garosu-gil

On Monday I made the daytrip out to Seoul to meet up with the Kaptain. He needed a second pair of eyes for his spectacle purchase and I had told him that I'd love to be them. We rendezvoused at Shinsa station and made the short walk over to Garosu Street. Garosu-gil is a neighborhood full of galleries, one-off design shops, boutiques, cafes, and foreign food restaurants. Its facades are very European-Western and the attention paid to typography and overall good design made me fall in love with this area immediately.

This is another great store here, similar to Aland.

Sock vending machine - brilliant

Want this.

Monkids caps!

Really crisp looking cafe with super high ceilings, a lot of white concrete, and again, excellent type.

Kev got his glasses done at Radio Eyes, where they design all their frames in-house.

Waiting patiently for his eye exam, which comes complimentary with your eyewear purchase in Korea

Haha I burst out laughing when he walked out of the little examination nook to test out his new prescription - 'tis a good look, InspeKtor Gadget.

While waiting for his lenses to be fit (which was promised to be done in under an hour, the norm here), we took to perusing the streets of Garosu.

Supposedly Gallery Yeh was the first art gallery to open in Gangnam, and when it moved to this neighborhood in the early 80s, spawned a whole artist community.

Some serious MJ neckgear

After many attempts at deciphering the unlit neon signage of this place, we confirmed that the restaurant was indeed called "Bobster Scat Storage" (?)

I think that clutch would be a nice addition to my otherwise monotonous wardrobe, yes?

Weird looking shoes

For lunch, we ended up at Deli.Heinzburg, a sandwich spot just across the street from Radio Eyes.
I cannot rave enough about this place - great decor & vibes, cute merch, excellent service, and the grub! Oh the grub. I got the triple mushroom sammy with a corn & clam soup on the side, and Kev opted for a burger (the crispy, boneless, whole chicken leg in a bun) with some taters.

Hard to say whether it was because I hadn't had a proper cream soup in six months, but this was to die for. That's a real slice of ham! And the bread was soft, fresh, and delicious.

Guys, real cheese! Again, on excellent bread.

Cheesy, bacony, crispy goodness

How cute are these "canned" chocolates?

The meal here made me giddy with satisfaction. Will be returning, 100%!

We did a little more exploring to walk off the grease we inhaled.

Apparently well-curated vintage is in abundance here

More piggies across the street!

After checking out the Aland here, and the Shilla Duty-Free department store in Jung-gu, we took the free shuttle bus to Myeongdong to look for a drink and a bite.

Mag N Mag Myeongdong

More pigs adorn the sign to the restaurant we settled on, Fugetsu

Yaki-udon with pork

Okono-miyaki with octopus

So so delicious

Soju & pineapple juice.. yum!

The night was cold but it was worth it for a day discovering cool places and good eats. Props to the Kaptain, who is currently in Japan for his second trip there in a month, for showing me around! Those new specs look superb on you!

Bali pics are next, I promise.

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