Here is a guest post from Cindy Ung who is covering food and beauty in seoul at  http://www.cunggie.com/ Finding good cupcakes in Seoul is almost impossible. Sometimes the cake is too dry, sometimes the frosting is not sweet enough, sometimes it’s not even real frosting, but just a whipped cream that’s bland in taste! The best part is being able to find that one spot that “hits the spot” and sharing it with the rest of the expat community here in Korea. Sugar Daddy At the very top of the list is Sugar Daddy, a small shop in Itaewon where the baker is in the store baking and decorating as she sells cupcakes from the same table finally opened a café by the McDonald’s. This extremely small and cozy spot is filled with all things delicious which are not only cupcakes! Sugar Daddy offers cupcake sized pies, mini cheesecakes, fudge bars, cookies, and cupcakes of traditional flavors as well as all things crazy. Many of the ingredients used in the recipes are ordered from foreign markets a...

Bakery Napoleon has a long history of making fine breads in Korea. Although many of the breads cater to the Korean palate (such as green tea, rice cake, cheese, bread) they have world class skills for desserts and their croissants. I have to say that their croissants are the closest you'll get to a partisan croissant in Korea. I love a good croissant in the morning with coffee and I am disappointed with many of the franchise croissants that have a sugary glaze on a burnt top (yes, Paris Croissant and Paris Baguette that dig was made at you.) They have a coup of misses in my book such as their famous red bean paste bread that the chocolate bread which just like a hotdog bun they put red bean or chocolate pudding in. But apparently, people flock here for those stuffed breads so my opinion must not count. Their coffee is not very good either and I decided not to get brunch or pasta or salad at a bakery. With that said, their croissants, cakes and tarts are worth the journey and that ...

it tastes pretty good with the mango juice and tapioca balls. Yum. You can find them at mango six. Locations all over korea.

I heard that Dal.Komm Coffee was supposed to be the cafe of the future. I heard they had iPads for you to check out free of charge with your coffee, fast wifi, great music and sound. It is supposed to be the cool new place to be. However, it is just a lousy cafe hiding behind a facade of a great idea. The concept is quite confusing and the vacuous space in Hongdae is so noisy that the tunes you are supposed to be able to hear are muffled over. Also the levels of the sound from song to song are different so they must be using mp3's rather than high quality CDs or even high quality downloads. Oh, and the coffee? Blah. You can choose three levels of coffee K1: mild, K2: Rich, K3: Deep. Yeah, the gimmick was too much of a gimmick. The mild tasted like water and it wasn't "well balanced and sweet nutty" as promised. I got the coffee cube: coffee ice cubes in a latte drink. A tad too sweet and the ice doesn't melt fast enough to be enjoyed properly (they should have ma...

I am at Gong Cha at Young Plaza. They specialize in bubble tea and they are really popular in Singapore and Malaysia. They are sorta like the Starbucks of Bubble Tea. So if you like chewy teas made your way then this is the place to go. You get to pick out your type of tea, your ice level, type of filling, and sweetness level. It sounds complicated but it isn't so bad. I got the black milk tea with half ice and 50% sweetness level. It came out in a nifty cup that was sealed on top. When you drink it the cup collapses a bit and then refills after. The tea tasted good but I felt a bit jittery from the tea. I find I get this when tea is made too strong or of ...not the highest quality. It was refreshing though and I think I will do it again (with another tea) in the future. Gong Cha ** (2 stars. Clean, efficient and customizable milk tea) Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 14 Namdaemunno 2(i)-ga http://m.google.com/u/m/wJQ97u

http://m.google.com/u/m/wH0vIS It is my birthday today so I decided to treat myself so I got a banana cream pie over at Lazy Sue's. The advert for it looked good. In theory it looked good so I got a slice for 5,500 won. I think I got about 3,000 won worth of pleasure out of it. The pie crust was dry and more like uncooked filo dough than pie crust. The chocolate was non-existent and the banana layer was too thin to actually call this a banana pie. It should have been called a "whipped cream pie with banana accents." The saving grace of this was the custard. It was thick and nicely flavored with vanilla. Oh, my double espresso tasted a bit off. I think they need to get better beans. Next time I will make my own pie Lazy Sue * (2 star) average 02-790-1912 Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 671 Itaewon 2(i)-dong

Just a short post, but wow, the cappuccino I got at De Espresso Room in Haebangchon was amazing. The shot was poured just right and the foam was sweet whipped microfoam that can only be made with care and precision. Wow.

