17 Nov 2008, Posted by Matt in Art & Culture, Food & Drink, Seoul, Shopping, 6 Comments
Garosugil – Sinsa’s Tree-Lined Street
There’s a habit among some to equate parts of Seoul or Korea as the “fill in the blank” of Europe or America. I’ve always found these comparisons ill-fitting. Also, why should Korea describe itself only in reference to somewhere else? For better or worse, Korean cities always feel more like Korea than Manhattan or Naples, and a lot of people (myself included) prefer it that way.
But in a nation as homogenous as this one, I can imagine it’s fun for the locals to pretend they’re somewhere else. A case in point is the popular Garosugil, in Gangnam’s Sinsa-dong neighborhood. The street officially known as Dosan-daero buk 5-gil (도산대로 북 5길), has become a trendy place for 7,000-won lattés and foreign cuisine. And to be fair to the friend who introduced Garosugil as “Europe in Seoul”, there does seem to be an affinity for faux-French.
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