I’ve made myself a list of Korean restaurants I want to clear, and I’m crossing them off one by one. I haven’t been living in Seoul that long yet, so there are quite a lot of places I want to try. Eunjujeong, famous for its kimchi jjigae, is one of them.
On the way to Eunjujeong
It’s in a neighbourhood known for heavyweight restaurants like Bogeonok and Woo Lae Oak. It’s down an alley, so it might be hard to find without a map, but foodies who come around here often should spot it in no time.
There’s only one dinner menu: a samgyeopsal + kimchi jjigae course for 10,000 won. With inflation the way it is these days, that price is hard to believe.
Side dishes
It isn’t in the photo, but the leafy greens for wrapping come in a surprisingly generous pile. For someone like me who prefers a mostly vegetable diet, it couldn’t be better.
Samgyeopsal…
Maybe because the samgyeopsal is basically a freebie (-_-), the quality is just so-so. I polished it off quickly and waited for the kimchi jjigae to arrive.
Kimchi jjigae
The broth is clean and refreshing, the kind that would be great as a hangover cure too. Plenty of stuff in it, and lots of meat as well. At this level it’s worth coming all the way from far away just to eat it. Another successful restaurant pick today.
A bowl of rice
Ladling out the kimchi jjigae
Eating until I was about to burst, for a bit over 10,000 won each, made me wonder how a food life could get any happier than this.
For round two we went to Leonidas in Myeongdong, a chocolate shop near Myeongdong Cathedral.
The front entrance
It’s not especially delicious, but for a café you can go to at this hour in this neighbourhood, which isn’t Hongdae or Apgujeong, I don’t think there’s anything better apart from Caffe Themselves. (If you know somewhere worth going, please tip me off…) It’s open until 10:30, and we came in around 9:30.
Chocolates and drinks
The orange peel wasn’t to my taste, and the dark chocolate was okay enough to eat. Chocolates are 1,500 won per 10 grams regardless of type, which works out to roughly 1,500 to 2,000 won a piece. The basement space was really cosy, and there’s a room-like space on the ground floor too, so it looks good for a quiet chat. For Korea, this is pretty decent, I thought… anyway, I liked this place too.