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Best Brunch In Hongdae: Local Picks For Pancakes, Bagels and Build-Your-Own Sets
Brunch places galore. It seems like that’s what the Hongdae vicinity has become, and it’s pretty stunning to me because I’ve been living in the area for the past nine years and for most of that time, good brunch spots were nearly impossible to find. A few would pop up and then disappear. Now they are in full force, and deliciously so. If you’re in the area and want good food in the morning, I highly recommend coming over early, when the night crowd has skedaddled and the coffee drinkers have taken over. The streets feel different before noon in Hongdae and it’s one of my favorite ways to experience…
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Best Cafes In Hongdae: Themed Spaces, Great Coffee and Seoul’s Most Creative Neighborhood
Cafe hopping is one of the great pleasures of living in or visiting Seoul, and nowhere does it better than Hongdae. Known for its youthful energy, creative vibe, and streets that seem to reinvent themselves every few months, Hongdae is packed with themed cafes, beautifully designed coffee shops, dessert spots, and concept spaces that make it easy to spend an entire day just wandering from one to the next. The neighborhood has been a creative hub since Hongik University drew art students and musicians here decades ago, and that energy runs directly through its cafe culture. You won’t find the same polished minimalism you get in Gangnam or the traditional…
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The Soul of Seoul | Operation High Jinks Recap
This past weekend I hosted an AMAZINGLY fun event called “Operation High Jinks”. A bit Amazing Race missions, a bit Running Man hysterics and a bit scavenger hunt clues, it was a race planned to introduce attendees to Korea of today in a fun way. Not only did teams get to meet local Koreans and cook Kimchi jeon (Kimchi pancakes), they got to meet a local photographer and get a photo, meet some local expat entrepreneurs and more. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. Thank you for your support.) Finding things unique to Korea like dressed…
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15 Hot Spots In Mangwon-dong For Eats & Treats
Mangwon-dong in Seoul, Korea sits just a subway stop away from the night out artsy district known as Hongdae. The districts around this university art and music neighborhood have been getting more and more hype because cool places are moving out of Hongdae, likely due to high rent prices, and moving into Mangwon and other nearby districts. Yeonnam-dong is another nearby neighborhood that has experienced a boom in the past couple of years. The area is now host to a beautiful park as well as foodie hot spots and neat cafes. Mangwon is Yeonnam’s understated little brother, but he’s piping up for attention! Since my husband has had a studio in the area…
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Seonyudo Park: One Of The Best Kept Secrets In Seoul
Seonyudo Park sits on an island on the Han River in Seoul, Korea between Hapjeong and Dangsan and is one of the best kept secrets in Seoul. The island, only accessible by foot bridge, walking, or bus, used to house a water treatment plant but in the effort to bring green space back to Seoul, it was released back to nature. Just south of the popular art and live music district known as Hongdae sits Seonyudo Island. There are only a few islands on the Han River that are accessible and this park is one cool one to find. Crossing the bridge from Hapjeong Station to Dangsan Station, I’ve seen…
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Underground Art & Music with Crazy Multiply!
The Crazy Multiply Art Collective had yet another fantastic show bringing together artists and musicians under one basement roof in the Hongdae area this past weekend under the title of 쪽, “Jjok”. This show focused on line and direction and if the title of the show is confusing, just say what you normally say to your taxi drivers in your head a few times and you’ll figure out where the “jjok” is coming from. The show was not only quite successful, they brought in 175 people continuing to improve on their numbers with every show, but it was also a “goodbye” and “we’ll see you later” as two of the…
