Many have been complaining that Dongdaemun is slowly turning into an expensive shopping place and have turned to smaller and less corporate-like university towns to get items that fit their budget.

We went to Bonjuk for lunch.



Then visited the flea market located in the open space opposite Bonjuk (every Saturday, from March till November). Got a weird-looking duck from the cotton candy store as my brother wanted something unique.



What you should know is, there are two different sections of Ewha Women's University Fashion Street: the main shopping street with retail chainstores and the more competitive/cheaper area called the Casual Clothes and Shoes Shopping Street. You'll know when you see the casual shopping street as it is similar to Taiwan's Wufenpu (五分埔).

Dropped by a chicken place as we were hungry by 3-4pm. It was spontaneous and unplanned for, and it was quiet at that hour. Turned out that the place that we happened to stumble upon by accident was Yeolbong Jjimdak 열봉찜닭, owned by Korean pop idol Se7en.

Obviously, my sister freaked out over the Big Bang posters.



They didn't have an English menu but ordering was simple as the waiter was kind enough to explain (portion wanted, level of spiciness, type of chicken, etc.) because I freaked out over the Korean menu and took quite some time trying to figure out Hangul.





We ordered a medium sized one but didn't actually expect it to be huge, as it was obvious that the portion was meant for 4 adults (or at least 2 very hungry ones). Managed to finish it anyways, the chicken was juicy and marinated with a sweet/salty combination that goes well with the glass noodles. The jjimdak we ordered costs ₩33,000 with tteokbokki.
The store is not located on the ground floor*


Yeolbong Jjimdak 열봉찜닭
27-4 Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
서대문구 대현동 27-4 2층





Needless to say, we continued shopping after that.
Got a few pieces of clothing and socks, headed towards the Women's University.



Artsy-wannabe.



The aesthetics of one of the campus buildings made it a landmark/photospot for tourists and locals alike.

We also caught some actors filming a tv drama (I assume) in the building so there were people crowding around and trying to guess said kdrama.





More posts on my trip below!

After a long break, here I am again (went on another trip that I will update soon. Yes, SOON). So here's a mini post to start with.

Long story short, we were surprised that the Bonjuk in Ewha wasn't as crowded as the other ones that were being reviewed by travellers all over. In fact, the Ewha branch is quite small and cozy.



Sweet Pumpkin Porridge (₩8,000) was my first pick as I had a pumpkin porridge craving. Pumpkin porridge outside of South Korea just wouldn't fit my bill.

This was my first time having porridge of such a smooth texture as the few pumpkin porridge I had the last time I was in Korea was a bit more grainy and with a rougher texture.

It is unlike a thick paste but tasty nevertheless. However, I had a little difficulty finishing half of it so it gets a little nauseous after a while. Fair warning though, if you don't really fancy sweet porridge then it's not for you. Some people love it, some people hate it.

I did spot other patrons from Bonjuk finishing a whole bowl of red bean porridge. Maybe it's just not my thing.



Next up is their Abalone Porridge (₩10,000). They also offer special abalone porridge with 2x (₩15,000) or 3x (₩20,000) the amount of abalone in it.

I felt that the rice was a little chewy for my taste but overall it's quite decent.



Also, the portion of the porridge is worth the money as we were sharing two sets between three adults and one child.

Not your type of porridge? Bonjuk offers other types of porridge such as ones with crabmeat and some others are filled with seaweed. There's also a vegetarian porridge available!
(Thanks to English descriptions on the menu! Else it would have taken forever to order)

The owners were quite courteous and polite and there's also free wifi there if you are desperately finding somewhere to upload your photos on Instagram or Facebook (or any other social platforms).


Bonjuk (Ewha) 본죽이대점
40-17 Sinchon-ro, Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea (dragged the address from Google maps)
Nearest subway station: Ewha Women's University (Line 2) - Exit 2
*Take two lefts upon exiting the station from Exit 2. Bonjuk is on the left.
(refer to the embedded map below or copy and paste the shop's Korean name into Google Maps. It should be quite easy to find).






Will share the itinerary which will link the posts in a cohesive way but in the meantime, check out the other posts from my Korea trip below!

Left for Anguk station after a quick and simple lunch near our Airbnb place. It was our first stop and everything just seems so new, so foreign. I've been to Korea once about 4 years back but we were on a group tour and it was winter (we basically went there for a skiing trip).


