First day of 2015 and we settled for brunch at Cafe Mamas.

The restaurant was warm and welcoming. We sat on the not so sunny side, a mistake I wish I hadn’t made. Because South Korea isn’t like North America with central heating, most restaurants and other areas can lack heating and I felt cold sometimes even in heated places (it was partly due to the fact that I chose a table near the washroom, where you had to exit the restaurant but was still inside a building that connected to Cafe Mamas. 

We ordered and shared. We each had our own drink: fresh kale grape (me) and grape juice (Carmen). I never had grape juice, and isn’t like grocery store grape juice. The curry chicken was dry but the mushroom panini was hot and cheesy (definitely will be making the panini again!).

This wall was full of the card stamps that the cafe gave out. Each order/ meal gets a stamp and after you’ve got all the stamps, I’m guessing you get a free something. This is a nice touch to the cafe, adding a family-friendly warm feeling. Oh and you can stamp your desired name on your stamp card.

Street food.

After brunch, we went to Samcheongdong. This neighbourhood is filled with little cafes, eateries and boutiques. We stopped by this family restaurant. You could either order from the outside (where the two ladies are standing) or sit inside (there is no tipping in Korea :D ).

We ordered sikhye (a Korean sweet rice drink), hot rice cakes and fish paste on a skewer.

Then after waking a bit, we stopped by my cousin’s to go place to get hoddeok (Korean vegetable pancake with japchae).

We randomly came across this couple making street food. I’m not sure what it is, but apparently Korean kids really love this treat, because it’s sweet. My cousin and I call it the sugar cookie. I’m sure there’s a Korea name to this sweet dessert.

If all that food wasn’t enough for one day, we went to have sliced noodles at Myeongdong Kyoja for dinner.

There are only three items on the menu; two types of noodles and dumplings. The kimchi was really spicy. (Click here to visit the restaurant website.) Because we ate so much food in just a short period of time, we decided to share a bowl of original noodles and the dumplings. It doesn’t look like much, but trust me, we had to carry our bellies home and I was complaining about how full I was on the way home (sorry Carmen!).

Click here to see what I’ve been doing in Korea.
P.S. Check out Carmen’s travel blog here.