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Itaewon

Just BLT

written by fatgirlkr

A BLT is a classic sandwich back home, and not a sandwich shop in the land would leave it off the menu, but here in Korea they aren’t so common. While there is still a long way to go to rival the bounty of sandwiches we can enjoy at home, things have come a long way in the 9 years that I have lived here. Just BLT opened up in Haebangchon a few months ago, and after hearing good things from some some very picky people I figured it was worth a try.

Like the name suggests they sell only BLT sandwiches, though you can customize them by choosing a different mayo or adding fries, a fried egg, and extra bacon for a few dollars more. The sandwiches cost 8,500 each and are pretty hearty in size. While there is technically only one sandwich on the menu, there are 10 different mayos to choose from. After some consideration I ordered the Garlic Mayo BLT, after my companion opted for my first choice of Ssamjang Mayo BLT. The sandwiches took a good 15 minutes to make but they were well worth the wait. The bacon was thick and meaty with a smokey and slightly salty flavour. The toasted bread was also robust and, like the bacon, made in house. The mayos were very generous, and although I found the garlic one a little overpowering, the ssamjang one was a delight and went so well with the bacon. One small difference was that the tomato here was cut into chunks rather than the rounds back home, they also came served with a pile of jalapenos which I personally didn’t need, but the boys seemed to enjoy.

It being the season of over eating, we figured we would also add a portion of the BLT Fries (8,000). The seasoned fries were sat upon a pile of lettuce and tomato which I found a bit redundant, although it did make me feel like I was being quite healthy. They were then topped with BBQ sauce, jalapeno mayo, and bacon flakes. These were very moreish, we loved the combo of sauces, and the paprika seasoning really was very tasty and uplifted them from being the standard fries you tend to find everywhere. We would definitely order these again.

Overall we loved our sandwiches and I was really impressed by this latest addition to the HBC food scape. Both the bacon and the bread are made in house, which is probably why they were so good. We came for dinner, but I couldn’t help but think that if you added an egg, it would make a very nice brunch, especially since they have a Bloody Mary on the menu. The drinks menu, which we didn’t partake in, looked very reasonable too, with lots of well priced brand named liquors, so it could make a good day drinking / pregame spot. The sandwiches are also available on Shuttle if it is too cold to leave the house.

Just BLT is located at 7 Sinheung-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Noksapyeong Station (line 6) and come out of exit 2. Walk straight to the end of the road and then turn left. Walk straight along this street, Just BLT is on the left hand side, just past the kimchi pots. For more information you can call them on 010-3072-2619.

December 31, 2017 0 comment

Cafes / Takeaways / Bars Itaewon

Emack & Bolio’s

written by fatgirlkr

Earlier this year, ice creamery Emack & Bolio’s opened up its first location here in Korea. Having sampled it before in Hong Kong I was rather excited to give it a try. I adore ice cream and was excited to try some more exciting flavours, however when I saw the prices I was soon put off. For two scoops plus a fun cone it was going to run around 10 dollars, which was just too rich for my blood. However after having dinner at Kiki Chanting last week, my friends suggested that we go there for dessert, so I decided to treat myself.

The shop is nestled in the back alleyways in behind McDonalds. Though the store is quite tiny, there is a small seating area for those who want to eat inside, which at this time of year is a pretty much a given. The menu is quite large and there are a whole host of flavours happening (around 25), although some have been discontinued because they have not proved to be popular with the Korean market which is a bit disappointing. The place doesn’t offer free samples which is a shame, so you will just have to figure out what you want from the menu. After choosing your ice cream you can then choose if you want it in a cone at an eye watering price, or a cheaper but more boring cup.

I decieded to say screw it and get the Rice Krispie Mallow Cone (2,500), while for my ice cream I went for one scoop of the Salted Caramel and Chocolate Pretzel (4,800). I absolutely adored this combo, the ice cream was rich and creamy and rippled with a salted caramel sauce and studded with chocolate covered pretzel pieces. It was the saucy, salty, creamy and crunchy treat I was lusting after. My cone was kind of nice, but honestly quite hard to eat, the crispy mallow was rock solid and I think I might have been better off going for one of the simpler cones.

My girls went for a Banana Fosters Icecream (4,800) in a Fruit Loops Cone (2,500) and a Chocolate Addiction (4,800) in the Rainbow Sprinkles Cone (2,000).The Banana Fosters was my favourite of the two, it was very flavourful without having that fake banana taste. While we really enjoyed the fruit loops cone, it was again a touch hard to eat. The chocolate ice cream was a bit rich for my tastes, but my friend adored it. So if you like chocolate ice cream give it a try.

