Vegetarianinkorea

Retro Oven

Hidden in Gangnam is a tiny little bakery dedicated to baking really really good breads.

 

My friend Dan from SeoulEats suggested I visit Retro Oven. It's just around the corner from his cooking studio for O'ngo Food Communications.

(More on my visit to O'ngo coming soon!)

 

 

We visited the bakery at 3pm, which was sad for us because as you can clearly see from their hours, 3pm is not a great time to be there. YES- they were open, but the pickings were slim. In fact, while we were admiring their little bakery, munching on free samples, a man on a bicycle came up and bought pretty much all the tasty treats that were left. Leaving us with just an olive loaf.

(Which sounds very unappealing but is actually fabulous)

 

The man on the bicycle took away all of the beautiful fresh pan au chocolats .... So sad.

The staff was BEYOND nice to us. They offered up sample after sample of various breads, dipping oils and even tea. And when one of the staff saw my disappointment that the pan au chocolats had been taken, she told me I could call ahead next time to ensure they had some ready, and they would set them aside just for me.

Just for me. 

Retro Oven

02-544-9054

Tartine

Craving a fancy little tart?

Then check out Tartine in Itaewon.

It's a tiny little place, so I wouldnt expect seating for you and 10 of your friends available whenever.

Just the right place for a romantic rendezvous or a girls chat.

You can pick between several different decadent treats.

I chose an apple pie tart, with a scoop of ice cream.

Total: $9,900 KRW or around $8.00 USD

I met one of the owners, Chef Garrett. He certainly has an adorable little treat shop.

Will I find myself craving their tarts in the middle of the night? I doubt it, but I'm sure I'll find myself selecting a handmade little treat from their dessert case again one day. Some places are all about the ambiance...

(not to say that the food isnt good, it was! But I would go there more for the whole experience, you know?)

Check it out:

http://www.tartine.co.kr/

You can never have too many cupcake shops!

In the Hannam-dong area, across from the UN Village, is a little cupcake shop called Lynn's Cupcakes.

 

It's a modern little shop.

 

Not very big on the inside, so I wouldnt use it for your little girl's cupcake party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delish.

While the interior of Lynn's Cupcakes is clean and modern, it is small and it seems more designed to get your cupcake to go. (Hence the fancy cupcake to-go containers!)

The cupcakes? FAB. The icing is amazingly rich and the cake is pretty good. It's all in the icing. And presentation. And yum factor.

YUMMY.

Business Hours:
10 - 8 pm
(010) 2893-6687
(02) 792-0804

Neal's Yard: Your after dinner dessert and coffee headquarters

Neal's yard is a bakery/cafe in Itaewon on the main road. It is directly across the street from the Outback Steakhouse.

My lady friends and I visited Neal's Yard for after dinner desserts.

There menu consists mainly of desserts, baked goods, coffees and teas and other non-alcoholic beverages and a few beer and wine selections. Not much in the alcohol department though, and those drinks were pricey.

This place had such a comfortable feel to it. A little French bistro-like, a little country. Very relaxing.

I love the little napkin beer hats!

Go to Neal's Yard for the desserts. You will not be dissapointed....

 

The desserts range from around 7000KRW to around 13000 KRW. Yes, a tad pricey, but well worth it.

Great place for a girls' night out, or great for a special date!

Doughnut Plant Korea

A Doughnut Plant opened up in our apartment complex this weekend.I first heard mention of Doughnut Planet back in the US on a Food Network special. Their dougnuts are made with all natural ingredients: no trans fats, no eggs, no preservatives and no artificial flavors. 

Their doughnuts are delicious and world famous. I was very excited to have one opening up so close to us.

 

We loaded up the kids and walked on over for brunch Saturday morning.

 

 

 

We ordered:

• marscapone cream scone
• cream cheese bun
• black out doughnut
• expresso doughnut

Oh yes, and two drinks, an Iced Mocha Latte and a Berry Smoothie,

The iced mocha was strong, not very sweet. The smoothie was fantastic. Fresh fruit, refreshing.

The Espresso doughnut would be best paired with a hot coffee drink. It seemed a tad dry, but it had good flavor.

My favorite, and the doughnut that I will run to when I need my chocolate fix, is the Black Out doughnut. Heavenly. Moist, rich, the doughnut version of a chocolate souffle.

There a couple Doughnut Plant locations in Seoul, and this one is directly across the street from Ichon Station (blue line).

Best of all, there is plenty of comfy seating available. I think this will become my new hang out! A coffee, a doughnut, my laptop or a good book, that's the life!

Getting your chocolate fix

We are lucky (cursed?) to have a Paris Baguette  Bakery in our apartment complex.

Oh yum.

Mmmm....Cupcakes

I recently took a little walking trip thru Itaewon to visit "Life is a Just a Cup of Cake" cupcake bakery.

I had heard from another blogger that the cupcakes were not the tastiest creations, but it was the ambiance I as going for. I love good food, but I demand great ambiance. To me, it is the decor and feel of a restaurant that really can make or break it. I've eaten good tasting meals at crappy rundown hole-in-the-wall establishments, but money is precious, and I'd prefer to spend money enjoying a relaxing and inspiring atmosphere and decent food.

