In and around Sinchon

I like Sinchon on Sunday mornings. Empty, peaceful, quiet.
I must be getting old.

Libraries are fun

What's better than quality time spent in the library? A pretty library! Namely, Yonsei's grand spanking new beauty. It was my second time in the extension building, but my first time actually being productive in it. ^^

Plasma touch screens, seat reservation systems, movie rentals (with a multimedia center to watch them in), language lab booths, beautiful shiny new computers, ample hang out space, and study areas very reminiscent of an Apple Store (it must have been the white pod-like desks)... With this type of atmosphere - wide, open, modern, dust-free, and super duper conducive to studying - you could practically live here (says the inner nerd in me)! It certainly brought me back to college days.

Here are a few photos taken from the 7th floor roof deck -

Severance Hospital and Namsan in the background.



The northeast-ish side of Yonsei's campus.



The law school's future mock court building.



Sinchon and the 63 Building in the distance.



The (slow) glass lifts.



I heart you, Yonsei Samsung Library.

You ate WHERE?

I don't normally find myself at casual dining chains very often in the US - well, The Cheesecake Factory and CPK are rare exceptions, and local chains don't count (i.e. I love you, Boloco). However, familiarity often brings comfort, especially when you're thousands of miles away from a decent bowl of garlic smashed potatoes. Sometimes, it's just not a jjiggae type of day, if you know what I mean.

That feeling led me straight into the doors of Hooters. Well, that, and it was strategically located while I was starving and it started to pour (장마 is an entirely different conversation for another time.)



I've visited Hooters on one other occasion (in Honolulu) and I have to say, based on my slightly grayed recollection, although I knew short shorts were part of the deal, the waitresses in Gangnam (강남) might have as well been wearing a one piece swimsuit. As my Korean friend looked about the restaurant, I couldn't help but laugh at his innocent remarks...

"So, is a hooter a type of owl?"

"Then what does hoot mean?"

"I feel burdened."



Right. The food.

Fish and chips! I'm pretty sure this isn't worth a twenty... but it wasn't bad. (This isn't a London pub; what can you expect?) The fish was surprisingly tender, the batter nicely fried and softly salted. I just wish they didn't serve it with curly fries.



Moving on to my next confession...



On a whim, a friend and I decided to check out On the Border in Sinchon (신촌).

While the dinner prices are comparatively ridiculous, a lunch set starts off at just $10, where you can choose a side (salad/rice/soup) and a dish (i.e. enchilada, taco, burrito), as well as add on some other items like a non-alcoholic margarita for a few extra dollars.



It's nothing to write home about, but if you're craving colorful sit down "Mexican," you know where to go!



Hooters: 02-3448-1231~2
http://www.hooterskorea.co.kr/
If you take Exit 2 from Gangnam Station and keep walking straight for a few minutes, it'll be on the right side of the street, on the 2nd floor. There's another location in Apgujeong.

On the Border: 02-324-0682
http://www.ontheborder.co.kr/
Take Exit 3 or 4 at Sinchon Station. From McDonald's, keep walking straight (towards Burger King) until you see a Coffee Bean on your left. The restaurant is on the 2nd floor. There's another location in the COEX Mall.

Pasta 12: Spaghetti on a $6 budget

Pasta 12 has unknowingly become a default for satisfying impulse pasta cravings on a budget in Sinchon (신촌). I've visited the quaintly-decorated basement restaurant a handful of times, mostly for lunch, where you can order any dish on the menu for less than 6500 won. They'll even throw in a small salad, a beverage (cola/cider/hot coffee), and of course, sweet pickles (to cut the grease, according to Koreans.) Not a bad deal.



The menu is oddly separated into "pasta" and "spaghetti" (hmm, I thought spaghetti was pasta?) and then conveniently divided by sauce type: tomato, tomato-cream, cream, Shanghai (insert question mark here), soy cream, olive oil, and demi-glace. (Where's the pesto?)



But the real prize winner here is the soy cream mushroom spaghetti. Yes, I said soy milk - all the richness with a subtle nuttiness and half the fat (maybe), helping us all keep (or aspire to) the all important "S line" trend!



Pasta 12 is located next door to Doughnut Plant in Sinchon (Exit 3).
02-393-7465

Fishies and hofs

The lovely Malesa & Tim are in town.



Wanting to show them a "typical" hof experience (after a proper dak kalbi introduction), we stopped by a place that was a little too nice to convey the normal hof-like atmosphere - i.e. it was very clean, relatively quiet, well air-conditioned, and they were constantly giving us free food, haha. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the place, but it's in the same building as Sweets Cafe and the mini video game arcade in Sinchon. (I wouldn't mind checking it out again, thanks to Anna for the rec. ^^)



Completely stuffed, we forged on - troopers that we are - to a random wooden hof nearby. Aha! Watered down beer pitchers, lingering cigarette smells, stale cereal, and yummy kimchee pajun - we found what we were looking for! ; )



And some other adventures told in pictures...
*Edit: I just realized I obviously can't spell "building" as you might notice in the collages below, but I'm too lazy to do anything about it so let's just move on. : )













More on the 63 Building (육삼빌딩) at http://www.63.co.kr/home/63CITY/main.jsp

WormaWorma... I mean, WaraWara

After eating various versions of my homemade juk (and packaged oatmeal) for what seemed like an eternity...



...I finally took a shot at having "real food" in light doses this weekend.

WaraWara semi-recently opened a branch in Sinchon which Jihee and I checked out last night. Located on the 4th and 5th floors (in the same building as Nolita and across the street from Baskin-Robbins), the view's not so bad...



On a Saturday night in Sinchon, you can expect most decent places to be pretty crowded, so while waiting nearly 20 min for a table, the WaraWara staff kindly gave us some goguma (sweet potato) sticks to munch on.

We opted to start with the "popular" honey mustard chicken salad...



Unfortunately I can't tell you how it tastes, as Jihee soon found a little worm hanging out with the lettuce. Our waitress was a little too nonchalant about the discovery which led to a sneaking suspicion that she might just throw out the bug, and give us the same salad...

So we decided to order something cooked instead - teriyaki chicken - which was comped.



I asked Jihee what she thought, and her immediate response was, "Well...it's a good thing it's free."

I liken WaraWara's teriyaki chicken to stereotypical bad Chinese takeout, meaning it tastes better when eaten cooled down or refrigerated.

The worm had made quite an impression on us and we couldn't really get over him...



So our meal was a bit short lived.

Fortunately, it wasn't all bad. The pineapple-ju was a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for things served in fruit, I guess.



WaraWara gets a solid "mediocre" since I'm feeling generous, but I'm sure it's a fun place to go in a group.

PS. I realize I haven't made a label for Sinchon (the place I probably frequent most often by default) until now. Whoops, slipped the radar!