Overall I did really really enjoy my actual ice cream. It was very tasty and reminded me a lot of the flavours we can get at home. The cone I felt was more of a novelty and only got it to make a more instagrammable picture. Their pints of ice cream are only 11,000 which is similar to the price of Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen Dazs so quite fair and this is probably what I will do next time. The array of flavours was really impressive and even though it is pricey there is no where else in Itaewon to get ice cream in these exact tastes so if you have a hankering, it will hit the spot.

Emack & Bolio’s is located at 10 Itaewon-ro, 16-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Itaewon Station and come out of exit 4. Walk straight until you reach the second set of traffic lights at Dilingers and take the stairs down to your left. Keep walking along the road that runs parallel with the main street, you will see a very small ally way to the left, Emack & Bolio is at the end. For more information you can cal them on 02-797-0814 or visit their website for more details.

December 22, 2017 0 comment

Itaewon Restaurant Reviews

Kiki Chanting

written by fatgirlkr

Of all the foods I love to eat, Chinese food has probably got to be my favourite. It being the most populous nation on earth it comes it many different forms, but I tend to love them all. Having been to Hong Kong twice this year I am a big fan of the Cantonese variety. However despite Korea being in rather close proximity to China, it is one of the hardest foods to find done well here, probably because there are so many varieties of different dishes and when you take it internationally the dishes always metamorphose to adapt the local taste. However, I digress. Cantonese food has always been pretty hard to find, which was why I was exceedingly excited when I heard that the team from Manimal / Motor City were opening up a new Chinese joint. I usually try to shy away from reviewing on soft openings, but I was just too excited to wait to try this.

Kiki Chanting is located in the back alleyways of Itaewon along where Nekkid Wings and Linus BBQ are found. As previously mentioned they are still in their soft opening phase, but the menu is quite vast with only a few side dishes not being served yet. There are plenty of noodle dishes, which are one thing I tend to miss and then the typical BBQ meat and rice combos you would find anywhere on the streets of Hong Kong.

The dish I was most excited to try was the BBQ Charsiu (9,300). When it arrived it seemed quite promising, and with a price I though pretty reasonable and similar to what we paid in Hong Kong. The charsiu pork was served on a bed on rice with some bokchoi and half a salt egg, which is pretty much how it was served in Hong Kong. I thought the meat portion was generous but when I bit into it, it wasn’t soft. Usually charsiu is melt in the mouth tender. The outer flavour was not bad, there was a nice mix of spices, though I thought it would have been a touch on the sweeter side. As I said they are still in the soft opening phases so I was happy to relay my opinions. I would be very interested to try the chicken and pork belly versions. I know from my visits to Manimal they are able to make some incredible tender melt in the mouth meat so it’s a case of tinkering.

We also ordered the the Blackbean Chicken over Rice (10,000). I don’t think I have ever eaten black bean chicken in China so I can’t compare it to that, but it is a popular enough dish back home in the UK which I have had many times, though I usually tend to order the beef variety. We all thought this was rather tasty, the flavour of the sauce had that distinct Chinese-y taste (if thats a word). There was also a good mix of chicken and vegetables. As we liked it so much we decided to order the Blackbean Chicken Chow Mein (10,000) too. The noodle version disappeared instantly and we all preferred this version over the rice. One small gripe was that the noodles were rather clumped together which made it a bit hard to eat, especially since we were sharing, but I wouldn’t let it put me off ordering it again.

I love egg noodles so seeing a couple of dishes on the menu that included them was a very exciting prospect as they are not really very common here, and the only place I have ever managed to buy them is at the foreign food mart in Itaewon. So of course we had to try the Singapore Noodles (10,000) too. Again this is a dish that I have only eaten in a takeaway back home, and for me it was quite different from the UK version which usually calls for rice noodles. While I rather enjoyed the addition of the egg noodles, I found it a touch on the spicy side for me. It was not too disimilar to the black bean except for the heat, so it is probably a matter of taste as to which you will prefer. I would love to see them do a very simple chow mein dish in the future as it is one thing I always lust after, especially when hungover.

We were hoping to try some of the side dishes but they were sadly out of the rice rolls and the egg drop soup, so we ordered the Stir Fried Kailan & Bok Choy (6,800) instead. This was absolutely spot on. The sauce was heavenly and addictively good. We also got a couple of their giant Tsingtao beers (8,000) to wash our dinner down which really rounded out the meal, though i would love them to put an ice lemon tea on the menu as it is the drink I most associate with this kind of restaurant.

Overall I’m excited at the prospect at having a Cantonese restaurant on my doorstep, the prices were good with most dishes being around 10,000, though more if you want extra meat. In my opinion some of the dishes need work but it’s a great start and if it becomes popular we will see a lot more of this food which is only a good thing. I’ll certainly be stopping by again soon to try some of the other dishes, and look forward to it being available for delivery on Shuttle.