Over by Daeheung station exit 2 I found a cute little cafe serving good Dutch coffees, hand drips and pretty awesome pancakes. This place is the regular hangout of my friend Perry and I can see why. The baristas carefully coax the flavor our of their craft beans and they have a great selection of pancakes. The blueberry lassi pancake was sizable and had a light yogurt lassi topping and plenty of blueberries. For only 8500 won it is reasonably priced and tasty. Caffè Centro 마포구 신수동 22-9 Mapo-gu Sinsu-dong 22-0 02-711-6066

I am out with my mother in Seoul so we did some lunch and I did some shopping and now we are relaxing at Beans Bins Coffee having an ice cream waffle. What you get is two scoops of ice cream (my mother ordered vanilla and strawberry). The ice cream comes on a big waffle topped with banana, whipped cream, grapes and powdered sugar- oh and chocolate syrup, I just found out it was the first time she ever had this and she says it is, "cool and delicious." She asked if it was bread and I told her it was like a pancake or fish bread (뽕어빵). She likes it very much. For me it is nothing special, but I have had this before at different places. I think the waffle is too light and there is too much whipped cream. The ice cream is good and the bananas are ripe. For 13,500, it is a bit expensive and my mother scolded me about this. But then again, we are here for the experience. To spend the afternoon with my mother is worth more than all the money in the world. Beans Bins Coffee Jung-Gi ...

I know that is hard to survive as a restaurant. Especially if you are in an area that might not get too much foot traffic. Most businesses think the menu is the blame and they start to add and add and add stuff. I think that is what happened at Hu's Table. Billed as an Italian Table, they have Italian food, coffee, sandwiches, wines beer and Patbingsu. A whole lot of stuff. Which is not bad if you can do them all well. I go there for coffee once in a while and recently I tried their strawberry Patbingsu. I was imagining shaved ice with fresh strawberries but what I got was ice with frozen strawberries topped with strawberry ice cream. Fresh would have been better but frozen was pretty awful. The atmosphere is cool. They have drawings all over the walls and an array of colored pencils. It is a cool place to relax and have coffee or wine. Service could be better but it is run by one person. Anyway. Cool cafe but the Patbingsu could be improved. Hu's Table Jongno-Gi Gahwae-dong 7...

Starbucks has introduced a new lighter roasted coffee called Blonde Willow Blend. This coffee is supposed to be lighter and more floral than the dark (some say overly roasted) brew they are famous for. Contrary to popular belief, lighter roasts do not mean that it will have less caffeine. Some even suggest it would have more. Out of the bag, the beans look more brown than black and it has a slightly chocolate aroma. Using my trusty hand grinder I prepared a batch. The beans do look a bit lighter and there is a bright, acidic scent. What I mean is that it doesn't have that heaviness of smoke and roast that I typically associate with Starbucks. The taste is subtle. It's not weak. It is like diner coffee in a posh environment. There are floral notes and a bit of a tea finish. It's an enjoyable cup and I think it might have slightly more caffeine than other brews. It's a good coffee to have around for company. Also, I read that this coffee is made drip. Apparently, it gets ...

Admittedly, I am a coffee snob. Like Dennis Leary I like coffee-flavored coffee and maybe a cookie to accompany it. So I was a bit suspicious about the waffles when there was a large queue of people waiting to get them at Homestead coffee. The waffles are worth it. No, they are not homemade ( they start out as little frozen squares of dough) but they are baked up in a waffle press and go well with their dark coffee (which is coffee flavored). At 2,500 a piece, they are dang good. They are warm and they have a light caramel glaze on it which doesn't need lots of butter, whipped cream or other junk. The ones I got were from the Paju Premium Outlets but I assume you can get these waffles at other Homestead Coffees around Seoul. Dan