Deanna and I will be heading off to Seoul, Korea where I will be delivering a presentation at the SW Insight Conference (organized by the Ministry of Information & Communications in Korea). If you have any suggestions for great places to eat or be entertained in Seoul, please let me know here in comments or with an email to asa@mozilla.org. This is our first trip to Korea and we're really looking forward to it.
Posted by: danew | November 18, 2005 11:22 PM
We'll be in Seoul for one week.
- A
Posted by: Asa Dotzler | November 18, 2005 11:24 PM
Asa, have a nice trip to Seoul. It's definitely a fascinating place.
There's one restaurant I go everytime with my wife when we are there, however we don't know its name for sure. My wife suggests to ask for:
명동 버섯칼국수 샤브샤브 which is pronounced as follows: Myeong-dong beosot kalgugsu shabushabu.
As the name suggests, it's located in the Myeong-dong district (go there by subway nb 2, Myeong-dong station, exits 5 to 10 or subway nb 4, Euljiro-1(il)ga Stn, exits 5 or 6.
Now how to get to the restaurant? Unfortunately, in Korea you barely use addresses in daily life. So here goes a rough description: go near to Lotte Dept.Store. There you should see the big CGV Myeongdong movie theater. If Lotte is on the left and the CGV is on your right, take the street right passing in front of the movie theater. Take the first or the second small side street on your right and go for about 20 meters. On your left, you should see the words 샤브샤브. The restaurant is on the 2nd and the 3rd floor and usually full. Sometimes you would have to wait for 5 minutes until a table gets available. Maybe someone staying in Seoul could post some more detail about this place?
Oh, and what kind of food do you get there? First you get a soup in which you dip thinly cut raw meet (let it boil for a minute or so). After you finish the meet, there's still the soup to eat (quite hot stuff if you ask me - but that's normal spicy for Korea). Then after you finish the stuff which are inside the soup (don't need to eat all the soup), they pour the soup away and fry an egg and rice right in front of you on the table. If I remember well, the price is really good as well, you'll eat for about 15,000 won for 2. That's about 10 dollars.
If you don't find the restaurant, don't worry, Myeong-dong is a very nice place and there are quite some nice restaurants over there. Students go out there so the mood is really nice. And if you walk around for hours without finding anything, there's also a McDonalds there for saving your night...
Here's a picture with Shabushabu: http://kr.bz.img.yahoo.com/localshop/image/submission/26/1192/2611928293_1.JPG
Posted by: ricky @ mycroft | November 19, 2005 1:18 AM
Oh and forgot to mention, if you want some maps and touristic material, go to Seoul City Hall, pass the building at its right and you'll find the "Seoul Help Center for Foreigners". They have a nice map called "Business Map Seoul" and especially the monthly magazine "The Beetle Map" with much more than maps. Current events, useful information and ads and ads and ads. But no pop-ups :)
Posted by: ricky @ mycroft | November 19, 2005 1:29 AM
Wow, congratulations! I wish I could join you guys. :) Hope you have a really nice trip together. One of our plans is to travel to Asia (probably Thailand) in the near future, perhaps next year.
Posted by: David Tenser | November 19, 2005 2:23 AM
Ha-Dong-Gwan
"Gom-Tang" (especially "with special serving": 10,000 won, not listed on the menu)
Traditional Korean soup using beef & bones. It's famous for its taste and known as celebrities' favorite. It closes at 3pm~4pm when prepared servings run out, so you need to hurry.
Location: 'Eul-Ji-ro-3-Ga', metro line #2 (a little bit hard to find, so better to ask your company to call)
Business hour: 7am to 3pm
Tel:02-776-5656
Posted by: danew | December 1, 2005 4:27 AM
Hi,
Welcome to Korea. Recommendation may depend on; How long do you stay in Seoul?