Seoul 2012: 가로수길 (Garosu-gil)

I'm about to fly off for a long-needed vacation in a few days' time (okay, well tomorrow actually), but I've yet to finish uploading my previous vacation's photos. Snorts.

I've more or less sorted out my photos though, so it's just a matter of hitting the publish button. Here's a post on 가로수길 (Garosu-gil) in Seoul, Korea. Garosu-gil is an area in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam (otherwise known as the infamous uptown posh area mentioned in the worldwide phenomenon PSY "Oppa Gangnam Style" video - Seriously? What's with all the furore?). The street name means "tree-lined street" in Korean and it is packed with trendy cafes, restaurants, and various boutique shops.

 Garosu-gil

As per other uptown areas, there are plenty of pretty cafes here. My gosh, Seoul is the very definition of cafe nation if there ever was such a thing.

Before my trip, my best friend, aka Google, told me that there was a popular dessert cafe there. Thus, I made sure to include a visit to Deux Cremes. The place was almost packed, yet we only had to wait a few minutes before we were ushered in. Seats for two is almost a given at most places...

Shop: Deux Cremes Tarts Seoul
Address: 강남구 신사동 533-11 (533-11 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu)
Phone: +82 2 545 7931
Opening hours: Daily, 10am - midnight
Get there: Sinsa Station, Subway Line 3, Exit 8 and walk straight up the street for about 6 minutes or so, until you see a street sign that says "Garosugil” and turn left into the street. Walk further for about 5 – 10 minutes till you see Deux Cremes Tarts Seoul on your left.)
To try: tarts, goguma latte (sweet potato latte!) and matcha patbingsoo (apparantly)

Menu

Just some of the tarts on offer...

There were just so many tarts on display that we couldnt decide which to share. In the end, we got a strawberry and a earl grey chocolate. Both were simply delicious. The tart base was crunchy - exactly how I like my tarts to be, and they were not too sweet.

Goguma latte and matcha latte

The girlfriend got a matcha latte, while I just HAD to have a 고구마라떼 (goguma latte). I mean, where else can you get a mug of pretty purple sweet potato latte? Swoons. The girlfriend swore the matcha latte was really good, I had a sip and had to concur. It actually was more bitter-sweet than sweet. My goguma latte? It was really yums too - albeit a bit sweet. In fact, I was so taken with the idea I did try making my own goguma latte at home a few months back...and it was just as delish, just not as smooth cos of of the stringy sweet potato bits that I did not strain out.

The place is really quite popular, cos when we were heading out, there were people queuing to get in. I found it puzzling that there was a queue though cos the place is at least two levels (I found out when I went to the washroom as it was on the second level - and the area was empty).

I read that the matcha patbingsoo here is pretty good too, if I manage to head to the cafe this year, I just might want to try it myself.

I can't believe I didn't check out Pain de Papa. Apparantly, the best friend (yes, Google) said that it was a popular bakery with pretty good bread. I was looking through my photos and realised that I had snapped a shot of the cafe (which I don't recall at all since I was just randomly pointing my camera at pretty things). It's on my to visit list this year. So cross fingers I'll get to sample their creations!

There is a huge four-level (or was it six?) Forever 21 at the end of the street, and after a day of shopping, we were starved as it was already late noon. We managed to stumble across a Korean restaurant that seemed pretty good (we were actually drawn into the place by the menu displayed outside).

Shop: Sigol Babsang
Get there: (Walk to the end of Garosugil, near the Forever21 side, and er - I'll check it out again when I'm there later this week and update this space! ^^)

Yeps, that's right, this is one of those place that give you a whole tableful of side dishes. Sigh. Korean food, how I adore thee so. We also ordered some beef bulgogi, which I then had to try (of cos I couldn't!) to finish it all by myself cos the girlfriend doesn't take beef.

There's this really cool open concept two levels coffee joint. If possible, I would love to just spend a day sitting there and people watch. But alas, there's so much to see, so much to do when one is on vacation that I doubt I'll be able to do that. Oh well, I'll see if I can manage to at least manage a sit-in session when I'm back on that street.

I'd definitely recommend a trip here cos it's just so I donno, hip and trendy? There's pretty cool shops and cafes to check out too. Oh, and people here are more likely to speak English cos I did overheard some conversations in normal regular English (most Koreans don't actually speak English fluently). I'm already looking forward to my day there...