved its hype. It's a basement restaurant, and the narrow staircase leads into a medium sized store that's dimly lit, packed to the brim and obviously very popular. We managed to grab a table by the corner, and once again talked about differences in school life. Another blog post on that later - this post is already way too long! Our order was Original Fried Chicken + potato wedges and onion rings. It also came with honey mustard, ketchup, a dark olive oil based sauce, and radishes. I've been hearing from everyone that I must try KFC - Korean fried chicken - and really, listen to me, it is truly better. The batter was incredibly crispy and well-seasoned, chicken non-greasy and still moist! Their menu also included roast chickens and different types of fried chickens, as well as an extensive beer menu, but us four couldn't even polish off one order of chicken! We stayed until the restaurant practically emptied out, from 7PM until 10PM or so. Yoon treated us, so if you're reading, next time it's on us!
The ride back to Hongik from Gangnam is about 45 minutes, so we parted ways at the subway station and managed to see a beautiful view of the Han River lit up at night on the way home~ Hongik is north of the river and Gangnam is south, so a portion of the subway ride is above street level. It was a late night for us - we got home around midnight and just collapsed into bed.