INSA-DONG (Exit 6)

The streets of Insadong are full of souvenirs and food. We were surprised when we saw a lot of Koreans wearing the traditional hanbok and we thought that there was an event of some kind but it turned out that the national costume of Korea is popular in Insadong.



We also found some Dragon's Beard candy selling for ₩15,000 per box. The street vendor was super friendly and started speaking in Malay when we told him that we were from Malaysia. He could speak Chinese quite OK too. Hmm.


SSAMZIEGIL SHOPPING CENTRE







This open-air "shopping centre" is exceptionally beautiful under the evening sun. It is environmental-friendly as there's no central air-conditioning (duh!) and elevators are practically non-existent. It might be troublesome for wheelchairs and people who find climbing stairs a tedious task.



There's a spot for lovers on the top level of Ssamziegil shopping centre where couples could purchase badges to leave messages on. I guess that it is the Korean version of a love lock (much lighter too!).





We also found something interesting.. poop-shaped pancakes (I guess it's technically called a pancake but it's more like the Malaysian apom balik).
Available fillings: Chocolate/Red bean, ₩1,500/piece
The poop-ier, the better, huh.
On a related note, there's also a poop cafe on the top floor of Ssamziegil Shopping Centre.

We also visited the Miss Lee Cafe in the area. We were quite tired by then and decided to just spend our time around the area instead of going to Dongdaemun as planned.


BUKCHON (Exit 3)

And so we walked around and followed the crowd. We've already been to Gyeongbokgung Palace during our previous trip and decided to skip the Bukchon Hanok Village as the exterior of our Airbnb place in Gongdeok is quite similar.

Saw people shooting a commercial (I suppose), with lots of people along the pavement. It was quite congested due to crowd control but doubt that the male actor was uber-famous but it was my first time seeing someone film a commercial up close. Heh.





Saw this on my Facebook feed not too long ago and wondered if this was it. My brother got excited over the colourful popcorn but I guess he didn't realise that these were the infamous nitrogen popcorn (₩3,000/cup).

What's so special about them, you ask?





You get to blow cold air out of your mouths and noses! -evil grin-
Ever dreamt of becoming a dragon in the hot summer? It wasn't really that hot then but you get the idea.

Shopped for some clothes and headed back for some cup noodles. Maybe I should compile a list of the instant noodles I've had. Mhm.

Visited Miss Lee Cafe at Insa-dong during my trip to South Korea last week.
Miss Lee Cafe has a few outlets all over Seoul but we decided to drop by their Insa-dong outlet during our first day there.



We decided to have a quick and light dinner there as we had our lunch around 3pm (we collapsed at the airbnb for almost an hour after our flight to Incheon).



Miss Lee Cafe is famous for their dosirak 도시락,which is the Korean lunchbox. The waitress there did not know much English so we pointed out the items that we wanted from the menu and hoped for the best (there are simple English descriptions and pictures for some of the items in the menu and they helped a lot).

Despite being at the quieter side of Holland Village, Sunday Folks is one of the popular dessert places there. I've heard a lot of good reviews from my friends and never been there even though it was nearer to my place than my school is.
We actually went there on an impromptu trip from school but we didn't realise that they were closed on Mondays so we had to get something else instead (that was when Plain Vanilla was still open in the vicinity).

After several misses (there are always the jio-but-in-the-end-cannot-make-it ones), I was really excited to try the place out.



As she was "only there to accompany me and pick up the leftovers", we just ordered one of their famous soft serve waffles and a cup of chamomile tea for myself.



Chamomile tea (S$5.90) comes with a decent tea bag and a oh-so-mini piece of biscuit. The biscuit was alright but super small (note: cute).
Tea was fragrant but my friend has a thing against fragrant tea (but why).



Waffle with Earl Grey Lavender soft serve (S$9.90). I love the combination of the lavender and the earl grey. They work so well together and the neither of them overpowered the other.
Buttermilk waffles were not as heavenly as the ones from Montana but they were slightly above average.
You could add on additional toppings for your waffles too. There's also a choice of a single or a double waffle. We decided on the single as I was the only one with a sweet tooth between the two of us. It's a tad small but enough for the two of us.

P.S. chocolate stroopwafel!

Would like to try other soft serve flavours as well as their cakes on my next trip. Anyone?



Food: 7.5/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Price: 7.5/10
Service: 8/10
Overall: 7.8/10
(based on current visit)
Website: Sunday Folks 
FB Page: Sunday Folks FB