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

Shabu Shabu is great when it is done right. First there should be good broth. It should be clearish, light in flavor but with body. There should be ample amounts of veggies and a healthy portion of meat or seafood. To do it all well takes effort and dedication. Restaurants tend to skimp on different aspects of it in order to present the idea of Shabu Shabu but it usually lacks in flavor. Luckily this is not the case at Seo-u Shabu Shabu. The ingredients are fresh and ample. You get a heap of vegetables and a good kimchi dumpling to add to their fresh tasting broth. The broth has body but it is not over-powering- it takes on the characteristics of the ingredients and gets better over time. For one serving of beef Shabu Shabu (18,000 won) you get a lot of meat. With the seafood Shabu Shabu (25,000 won) you'll get shrimp, giant mussle, clam, shrimp and baby octopus. The sauces are good as well. You'll get a light soy and a vinegared chili sauce. Oh, the meal starts with a small t...

If you are looking to travel to Thailand and you're looking for some high-end restaurant recommendations that serve authentic Thai fare then here were some recommendations from my buddy Vincent who is a writer and editor out of Bangkok. Here's Vincent: [quote] Hi Travelers to Thailand. Thailand has a vibrant culinary scene but it might be difficult trying to find good restaurants for special occasions. Here are some of my recommendations for authentic Thai restaurants that have a mix of good atmosphere and food. They are a bit pricier than you would find on the street, but what you are getting is quality. My first choice for the food would be the tasting menu at Bo.lan ( www.bolan.co.th ), creative, varied, but not over-the-top. It's the definite foodie choice, though I know one non-foodie who was a little underwhelmed. Attentive service, nice low-key dining room. A close second, and definitely the prettier restaurant is Lan Na Thai in the Face Bar ( www.facebars.com/en/ re...

Sometimes you just want to have something greasy and full of meat. A Philly Cheese Steak fits that description and they just opened up a Charleys Philly Steaks at Mercanopolis at Hapjeong station. Cedric, the manager invited me and I brought some Seoul Eats people out to it to check out the food. The interior is flashy and cool an it has big signs letting you know that this place is famous for steak sandwiches. Here you can get the classic, a bacon an cheese or chicken steak sandwich. You can also get a side of fries topped with cheese or cheese and bacon or cheese bacon and ranch dressing (ummm ranch dressing). I got the classic and the bacon cheese fries. The steak was grilled and topped with melted cheese. I like my steak chopped up a bit more but they don't do it that way. The cheese was ok and it had some mayo, lettuce and tomato (if I had known about this, I would have asked for them to take them off). Overall the sandwich was large and filling. It was greasy and just what I ...

I like Korean Dramas but sometimes I OD on them. The last one I watched was Bachelor Vegetable Stand and it left a bad taste in my mouth (handsome, ambitious guy ends up with the stuck up girl that was the doppelgänger daughter to the CEO of a major corporation. Well at least the fake mother of the doppelgänger daughter who killed the ambitious handsome guy's grandmother had a miscarriage and later goes crazy thinking she didn't have a miscarriage...) ??? Anyway, the drama started off well and I went to the vegetable stand that is now a cafe and it is awesome. The place is well maintained and it seems to embody the ideas that the main character had in the drama: hard work and high quality. The space is well lit and the outside patio looks like a green house. They have a basic cafe menu, but the coffee is good and they have an organic selection of teas. I had the peppermint chocolate and it came out in a Mason Jar with the lid as a thing for my tea bag. Everything seemed well th...

Since our company has started doing Incentive tours and events, I have been lucky to eat breakfast at many of the 5-star hotels in Seoul. We usually have morning meetings or lectures over breakfast. Now breakfast is one of my favorite meals, so I am very happy to organize these types of events. Over the last few months, I have eaten breakfast at the InterContinental Coex and Parlas, Ambassador Hotel, Grand Hilton, Somerset Palace, Fraser Suites, and in the past I have been to W-Hotel and a few others. Anyway, my guests are always asking about breakfast in Seoul and I generally suggest they stick to a nice hotel breakfast or have an early and a late lunch. Now out of the hotels in Seoul, I think that the Grand Hyatt has the best spread. Their eggs are cooked right, cheeses are rich, coffee strong, and the bread is really bread. The Grand Hyatt also has excellent cappuccinos. The other thing for me that makes this place stand out are their smoked fish. It has that sticky sheen of smoke ...

I am indulging today. I went to Krispy Kreme for a donut and a coffee when I saw their pumpkin jelly donut. In the spirit of Halloween, I had to get it. It wasn't bad. The filling was orang and it was flavored with pumpkin, but it tasted a bit like apple. I wouldn't have been able to eat more than one of these but it was fun trying it anyway. They have others that look like ghosts and bats and stuff. Meh. If you are feeling nostalgic and want to feel like a kid, get the pumpkin one. Dan