Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Wednesday 28 May. Following the trend of more recent Korea trips, there is no particular theme this year. I simply want to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and experience a few new destinations. Plus, I had to deliver the first of my waistcoat commissions to the friends who had requested them: a very pleasant task.
For the first time in a while I didn’t fly Asiana, opting for Lufthansa instead. The stopover at Frankfurt was brief – only just enough time to walk the seemingly endless trail between the short-haul and long-haul terminals, so not much time was wasted. The airline’s seating was not quite as comfortable as Asiana, but the flight was considerably cheaper and perfectly adequate – and the red Bordeaux was very good too. In terms of punctuality, we landed within 3 minutes of the scheduled time – not bad for an 11 hour flight.
At Incheon, there were many more non-Koreans queuing up in immigration than I remember from previous years – a sign of Korea’s growing popularity as a tourist destination. But the lines moved pretty quickly and I was soon picking up my luggage, which was already waiting on the carousel. A word of warning to those tempted to buy more duty free than is permitted: on this occasion the customs officials were scanning the hand luggage of everyone going through the “nothing to declare” lane. Thankfully, although my last-minute gift-shopping at the airport had included some traditional English gin for my hosts, I was under the limit.
Another first: ordering an eSIM for my phone rather than renting a physical SIM. Picking up the eSIM at the KT roaming desk was a breeze, setting it up less so, but the staff at the counter were very helpful: the my phone was soon in full working order with a local number.1 Ten minutes later I was on the K-Limo bus to Gwanghwamun. I had mentally pencilled in a 1pm arrival time at my hotel (a stone’s throw from the Press Center bus stop), and things were turning out so well that I was accurate to within a couple of minutes. Since my earlier days of travel to Korea I’ve started being more frugal, realizing that there’s no point in overspending on a hotel when you only use it for sleeping and washing. And over the years more budget-friendly hotels have been opening up in the central area of Seoul – or more have becoming bookable via foreign travel apps. This time I’m staying at what is to me a new place conveniently located between the Gwanghwamun Press Center and the Seoul Financial Centre. I’ve opted for the cheapest room (it has no windows) but it’s perfectly fine.
After a quick shower and change of clothes, my next task was to book the restaurant for dinner, where I was going to meet Brother Anthony and Robert Fouser. My Korean booking app had been unable to secure a reservation from London, so I decided to wander over to the restaurant to make the reservation in person, in so doing making sure I know how to find the place later on. Ikseondong, a low-rise neighbourhood north of Tapgol Park and between Insadong and the Jongmyo Shrine, used to be rather run-down, and mainly residential. But over the past 10 years it has become a haven for Instagrammers: quaint alleyways lined with small restaurants, tea houses and elegant take-aways. One such bakery (Jayeondo Salt Bread – 자연도 소금빵) clearly had a large following on social media, as evidenced by the large queue outside waiting for the next batch of buns to come out of the ovens, while in a tea-room garden across the alleyway (Bbat) a three-legged stool stood among some pretty flowering grasses, waiting for the next selfie to be taken. I couldn’t bring myself to join in the fun, but here’s a pretty shot from their Insta feed (without the stool):
The restaurant was booked without mishap (they are clearly used to non-Korean-speaking clientele), after which I made my way to my favourite coffee shop (the Terarosa Coffee opposite the Comfort Woman statue in the Gwanghwamun area). It has had a remodel since I visited it a year ago: more seating and less kitchen area. But the coffee is just as good. Next, there’s time for a quick browse in Seoul Selection, where I fall prey to the usual impulse to acquire books that I think I should read and which are hard to get in England. This time, Jang Young-jin’s A Mark of Red Honor, Kwon Yeo-sun’s Spring Night (the movie adaptation of which had just screened in London) and a bargain-priced copy of Martina Deuchler’s The Confucian Transformation of Korea. Annoyingly, I later discover that I already have a copy of the Deuchler at home – the first time that I have made such a duplication error.
Back to the hotel to catch up on some admin and then it’s time to head back to Ikseondong for dinner. The venue, Ikseon Banju, had been a recommendation of Julia Mellor of The Sool Company. And a superb recommendation it was. Googling the place as I write this, I see it has had a lot of foodie reviews and mentions on the various social media platforms, but despite the online buzz its clientele didn’t seem to be overly image-conscious – in fact, the only people I saw taking any photos of the food that evening were us. Here’s a good review of the place. For me, the charcoal beef tartare (which came with crispy seaweed snacks) and the perilla leaf cream gnocchi were the standout dishes, but the octopus carpaccio and potatoes bulgogi jeon were also good. To accompany, a glass of cheongju each and then a bottle or two of craft makgeolli for the table went down very well. And the bill was surprisingly reasonable (though this is not a bargain-basement eatery, since each dish costs in the region of 20 – 25,000 Won).
I sometimes hear people criticise the higher-end Korean restaurants we have in London (such as Jang and Sollip) for “not being very Korean”. I never know what they mean by this. Yes, they are not the sort of place where you get a really strong-smelling doenjang jjigae, and the makgeolli is not served out of a much-dented metal teapot. But food, like language and fashion, thrives on new influences and can still remain true to its past while embracing new ideas and keeping up with the times. Based on our experience that evening Ikseon Banju is a restaurant well-deserving of its recommendations. It’s the sort of place where I want to eat and drink my way through the whole menu, and I’ll want to return another time to try their new dishes.
Whenever I’m in Seoul there are always more people to see than there are days available to see them, if I want to meet people one-on-one. So I always try to arrange at least one evening where I book a large table and invite a multitude of people, and hope that I get to see a number of my friends at the same time – and maybe create new friendships into the bargain. My problem is always that I don’t know the eating and drinking scene: my favourite place from last year might have closed, and there are likely to be several new casual places opened up that I haven’t heard of; and (as I discovered when trying to book Ikseon Banju from London) the Korean restaurant booking apps sometimes don’t seem to accept reservations from foreigners. So, having advertised to my friends at large an “open house” session for tomorrow evening, I needed urgently to identify and book a place. Fortunately, my companions this evening have a suggestion, and we now head off across town to Seochon by Kakao taxi in search of 2cha and a potential place for tomorrow.
The chosen venue is Seochon Garak (서촌가락), a more “traditional” place. No fancy-pants fusion cuisine here: just traditional side dishes such as pajeon and bindaetteok. We tuck into another bottle of makgeolli, this one a Busan brew called Geumjeongsanseong – 금정산성 – which was apparently Park Chung-hee’s favourite brand. Brother Anthony recounts a story that during the rice shortages in the 60s and 70s Park Chung-hee issued an edict that the precious grains should not be wasted on making makgeolli, thus effectively killing off all commercial brewing. But he made an exception for Geumjeongsanseong, turning a blind eye to its bootleg brewing activities. Thus the brewery can claim a longer continuous brewing history than most. Whatever its pedigree, the bottle rounded off the evening nicely.
We make a reservation for the following evening and contentedly head off back to our respective homes.
Links:
- Singapore Airlines in-flight magazine visits the Geumjeongsanseong brewery, February 2020
- Ikseon Banju official Instagram account | location Insta feed
- Seochon Garak Instagram account
- I would later encounter all sorts of problems with sending emails and using the various messaging apps when using my eSIM, many of which might have been caused by a poorly configured VPN app. I deleted the app after a couple of days and things seemed to work relatively problem-free after that. [↩]