I came out to Jongno for the first time in a while. To buy glasses ^_^ Glasses cost about twice as much in Japan, you see.. It was about time to replace mine, so I went to Namdaemun. Some people say Dongdaemun is cheaper.. but with glasses it’s the size of the shop that matters more than the price. If they don’t have anything you like, there’s no point going.. Still, I should drop by Dongdaemun next time. I’ve never been there even once..
After looking at a bunch of models, I ended up buying frames from the same brand as last time again. I guess there really is such a thing as a brand whose sensibility suits you. On the way back I saw they’re opening a shop in the Incheon Airport duty-free area too, so I think I’ll start collecting ones I like, one or two at a time. Anyway, that’s not what I meant to talk about..
The plaza in front of City Hall
Took a shot of it. Lots of people. But there’s no shade.. Same goes for Cheonggyecheon. Fine as a plaza, not so great as a park.. Well, you can’t expect perfection on the first try.. I thought about taking a photo of Namdaemun too, but gave up.
I met up with a colleague from the company I used to work at, to grab lunch somewhere around here. We’d heard the restaurant at the Ilmin Museum of Art, our meeting spot, was good, but it was packed. We hadn’t booked and didn’t have time to wait, so we headed to a stir-fried jjukkumi place my friend used to go to a lot.
The place
Yep.. this is it. Pretty ordinary, right? The kind of place that caters to office workers nearby..
They brush on butter for you.
Whoa.. what’s this.. butter in Korean food..
They stir-fry it for you.
We ordered the small size, and for two people it was just enough to leave us a little stuffed. Bean sprouts and jjukkumi are the taste of ordinary folks. Cheap, big portions, decent flavor, and quick to eat.. I thought this is exactly the kind of thing you should eat when you come to Korea. You could say it wins on MSG, but for this, I’m satisfied. The greasiness of the butter bothered me a little, so if I get the chance to go again I’ll ask them to go easy on the butter. By the way, they say it’s jjukkumi season right now, but places like this use frozen, so the taste has nothing to do with that.
The basic setting
Bean sprout soup
Hmm.. very ordinary. Still, much better than nothing.
When we’re done, we have them fry up rice for just one person.
The taste of ordinary folks, which I hadn’t had in a while. When I lived in Korea I really hated eating nothing but this kind of stuff every single day, but it’s nice once in a while. If you told me to eat only this even now, I might want to die ^_^ But what you miss, you miss..
Come to think of it, I say everything I eat is delicious. (Except for the stuff that isn’t, of course.) I eat well and I critique well, so I’m a good type to share a meal with. Whenever you’ve got a meal to eat, call me anytime~ *cough*..
Cheonggyecheon
Nice and quiet.
ZARA is coming in, apparently.
I thought it would never come to Korea, but here it is at last. I hope they don’t jack the prices up too much.. ZARA is popular because it sells well-designed clothes at low prices, so if it gets expensive, there’s no point, right..