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08 Nov 2009, Posted by Matt in Food & Drink, Historic Korea, Seoul, Video, 10 Comments

Seoul’s Best Cafés, Part 1


Many may assume that Korea is a tea-based culture. Indeed, Korea has an indigenous tea culture that goes back centuries. But ever since King Gojong became the nation’s first and best-known coffee lover in the late 1800’s, coffee has taken the nation by storm.

More recently, the wildly popular TV drama, “Coffee Prince” captured Korea’s love of java. Today, global giant Starbucks competes with local brands like Holly’s, Ediya and Café Pascucci. But while you can get a decent cup of joe at any of these places, paying 5,000-won or more is a small extravagance. So, why not enjoy your bitter brew at one of Seoul’s best cafés?

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17 Nov 2008, Posted by Matt in Art & Culture, Food & Drink, Seoul, Shopping, 7 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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