Sseubu, Gangseo-gu

2018-07-232018-07-23 Fred McNulty

When I have written about Korea-based restaurants on Masjib Mania, I have tried to avoid writing about other Asian countries’ cuisines. This is not to say that there are not delicious pan-Asian restaurants in Korea–far from it! However, due to the general lack of knowledge toward non-Han Chinese and, to a somewhat lesser degree, non-Honshu Japanese Asian cultures in the West, I wanted to focus on Korea. That being stated, Korean-Chinese food is delicious in its own right, and deserved some attention. On February 25, I went to Sseubu (쓰부) in the Gangseo-gu district (강서구) of Seoul.Read More »

American Factory, Dangsan

2018-02-262018-02-27 Fred McNulty

In an episode of The Simpsons, the family travels to Tokyo and, to intellectual Lisa’s disgust, the family opts to eat at Americatown, a U.S-themed restaurant. The restaurant featured awkward or incorrect interpretations of U.S. culture, including Muhammad Ali boxing with Neil Armstrong and the use of outdated slang. While this parody might be a bit much, I am deeply fascinated by the representations of the United States in South Korea. How do people outside of the United States perceive U.S. culture and customs? On August 20, I visited American Factory, a restaurant in central Dangsan-dong to answer this question.Read More »

Robocook, Daejeon

2017-12-112017-12-11 Fred McNulty

Daejeon is not a terribly large city, but it is still home to over 1.5 million people. While I had never been there before July, I found it to be a cute city with the amenities of Seoul, but without the massive crowds. While Daejeon is not home to many unique cuisines, I wanted to go to a restaurant not available to me in Seoul. On July 30 I joined my significant other and a friend in Daejeon to Robocook’s Dunsan branch for brunch.Read More »

Songjeong Tteokgalbi First Store, Gwangju Metropolitan City

2017-11-202017-11-21 Fred McNulty

Many cities in Korea have popular streets with food themes. In Uijoingbu, there is a street with buddaejiggae restaurants, Suwon has a chicken street, and Sokcho has a fried seafood street, to name a few examples. A short walk from Gwangju Metropolitan City’s* Songjeong Station is the tteokgalbi street. On July 1, I went to Songjeong Tteokgalbi First Store with my significant other.Read More »

Café El Dia, Yangpyeong-dong

2017-07-312018-05-20 Fred McNulty

Due to the fact that I live in Dangsan, there are three great parks that are easily accessible: Hangang River Park, Saetgang Ecological Park, and Seonyudo Park. It goes without saying that the Seonyudo Park, which sits on an island in the Han River, is gorgeous. But, many people might not know that the Seonyudo Station area is really quaint. On a sunny Sunday afternoon in late spring, my significant other and I stumbled upon the area in search of donuts. We returned on June 15 to try El Dia for dinner.Read More »

Sugar de Chou, Hapjung

2017-07-032017-11-17 Fred McNulty

While dessert cafés are a dime a dozen in Seoul, I always appreciate ones with homemade goodies and relaxing atmospheres. Right after eating dinner at the previously-reviewed Ddalgigol with a friend, we sought somewhere to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. On a warm evening on April 24, we tried Sugar de Chou in Hapjung.Read More »

Ddalgigol, Sinchon

2017-02-102017-11-17 Fred McNulty1 Comment

On December 20, I went to Ddalgigol, a small Korean restaurant in Sinchon. It is near the international student dormitories of Yonsei University, across the street from Ewha Womans University. A lot of college students come to the restaurant in search of affordable, tasty meals. They are not disappointed!