Hey Hive!
Sorry for the hiatus again but I was having a lot of technical issues but we're back and continuing with this trip to Seoul back in Nov 2022!
Last time, we visited the Love Museum in Hongdae and it was.. quite the experience I would say. The whole museum is just full of R-rated photospots and art work and a common theme was making famous paintings and characters R-rated in some way.
But there was some history on Korean Erotic Paintings as well. I'm not sure how accurate they are but it's something I suppose.
The whole museum was quite the experience and thankfully there weren't other people around at the time so we could take photos without photobombers.
11 Nov 2022. Friday.
After we were done with the Love Museum, we went back out into the streets of Hongdae!
Hongdae is known as the art district of Seoul and is a popular place for lots of young people to gather since it's near Hongik University for which it is named.
The area has lots of local shops, clubs, cafés and entertainment like photo studios! Although I wouldn't say it's unique to Hongdae since Seoul has plenty of these self photo studios around, Hongdae probably has the highest number that we've seen.
Some of these self photo studios come equipped with makeup and hair stations with straighteners, curlers, hair dryers and the like.
They also tend to have a wall of props you can use while taking photos like goofy hats and glasses. Once you're ready you can go in and take your photos in a photobooth!
Everything is self-service so there's no staff inside these photo studios but there are cameras inside. Some of the photobooths even have a clicker where you take your photos yourself.
I think the main difference between all the photo studios is the design of the photos and what they provide in the makeup station. But since we don't use those I can't comment much.
We went back out into the street wandering around before it was time for dinner and somehow made our way back to the main area of Hongdae which is this red road.
There was an arcade pretty close by so we went in to take a look at what machines they had.
Sean's really into DDR but as expected they only had the Korean version of dance games which is Pump it Up.
We somehow ended up a little off from the main street and found a Korean celebrity BBQ restaurant!
Sean's a really big fan of the Korean variety show, Running Man and has been watching the show for years. Two of the cast members are named Kim Jung Kook and HaHa and it turns out they have a KBBQ restaurant together! Since we were here we had to give it a try.
It was still pretty early in the evening for dinner but we needed a break from walking and we were already here so might as well. The interior of the restaurant is pretty rustic with stainless steel or wood tables and the exhaust pipes hanging overhead to catch the smoke from the BBQ grills on the tables.
We were seated towards the back of the restaurant just under one of their posters which I thought was pretty perfect.
The kitchen was on the right side of the restaurant not too far from where we were.
The menu is pretty simple but has a variety of pork options from pork belly ot shoulder and cheek meat. The prices were pretty steep but I guess it's because this is a celebrity restaurant. This was our first time eating KBBQ here as well so we didn't really have a benchmark.
I think we ordered the set which came with a few different cuts of pork but just like any Korean restaurant we were served plenty of side dishes while our meat was cooking.
The service was pretty good though, since the wait staff would come and cook the meat for you.
Once the meat was cooked they would also cut it up into small bite-sized pieces.
It smelled so good and the pork was grilled to perfection. It had a nice crisp layer but the meat itself was tender and juicy.
I think the proper way to eat KBBQ is to wrap the meat up in lettuce and other sides before dipping it in a sauce and munching the whole thing in one mouth.
So that's what we tried and it was delicious! The lettuce is a nice contrast to the meat and makes it a little light compared to the savouriness of the pork.
After we had finished our set of meat Sean said it wasn't enough so we ordered an extra portion of pork belly.
After it was grilled it looked just like the ones you'd find in Roast Pork Rice at home.
But this one had a different kind of crisp compared to the Cantonese roast pork we like. Both are delicious in different ways!
I was very full after that satisfying meal, and we smelled like delicious BBQ but it was worth it.
The lights had come on after we had finished eating. This was normally the time when people would be having dinner so at least we beat the crowds.
We went back to the main street and everything looked different now that it was bright.
All the shops had colourful lights and music blaring out from within. The clubs were starting to open up and all.
We didn't really have much of a plan but wanted to walk off that very satisfying meal.
We also saw an adorable doggo on the way!
We walked down this street market with lots of stalls selling all kinds of stuff from souvenirs to apparel and accessories.
There seemed to be more of a crowd now than earlier in the afternoon.
We came across this sitting area with cute characters where there was a couple making out quite openly.
Turns out this is a movie screening area but it had glass doors that people could peer into like us so I'm not sure how this works. Maybe a screen would be covering the windows if there was a movie playing?
After we walked for a while Sean wanted to get a drink so we decided to try this boba/bubble tea shop called Heuk Hwa Dang.
Inside looked pretty fancy with the marble-like counter and tables.
We decided to try one of their seasonal summer drinks even though it was technically autumn at the time. Since it was cold out I was kinda looking forward to a warm drink but all their seasonal drinks were iced, unfortunately.
I can't really remember what drink it was exactly but it had passion fruit on the bottom. It would be pretty good on a hot day so I can see why it was a summer drink.
After we were done we walked back towards where we first came into Hongdae and came across this mural of Bob Ross!
I realised this walkway's walls were filled with different murals too! Since the Mural Street we wanted to visit was closed off we were relieved to find some murals here.
We passed by the first street we came across when we came into Hongdae and went towards the train station.
We took the train back to Myeongdong where we were staying and explored the underground mall for a bit.
There were some stalls selling cute knickknacks and lots of KPOP items but mostly clothes and other apparel.
We went to back to the Myeongdong night market where we came across this little shop called the BoiBoy Shop so we had to get a pic.
At the night market, we decided to try a croissant taiyaki which I was curious about. I thought it was alright, but I definitely prefer the croissant waffle better.
Myeongdong has a huge HBAF store which is Korea's biggest nut brand and they specialise in honey butter almonds.
They have all sorts of different flavours for their almonds and it's a really popular snack for tourists to buy and bring back home.
The store itself was pretty impressive and we were spoilt for choice on what flavours to get but they had a storewide promotion of 5 packs for 20,000 KRW which is a pretty good deal.
On the way back to the hotel, Sean wanted to get a snack so we stopped by Ssada Gimbap just round the corner from our hotel.
I guess this is a Gimbap chain in Seoul and the shop itself is surprisingly big.
Their menu features several types of gimbap with various fillings but also noodle dishes, rice dishes and snacks like tteokbokki, cutlets of dumplings.
The counter actually reminded me of Subway and I guess Gimbap is basically like a Korean version of Subway sandwich since it's carbs and vegetables and meat.
We ordered and watched the lady expertly prepare our gimbap, rolling the thick roll and slicing it very neatly.
We brought it back to the hotel to eat and it was really good and made for a nice snack.
We washed down the gimbap with this sparkling green apple juice which was nice and refreshing. It would be better with ice cubes but this was very pleasant and not too sweet.
But that's all for today! Sorry again for the hiatus but we should be back to regular posting from now.
Thanks so much for reading and tune in for more adventures next week!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #241 (Seoul): Getting Spicy in Love Museum? 😍