I digress.

What an adorable little cupcake bakery!

I could just envision fabulous birthday parties for little girls in party dresses.

There was a chart (in English!!!) that listed what creations are available on which days.

                                (Blueberry Cheesecake)

                                                (Raspberry Chocolate)

               (All about Chocolate and Very Berry)

I agree with Daniel, the cake part of the cupcake is nothing special. Maybe even on the dry side. The icing however, was pretty darn good.

But if when I take another trip to Life is Just a Cup of Cake, it will be for this little girl...

Little girls + cupcake bakery= pure happiness

 

Be prepared! The cupcakes average about 5,000KRW (or around $4) a piece!

It's worth it for the ambiance. Definitely.

Past Itaewon station, on the way to Hangangjin Station. Pass the Itaweon hotel and take the 2nd alley on the left. 

www.cupcake.co.kr

Doughnuts! Nomnomnomnomnomnom!

We found the Krispy Kreme!

Not far from the Sinchon Station exit 2, was a large, modern Krispy Kreme.

It was calling to us. We had just eaten a very large dinner, and I had no desires for something else to eat. But when you see a Krispy Kreme? It's not as if you have a choice. Especially with the hot doughnut sign pulling you in!

One dozen glazed doughnuts is the US equivalent of nearly $9! Oh My!

I had a mocha bean doughnut and Jason had a NY Cheesecake doughnut. Mine was good- although a little dry, Jason's was awesome. Do they offer these varieties in the US?

Before we left, we visited the "Doughnut Theatre" to see some fresh from the fryer doughnuts get their glazed coating.

Swoon.

Krispy Kreme- where art thou?

We were out and about in Seoul early this week, near the City Hall area, and we saw this Krispy Kreme sign.

Try as we might, we never found the actual Krispy Kreme shop, but a local told us it was closed already, so we gave up the search.

One day, victory (and doughnuts!) will be ours!

We were out and about in Seoul early this week, near the City Hall area, and we saw this Krispy Kreme sign.

Try as we might, we never found the actual Krispy Kreme shop, but a local told us it was closed already, so we gave up the search.

One day, victory (and doughnuts!) will be ours!

Must visits in Itaewon

On Monday, Jason had the day off (a comp day from having to work all day last Sunday).

 We headed to Itaewon to run some money exchanging errands and just walk around. The weather was great, sunny and low 50's so it was the perfect day to be out and about. You never can tell around here what the weather will be, so it was nice to have some decent weather for Jason's day off.

Itaewon is an area of Seoul adjacent to the Post, known for a variety of Western businesses and restaurants (Outback, Hard Rock, English Pubs, Crocs store). There are many Korean businesses thrown in the area as well, but all in all,  its a more tourist friendly area. It's the area of town that I could find a good knock of designer bag if that was my thing.

Itaewon is also where our money exchange bank is. It has the best rates around, so we take our rent money (in US dollars) and go exchange it in Itaewon into Korean Won.

We hopped the subway, made one train exchange, and found ourselves in Itaewon in just about 15 minutes.

Jason, at a Global ATM machine (we cant use just any ATM machine, only special one designated for International customers)...

We stopped by a little bakery for a snack..

A Rotiboy is a hot bun, often filled with some delight. Ours was filled with butter. Yes, BUTTER. And it was GOOOOOD and I felt no guilt about it either.

Since it was our first time trying a Rotiboy, we only got one and shared it. Big mistake. Next time I think we should get one of their big boxes that hold a dozen hot butter filled rolls. Yuuuummmm.

Jackson was not impressed with the Rotiboy, and opted for a little nap in our new Kelty framed back-pack carrier.

(Side tangent: OH MY GOODNESS, I had SUCH a hard time getting this Kelty carrier! No company will ship them to an APO, so I went thru ebay, got a great deal, even emailed the seller in advance to ensure he would ship it to an APO. TWO MONTHS LATER..... Grrrr. At least its everything I had hoped it would be. And it will hold either Emma or Jackson up to 65 lbs!!!! Great for walking around Seoul.)

After our snack, Jason exchanged our money, and we headed back towards to subway, but in no hurry.

Look! A doggie! In Korea! Wearing a cute outfit!

Our next stop, was a bakery (so, we frequent bakeries, you gotta problem with that??) called Paris Crossiante. These bakeries are all over Seoul and they are AMAZING.

I know its probably not the best idea, but they dont keep their delish treats covered up. They are out in the open and you are suppose to grab a tray and a pair of tongs and go around and pick out whatever you want.

We got all of this and an additional sandwich for $9. With the exchange rate in our favor, it is a great time to get out in Korea and spend our money on the Korean economy rather than Post.

We took our bag of goodies and hit the subway to head back home...

(I know that's blurry, but that's the subway sign telling us in Korean and English what stop we are at- in the middle- and what stop is either in front of or behind us.)



Jackson just loves holding on to the subway handles.

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I love being adventurers in the city.