Kiki Chanting is located at 174-4 Noksapyeong Daero, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Noksapyeong Station (line 6), and come out of exit 3. Walk straight until you reach the crossing and go over twice until you reach Itaewon. Go down the first alleyway that will be in font of you. You will see Kiki Chanting a little way down just ahead on the right hand side. For more information you call them on 02-797-0990 or check out their facebook page. They are everyday except Tuesdays from 11am -10pm.

December 19, 2017 0 comment

Itaewon Restaurant Reviews

300 Degree

written by fatgirlkr

The Itaewon area has no shortage of places selling pizza, however that doesn’t mean that a new one isn’t a welcome addition. 300 Degree has recently moved from its home in Kyodae to a new location in Itaewon opposite the Foreign Food market. Now a new pizza place wouldn’t really count as news, if not for the fact they serve it up Italian style in 1 meter pizzas. That’s right, 1 meter of pizza, it was music to my ears. Now I have to confess that I have known about this pizza phenomenon for some time now, but sheer laziness prevented me from trudging across town to try it, but when I heard they had moved to my hood, it moved straight to the top of my foodie list.

The new place is on the second floor of the same building as Sin Bin. They were newly opened when I paid a visit, so still finishing the decor. Local artist Aaron Cossrow is designing a mural to fill one of the walls, and I have no doubt it will look incredible when it is done. Now I realise that not everyone is like me, and that when they hear that a restaurant offers a meter of pizza they immediately want to find out if they can devour it in one sitting but that is just how I roll. As you probably know, I have taken part in quite a few eating challenges and competitions over the year and the owner at 300 Degree actually reached out to me about doing a video on the 1 meter pizza.. So I packed up my camera and decided to head over and take on the 1 meter pizza challenge. The restaurant doesn’t actually offer this as a challenge, there is nothing to gain from actually eating the whole pizza yourself other than a sense of pride, but that was more than enough for me.

The pizzas come in two sizes, 50cm (which start at 20,000), and 1 meter (which starts at 44,000). My one meter pizza had three toppings the Bufala which is tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala, tomato, and basil. The Norcina which is cream sauce, mozzarella, truffle sauce, walnuts, porcini mushroom. And lastly the Siciliana, which is aubergine, black olive, mozzarella, and fresh feta. Both the Bufala and Norcina count as speciality toppings making my pizza 54,000. When I saw the pizza in front of me I was kind of shocked at how big it was, it is basically like three pizzas stuck together. Which each section containing eight slices, it made twenty four in all, and I seriously started to doubt if I would be able to finish it.

Although this was a challenge, there was no time factor so I got to enjoy the pizza in my own time. If asked to choose between American and Italian pizza, I will choose Italian pizza every time. I’m a thin crust girl and this crust was light and chewy. My hands down favourite of the three flavours I tried was the Norcina. I always adore a truffles and mushrooms combo, and even more so when cheese is involved. I think I would have been very happy to have a whole pizza made out of this it was so good. I love a cream sauce pizza so it went down easy, they were eight very easy slices to manage.

While I couldn’t get enough of the cream sauce topping, it in no way diminishes the deliciousness of the tomato sauce pizzas. The Buffala was the perfect marriage of mozzarella, tomato and basil, and everything a good pizza should be. While the Siciliana offered a differing mix of flavours again. I loved having the variety of the different slices, and it definitely made it a lot easier to tackle. However by about halfway I was absolutely stuffed to the gills, and in serious doubt as to whether I could finish it. Thankfully my competitive and greedy nature prevailed and I finished the whole thing in just over 28 minutes.

Overall I really enjoyed the pizza (the first half anyhow) and honestly thought the price of the pizza to be very reasonable. In the luxury pizza market, and lets face it anyone charging over 30,000 for a large is in the high end bracket. 44,000 for the standard is not bad at all. 3-4 people could very comfortably eat this, and be satisfied, plus the fact that you get to eat three different toppings makes it ideal to share. If you are sharing between two people, I think you would be best to go for the 50cm pizza, or expect to take a hell of a lot home. If you like Italian style pizza this place is not to be missed.

300 Degree is located at 132-4 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Itaewon Station (line 6) and come out of exit 3. Walk straight until you reach the intersection and turn right. Walk straight along this road slightly uphill. You will see 300 Degree just ahead on the right hand side on the floor below Sin Bin, across from the foreign food mart. For more information you can call them on 02-792-9344 or check out their facebook page. The pizza is also available for delivery via Shuttle. If you have yet to use the service, you can get free delivery on your first order by clicking here.

November 17, 2017 0 comment